Miranda+Collinge
全身遍布纹身、练就一身肌肉的汤姆·哈迪是好莱坞的新晋型男,在银幕上常以硬汉形象示人。明明外表英俊,却不爱演英雄,更爱演反派或是古怪、疯狂的角色。他是《布朗森》里的残酷暴徒,是《荒野猎人》中的野蛮边民,也是《敦刻尔克》中的英勇飞行员,无论哪种角色,他都能轻松驾驭。而他身上独有的矛盾特质,更使他的角色独具魅力,深入人心。
再过不久,汤姆·哈迪就需要为自己预约纹一个新的纹身了。这位39岁(编注:英文原文发表于2016年12月)的英国演员已经有不少纹身了,那些从T恤下面露出来的图案即是证明。他已经纹了伦敦的天际线、一条中国龙、他妻子的名字……不过,对于最近要纹的这个,他还在犹豫不决。“我还没纹呢,”他兴高采烈地说着,吸了一大口电子烟后又接着说,“因为它太糟了。”
哈迪和莱昂纳多·迪卡普里奥之间有过一个赌约,两人共同出演了去年的《荒野猎人》。迪卡普里奥预测,哈迪会凭借其在该片中饰演的配角获得奥斯卡提名。哈迪饰演的是一个野蛮的边民,在迪卡普里奥饰演的角色被大灰熊抓伤之后离开,任其死去。哈迪赌自己不会被提名,如果输了,将由赌胜者为他选择一个纹身。结果他输了。哈迪在一张便利贴上再现迪卡普里奥设计的纹身给我看。“他写的是:‘里奥无所不知。字就是这么烂。哈哈!我回复他:‘好吧,我会去纹的,但你得把字写得好看点儿。”
哈迪很可能会去纹。他的人体艺术很像是一种对他所做承诺的声明——对爱人、对家人、对自己以及对经纪人的承诺。他的胳膊内侧纹有经纪人林迪·金的名字。因为他说过,如果她能把他带进好莱坞,他就会这样纹。在《荒野猎人》中,哈迪在每个镜头都塑造出了一种颇具魅力的野蛮感;在《疯狂的麦克斯:狂暴之路》中,哈迪使老套的动作电影系列重焕活力;在《蝙蝠侠:黑暗骑士崛起》中,他饰演的贝恩一角创造出了一个即刻具有标志性的可怕又怪异的超级大反派形象。由于他出演这些影片,林迪无疑还真使他打入了好莱坞。
但是哈迪既进了好莱坞又没在好莱坞。他是那种让影迷喜爱的美男子,有着丰满的嘴唇、性感的眼睛,还有经常被偷拍的胸肌,但他拒绝出演那些与他外形相称的帅气英雄角色。他更喜欢演匪徒、反派和精神变态者。而且他非常擅长饰演这些角色。他在屏幕上具有一种天生的、无可否认的魅力,这使他成为每位导演都想合作的对象。但是他却经常放弃大制作而钟情于制作较小又怪诞的电影。因为在这样的电影中他可以尝试,尽情发挥。他对自己的私生活缄口不言,但对自己的职业开诚布公,令人耳目一新。他的友谊值得珍惜,他的敌意则令人害怕。
汤姆·哈迪不是一个普通的演员,亦不是一个普通的电影明星。实际上,他也不是一个普通人。他开始时表现平平,但很快就会表现出不甘平凡的一面。汤姆·哈迪出生于1977年9月15日,是家中独子。他的父亲爱德华(又名查普斯)是一名广告经理,有时也做喜剧编剧。他的母亲安妮从事艺术。他成长于伦敦西部一个名叫东辛的舒适的郊区。他就读于很好的私立学校,在那里,他“并不是最好的学生”。尽管受到了父母的鼓励,但学习戏剧只是因他一时兴起,就像他说的:“尽管处于非常优越的地位,我的成绩却并不理想,于是我绝望的父母觉得:‘真糟糕,我们得给汤姆找些事情做。”
