'Venom': Tom Hardy Took His Inspiration From 3 Very Different People

Tom Hardy is set to play Venom in a new Sony movie of the same name, and he reportedly drew inspiration for the character from three very different, well, characters from our world to play his part in the cinematic world.

A new Esquire profile of Hardy reveals that the actor was inspired by traits from “three wildly different people” when playing the roles of Eddie Brock and Venom. One of them is Woody Allen, who is not exactly the least controversial choice, considering the renewed attention on his sexual assault accusations in the age of #MeToo. The other two are professional righter Conor McGregor and rapper Redman.

Hardy says “Allen’s tortured neurosis and all the humor that can come from that” was one place he drew some character traits from. As for McGregor, he notes “the überviolence but not all the talking.” Finally, rapper Redman’s tendency towards being “out of control, living rent-free in his head” was the final inspiration for Hardy.

Hardy notes, however, that these are not character traits and individuals that he let anyone at Sony know he was inspired by.

“You don’t say shit like that to the studio,” he said. Later on in the same profile, Hardy bluntly adds, “I cannot give a fuck what the writer, or the director, or Larry in Baltimore thinks about my choices.”

So it sounds like he doesn’t really care whether Sony or anyone else would have objected to these choices of inspiration.

No matter what people ultimately might think of Hardy’s choice of inspiration (or of his portrayal of Venom in general) if nothing else, these traits should make for a rather interesting take on the Marvel anti-hero. And at least one past performer who has taken on the same role thinks Hardy is going to do a great job.

Topher Grace, who once starred as Eddie Brock/Venom in the final installment of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, Spider-Man 3, recently told Inverse that he is really excited for Hardy’s version of the character.

“To me — I truly mean this — I think Tom is the guy to play that role,” he said.

Fans will have to just wait and see exactly how the “überviolence” and “out of control” aspects of Venom and Brock shine through in Hardy’s depiction of the anti-hero.

Venom hits theaters on October 5.