Tom Hardy Was Miserable Making This Means War

Here’s why Tom Hardy was miserable making the 2012 romantic comedy This Mean War. Soon after making his film debut in Ridley Scott’s war drama Black Hawk Down in 2001, Tom Hardy landed the role of Shinzon in Star Trek: Nemesis. Shinzon was a clone of Patrick Stewart’s Picard and the movie’s main villain, but despite putting in a good performance, this sequel was critically panned and it was a box-office dud.

This did little for Tom Hardy’s career at the time, though he had a tendency to steal scenes in his follow-up projects like Layer Cake. It was during the late 2000s that Hardy’s career really started to take off, and following the acclaim he received for his title turn in Bronson, he was working with Christopher Nolan on movies like Inception and The Dark Knight Rises.

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There are few genres the actor hasn’t explored in some form at this point, and the best Tom Hardy movies tend to feature him delivering intense dramatic performances. That’s not to say he can’t do comedy either, as seen in some of the lighter scenes of Venom. With This Means War, he wanted to give the romantic comedy genre a try – which turned out to be a decision he’d regret.

This Means War cast Tom Hardy and Chris Pine as two CIA agents and best buds who end up competing for the affection of Reese Witherspoon’s Lauren. She dates them both – unaware of their connection – while they both try to sabotage the other’s chances with Lauren. Despite a strong cast, This Means War is lacking as both a comedy and an action film and while it was a modest success, it was largely considered mediocre. In a Tom Hardy interview with USA Today in 2014, the actor opened up about how he felt making it.

“I didn’t understand how you could do something which is so much fun and be so miserable doing it,” Tom Hardy stated of filming This Mean War. In the aftermath, he also doubted he’d make another rom-com, which is a vow he’s stuck to so far. It’s worth noting Hardy didn’t speak ill of This Means War itself or the people who made it, and it appears he just didn’t connect with the material while working on it. There are no upcoming comedies on his plate either, with the actor next set to reprise the role of Eddie Brock/Venom in Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Even for those who enjoyed the 2012 comedy, it’s doubtful anyone is asking for This Mean War Again.

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About The Author

Padraig Cotter
(3484 Articles Published)

It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.