然而情况却变得更糟了。成绩不理想变成了严重的行为不端,最后很快堕落到酗酒、吸毒,让他的身体十分虚弱。他设法去了伦敦戏剧中心,并且在斯蒂芬·斯皮尔伯格的二战剧《兄弟连》和里德利·斯科特的《黑鹰坠落》中进行了自己最初的专业表演。但即使有如此高的起点,他还是有失去机会的重大危险。他曾经坦言:“为了一块可卡因,我那会儿都能把亲妈卖了。”他也描述过曾有一次在醒来时发现自己躺在伦敦旧康普顿大街上,手拿一根吸毒的管子,身旁是一摊血迹和呕吐物。
他说,最终现实起了作用。“在我的人生道路上总会经常不断地出现一些事情,告诉我:‘汤姆,你需要醒醒,因为你还有更重要的事情要做。你一直在做的都是胡来,可你生来就比所有人都更有机会。因此我告诉自己这个现实,一味胡来的时候本来还有许多事情可以去做。”
有一种观点认为,演员进入角色时应该像一张白纸一样,那样观众对于他们现实生活的了解才不会影响到他们所扮演的角色。但对于哈迪来说,他的经历却使他的表演增加了一层色彩。这正是为什么他在2007年BBC改编的《斯图尔特:倒带人生》中扮演的无家可归的毒瘾者具有如此的吸引力,为什么他在2008年的超现实主义传记电影《布朗森》中扮演的英国最臭名昭著的囚犯查尔斯·布朗森如此可怕,为什么他在2015年关于伦敦东区最令人恐惧的歹徒的电影《传奇》中扮演的龙尼·克雷和雷吉·克雷如此令人信服。他不用回想宠物金鱼死掉时的感受就能扮演一个被虐待或心灵破碎的角色;他能够扮演凝视无边深渊的角色,因为他早已亲身经历过。他有自己独特的视角。
我之前采访哈迪是在卡尔加里(编注:加拿大西南部城市)。在那里,他早已在落基山脉的山麓丘陵地带进行了数月《荒野猎人》的拍摄。他住在一所租来的房子里,似乎正通过玩电脑游戏和拳击来消磨自己的休整期。他弓着腰,看起来要比他5英尺9英寸的身高矮一些,留着铁丝似的胡子,穿着实用的户外服装。他几乎变成了一个当地人。直到看了他在《荒野猎人》中的表演——他扮演的角色叫约翰·菲茨杰拉德,是个未开化、没道德而又野蛮的人,但他同时又有恻隐之心,人性未泯,哈迪正是能把握这種平衡的大师——我在伦敦再次见到他时才明白他对这个角色倾注了多少。
在伦敦,他承认自己才恢复过来。“因为这部电影,现在累劲儿还没过去,但我认为这是一部好电影,”他说,“现在我与这部电影有了一定的距离,所以我想再看一遍。事情总是如此,就像人们说的那样,‘身处其中时,我觉得那是生命中非常难挨的一段时光,事后才会发现那其实是一段非常美好的回忆。而在当时,真让人……啊啊啊——”他发出一声叫喊,仿佛受了致命伤的水牛一般,“永无休止!那是永远的荒野。那种感觉没玩没了,令人感到困惑,永远的荒野猎人!无休无尽,发懵,混乱,谁都控制不了,我们所有人都被它控制着。你明白吗?这令人沮丧又倍感压力。”endprint
值得一提的是,这段陈述很不寻常。不仅仅是因为这段话能使你隐约感受到他讲话的方式——他的神经突触一分钟能发射一英里远,你得抓住他句子中的主语和宾语,如果你能找到的话,然后就抓紧了别放手——还因为这段话很坦诚。不像许多甚至是所有和他水平相当的演员,哈迪没有那种志在必得、经过媒体训练的温和面孔。谢天谢地。
这就是为什么会传出他拍片时与导演或剧组人员发生口角的消息。比如他曾对一名记者说他“准备要揍”尼古拉斯·温丁·雷弗恩,也就是他演过的《布朗森》的导演;他在2015年拍摄《疯狂的麦克斯:狂暴之路》时与联合主演查理兹·西伦和导演乔治·米勒都发生过口角。他在戛纳电影节该片的新闻发布会上曾向乔治·米勒公开道歉。
