CULTURE

Tom Hardy Is Not Retiring From Acting Yet, But He Is Tired of It

“If I’m being brutally honest, I want to go on with my life.”


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Tom Hardy may want to give off the impression that he’s still Hollywood’s No. 1 rabble-rousing bad boy, but in an interview with Esquire, the actor opened up about his career, taking stock of his life and age with just a dash of midlife crisis.

You see, Hardy views his Hollywood career as something akin to climbing one of the world’s largest mountains. “You’ve summited Everest. It’s a miracle that you’ve made it anywhere near the f–king mountain, let alone climbed it,” he told Esquire for the magazine’s September cover profile. “Do you want to go all the way back and do it again? Or do you want to get off the mountain and go f–king find a beach?” he asked.

Since turning 40, Hardy has found that his career and life as a father of two have drained him to the point where he might even be considering a retirement from acting in the near future. “What is it that draws you to the craft? At this age, I don’t know anymore,” he admitted. “I’ve kind of had enough. If I’m being brutally honest, I want to go on with my life,” Hardy continued.

The man is just tired (which anyone could have guessed from catching a glimpse of him in the pews during the royal wedding), and that is understandable considering the transformation he submits his body to with nearly every role. From the 2008 prison drama Bronson to Fonzo, in which he will play the gangster Al Capone, Hardy has taken the position that any daredevil stunts or extreme modifications of the body necessary for the roles he plays will be worth it in the end, even if he gets hurt. For his role as a super villain and enemy of Spider-Man in Venom, the actor tore his meniscus. “At the end of a job, I normally end up on the side of the road,” he told Esquire.

Still, Hardy’s long list of upcoming projects indicates that no matter how exhausted he may be at age 40, he still has a long way to go until retirement.

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