A role can make or break an actor, so "Mad Max: Fury Road" star Tom Hardy got quite upset because he was forced to give up a pretty good one just to fulfill his role as John Fitzgerald in Alejandro González Iñárritu's movie "The Revenant."
The role Hardy really wanted to take was Rick Flagg in David Ayer's DC film called "Suicide Squad," which features a star-studded cast led by Will Smith as Deadshot, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, and Jared Leto as The Joker.
When Variety asked him about it, the actor gave a candid answer: "Was I bummed? Of course I was. I hate (expletive) losing work. I kept bemoaning that they were losing me significant money on a daily basis. Actually, it was good for my character (in 'The Revenant')," he laughingly said.
Hardy revealed that it was actually DiCaprio who persuaded him to join "The Revenant," who praised its script to no end.
"He called me up and said, 'Dude, I know you're about to do something where you're jumping out of helicopters and shooting guns and (expletive). But before you do that, I need you to take a look at this script. It's (expletive) awesome.' That's how it started-'It's going to be (expletive) awesome.; Then I had a meeting with Alejandro, talking through the character. I ended up getting the job," Hardy shared.
And despite the gruelling conditions they had to endure just to create the film, Hardy had to acknowledge that "The Revenant" was, as DiCaprio promised, "completely awesome."
"It had all the right amount of logistical difficulties you might expect. (They) found locations quite off the beaten track. Certainly, there were weather issues. Initially, the whole idea was to shoot the entire film in one shot like 'Birdman.' That became one thing that had to be adapted to the environment. It was a hugely ambitious pitch," he said.
Hardy said that their physical and emotional endurance was put to the test because they had to contend with harsh weather conditions and extreme locations.
"It's quite a big epic to wrangle. It was six to eight hours of rehearsal a day, and then we'd shoot for an hour and a half to get this particular piece of movement. If we didn't get it, we'd have to come back the next day. It was an interesting procedure," he noted.
"The Revenant" will be released on December 25, 2015.