但你要是不想用汤姆·哈迪,你就不要用他。大多时候他会让你觉得用他是值得的。只有摩擦才能产生火花。他在伦敦说:“如果我作为一名演员参与其中,我会检查整个作品和团队的薄弱环节与极限,因为给我钱就是让我干这个的。所以如果我不那样做,那我既对不起你们也对不起我自己,因为这本就是该由我们来做的事情。如果有人说:‘不,汤姆,我不想让你做这个,我只是想让你穿着蝙蝠装到中间来,穿着蝙蝠装而不是蝙蝠侠战衣。那么你知道接下来会怎样?我可能不会接那部电影。”
显然,哈迪激发了那些知道怎样与他相处的导演的忠诚。论及蝙蝠侠战衣这个话题,克里斯托弗·诺兰显然就是这样一位能够理解哈迪的雇主。他在2010年《盗梦空间》的拍摄中首次用了哈迪,令其饰演一位不可靠的盗梦者埃姆斯,后来又让哈迪饰演《蝙蝠侠:黑暗骑士崛起》中的贝恩,该角色使哈迪声名鹊起。片中哈迪的服装造型包括一个遮住脸的面罩,这证明了他可以只用眼睛来表演,且表演效果不輸任何人。他最近刚拍完诺兰执导的电影《敦刻尔克》几天的戏份,饰演的角色还不清楚。这部电影的剧情是基于1940年盟军在法国北部海岸的撤退,将于2017年夏天上映。像诺兰的所有作品一样,这部电影在正式上映之前也是保密的(但仍有流传到网上的照片显示哈迪在片中穿着喷火式战斗机飞行员的服装)。
从表面上看,哈迪可能开始跟着好莱坞的规矩行事了。随着《疯狂的麦克斯:狂暴之路》的上映,他已经成为一名真正的票房明星。凭借《荒野猎人》,他获得了自己的第一次奥斯卡提名。当迪卡普里奥赢得了奥斯卡最佳男主角奖,他在获奖感言中首先感谢的人就是哈迪,并称其为“我奋斗路上的兄弟”。
一年前在卡尔加里,哈迪和朋友们一起在电视机前观看奥斯卡的颁奖典礼。转眼间,他便身处现场,戴着蝶形领结,享受着迪卡普里奥的称赞和电影界的掌声。他说:“我从未期望过自己会受到这些活动的欢迎,我总是觉得自己是一个顽皮的孩子,总以为我的一部分会说:‘不。而事实上我说的是:‘欧耶!我也来尝试一下。”
不论汤姆·哈迪喜不喜欢,如今他都是一名电影大明星了。那么,他在事业上的下一个举动会是什么?浪漫喜剧?超级英雄电影?不知为何,你就是想象不出他穿紧身衣和斗篷的样子。哈迪有着艺术化的个性、反复无常的脾气和不着头脑的说话方式,他就是一个如此古怪的人,怪得令人称妙,让人庆幸。纵然他确实有着漂亮的下颌轮廓,但把他套进蝙蝠衣中也未免太可惜了。
At some point in the not too distant future, Tom Hardy needs to book himself in for a new tattoo. The 39-year-old British actor has already got quite a few, as the markings protruding from his T-shirt attest. Hes had the London skyline, a Chinese dragon, his wifes name … This latest one though, hes dragging his heels1) about. “I havent got it yet,” he says cheerily, taking a deep lungful from his electronic cigarette, “because it sucks.”
