Proof That Tom Hardy Is A Feminist

Tom Hardy is one of the most uniquely compelling actors working today, with an expansive and varied slate of roles, including several notable collaborations with Christopher Nolan, the self-contained indie "Locke," which featured the actor alone in a car for 90 minutes, and hit TV drama "Peaky Blinders," to name just a few. The British star isn't someone who courts fame either, telling the AP (via Digital Spy), "I saw what it meant to be a movie star for a second and I quite liked it. Then I went, 'Nah! Let's go back to work.'"

Although Hardy acknowledged he has expensive taste, it isn't worth sacrificing his privacy. "There's nothing that comes without cost," Hardy opined, noting, "I've got enough cost in my life. I've got enough risk going on. I'm already crazy enough." Moreover, as Esquire UK points out, although he's classically handsome, Hardy is generally drawn to more complex, and frequently downright villainous characters. As he told the outlet, following the COVID-19 pandemic, Hardy's priorities have shifted. 

"I think there's less reason to work, ultimately, because the life drive is to be with the kids and to be fit and healthy and eat well and stuff. If you've got a roof over your head and a bed underneath you and food in the fridge, how much is enough?" he wondered. Evidently, the actor isn't one to mince words. And, when it came to setting a journalist straight about exactly where he stands on feminism, Hardy didn't hold back. 

According to Us Weekly, during an interview at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, Tom Hardy set a reporter straight for asking a dodgy question about "Mad Max: Fury Road." The journalist, Peter Howell, asked Hardy how he felt about being surrounded by women in what "was supposed to be a man's movie," but the British actor made it clear it hadn't even occurred to him. "Not for one minute," Hardy stated. 

Howell later reasoned to Buzzfeed, "My question to Tom Hardy was intended as the opposite of sexism. I was congratulating him for his willingness to share the screen with so many strong women in a franchise and genre more inclined to celebrate the male over the female." However, it's worth noting that, when "Fury Road" was first released, hordes of fans took issue with it focusing on Charlize Theron's Furiosa rather than Hardy's titular Max.  

We Hunted the Mammoth ripped apart a post from the notorious "manosphere," the denizens of which include the worst of internet misogynists, which called on fellow dudes to boycott the movie in order to send a message. "Fury Road" garnered 97 percent on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, earned a whopping $374,736,354 at the worldwide box office, per Box Office Mojo, and won six out of a possible ten Academy Awards. 

Also, Furiosa has her own spinoff in the works, with Anya Taylor-Joy taking over the coveted role from Theron, as reported by IndieWire.

Despite the fact he was happy to work alongside tons of women, the set wasn't always harmonious. The "Mad Max: Fury Road" cast confirmed what we suspected all along about Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy, in Kyle Buchanan's book "Blood, Sweat, and Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road." An excerpt published by Vanity Fair (via E! News) revealed how they were at each other's throats, much to the dismay of everybody else working with them.

Theron recalled, "We were either fighting or we were icing each other — I don't know which one is worse — and they had to deal with it in the back." She acknowledged it wasn't the best way to work, especially since their colleagues ended up suffering as a result. The actor also explained how physically demanding the shoot was, admitting, "I was in survival mode; I was really scared s**tless." Hardy agreed, even sharing how he was totally out of his depth on the project. 

He noted his co-star deserved better and nowadays he'd probably be in a position to provide proper support for her — particularly considering "Fury Road" was one of Theron's most dangerous roles. They seem to be on good terms now, though, with Theron telling Esquire that Hardy later gave her a self-portrait as a gift. She noted, "We drove each other crazy, but I think we have respect for each other, and that's the difference."