Hardy had a wager2) with Leonardo DiCaprio, with whom he starred in last years The Revenant. DiCaprio predicted that Hardy would get an Oscar nomination for his supporting role as a feral frontiersman who leaves DiCaprios character for dead after the latter is mauled3) by a grizzly bear. Hardy bet a tattoo of the winners choosing that he wouldnt. Hardy lost. Hardy recreates DiCaprios design on a Post-it note for me. “He wrote, in this really shitty handwriting: ‘Leo knows everything. Ha! I was like, ‘OK, Ill get it done, but you have to write it properly.”
And he probably will. Hardys body art is very much a statement of his commitment: to his lovers, to his family, to himself. Also, to his agent. He has her name, Lindy King, tattooed on the inside of his arm, which he said he would do if she ever got him into Hollywood. Thanks to gigs like The Revenant, in which Hardy brought a magnetic savagery to every scene; or Mad Max: Fury Road, which saw him knock the stuffing back into the moth-eaten4) action movie franchise; or playing Bane in The Dark Knight Rises and thereby creating an instantly iconic super-villain who was as terrifying as he was kinky5)—she most certainly did.endprint
But Hardy is both in Hollywood and not in Hollywood. Hes matinee-idol handsome, with plump lips, smouldering6) eyes and those much-papped pecs, but he resists playing the pretty, heroic roles his physiognomy7) was made for. He prefers to play gangsters, villains and psychopaths. And hes very, very good at it. He has an innate, undeniable charisma on screen that puts him at the top of every directors wish list, but often forgoes8) behemoth9) movies in favour of smaller, weirder films in which he can experiment, cut loose10). He is steadfastly tightlipped about his personal life, but refreshingly candid about his profession. His friendship is something to be treasured; his enmity is something to be feared.
Tom Hardy is not your average actor, not your average movie star. In fact, hes not your average man. He started out averagely enough but quickly demonstrated a reluctance to stay so. Tom Hardy was born on 15 September 1977, the only child of Edward (aka “Chips”), an advertising executive and sometime comedy writer, and Anne, an artist. He was raised in East Sheen, a pleasant suburb of west London. He went to nice private schools, where he “wasnt the best student.” Drama was a passing interest, though it was encouraged by Chips and Anne because, as he said, “from a very privileged position I was underachieving and my desperate parents were like, ‘Fucking hell, weve got to find something for Tom to do.”
Then things got worse. Underachieving turned into serious misbehaving which eventually spiralled into11) a debilitating drink and drug addiction. He did find his way to the Drama Centre in London and got his first professional gigs in Steven Spielbergs WWII drama Band of Brothers and Ridley Scotts Black Hawk Down. But even with such a high-calibre start, he was in serious danger of losing it. He once admitted, “I would have sold my mother for a rock of crack,” and has described the moment he woke up lying in a pool of blood and vomit on Londons Old Compton Street with a crack pipe in his hand.
Eventually, he says, reality bit. “There were systematically, constantly, things that were put across my path where it was, ‘Tom, you need to wake up because there are more important things to do. And you keep on doing stuff thats nonsense, and you of all people have been born with opportunities. So I had words with myself about the reality of wanking about when theres such a lot to be getting on with.”
Theres an idea that actors should come to roles as blank slates, so that your knowledge of their real lives doesnt detract from the role theyre playing, but with Hardy it feels that his experiences add another layer to his performances. Its why he was so captivating as a homeless drug addict in the 2007 BBC adaptation of Stuart: A Life Backwards, so terrifying as Britains most notorious prisoner Charles Bronson in 2008s surreal biopic Bronson, so convincing as both Ronnie and Reggie Kray in Legend, the 2015 film about east Londons most feared mobsters. He doesnt have to channel the time his pet goldfish died in order to play characters who have been brutalised or broken; he can play men who stare into the existential abyss because he has stared into it himself. Hes got a unique perspective.endprint
When I interviewed Hardy before, it was in Calgary, where he was already several months into shooting The Revenant, which was being filmed in the foothills of the Rockies. He was living in a rented house, apparently whiling away12) his downtime playing computer games and boxing. He looked hunched, smaller than his 5ft 9in, with a wiry beard and sensible, outdoorsy clothing. He could almost have passed for a local. It was only upon seeing what he did in The Revenant—his character John Fitzgerald is wild, amoral13) and animalistic and yet somehow still sympathetic and human, a balance that Hardy is a master at striking—and then meeting him again in London that I understand quite how much the role must have been absorbing him.
In London, he admits hes only just recovering. “There are still echoes of exhaustion from it, but I think its a beautiful film,” he says. “I want to watch it again now because I have got a really healthy distance. Its always the way, when people say, ‘It was a really tough time in my life when I was in it, in hindsight its a very fond memory. At the time it was aarararaghgh”—he makes a noise like a fatally wounded buffalo—“never ending! The Forevernant. It went on forever and it was confusing. The Forever-and-evernant! It was never-ending, confusion, chaos, none of us were in any form of control, we were being controlled, you know? And that was frustrating and stressful.”
Its worth noting how unusual that statement is. Not least because it gives you a glimpse into how he speaks—how his synapses14) fire off at a mile a minute and you have to grab on to the subject and object of the sentence, if you can find them, and then just hang on for the ride—but because its so frank. Unlike so many—maybe all—actors at his level, theres none of that game-faced, media-trained blandness15) from Hardy. And thank God for that.
Its why stories seep out16) from productions hes been involved with of spats between him and directors or fellow cast members. About how he told a journalist he was “ready to punch” Nicholas Winding Refn, his director in Bronson. Or how he had run-ins with both his co-star Charlize Theron and director George Miller on the set of 2015s Mad Max: Fury Road; he publicly apologised to the latter at the films Cannes Film Festival press conference.
But you dont hire Tom Hardy if you dont want Tom Hardy, and for the most part, hell make it worth your while. Its the friction that creates the spark. “If I come in as an actor,” he says in London, “I check the fragilities and the breaking points for the whole piece and the team, because thats what I get paid to do. So if I dont do that, then Im not doing you a service or me a service, because thats what we came to do. If someone says, ‘No Tom, I dont want you to do that, I just want you to come down the middle in a bat suit,—not the Batman suit, I mean literally, in a bat suit—then you know what? I probably wont do that film.”endprint
Hardy obviously inspires loyalty in those directors who know how to handle him. On the subject of Batman suits, Christopher Nolan is clearly one such employer, having cast Hardy first in 2010s Inception, as louche17) dream-cracker Eames, and then in the career-rocketing role of Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, whose costume included a restrictive respirator that proved Hardy could eye-act with the best of them. He has recently finished shooting a few days in an unspecified role in Nolans Dunkirk, a drama based around the 1940 evacuation of Allied troops from the coast of northern France, which is due to come out in summer 2017 and which, like all Nolan productions, is largely shrouded in secrecy until then (though pictures that leak online appear to show Hardy in the guise of a Spitfire pilot).
On the face of it, it might look like Hardy is starting to toe the Hollywood line18). With the release of Mad Max: Fury Road he became a bona fide box office star and with The Revenant he got his first Academy Award nomination. When DiCaprio won the Oscar for best actor, the first person he thanked in his acceptance speech was Hardy, whom he called “my brother in this endeavour.”
The year before, he had watched the ceremony on TV in Calgary with his friends. Then suddenly he was there in his dickie bow, being praised by DiCaprio and applauded by the establishment. “I dont think I ever expected to be welcomed to one of those events,” he says. “I always felt like a bit of a naughty boy, and I always thought part of me would be like, ‘Nah. And then actually I was like, ‘Oh yeah! Ill have a sniff of that.”
Whether he likes it or not, Tom Hardy is now a major movie star. So what should his next career move be? A romantic comedy? A superhero flick? Somehow you cant quite see him in tights and a cape. With his artistic singularity and his mercurial temper and his scattergun syntax, hes just too wonderfully, blessedly odd. Even if he does have a nice jawline, sticking him in the Batsuit would be a wasted opportunity.endprint