Tom Hardy’s ‘bizarre’ behaviour exposed in Patrick Stewart’s new memoir

A former co-star of Tom Hardy’s is lifting the lid on the leading man’s “bizarre” behaviour in a juicy new tell-all memoir.

Star Trek’s Patrick Stewart is looking back on his time spent filming with Tom Hardy, who starred alongside him in one of the franchise’s films way back in 2002.

This was before Hardy’s career exploded with roles in The Dark Knight Rises and Mad Max. Stewart, who first played Jean-Luc Picard in 1987, worked with Hardy on Star Trek: Nemesis.

Hardy starred as the film’s villain, Shinzon, who faces Picard in Star Trek: Nemesis. The filmmakers’ goal was to cast someone like Stewart for the role since the two characters were clones.

“It was a long, long search to find the actor to play this role. Long before I got involved,” Stewart said of the casting process, per a 2002 interview with Entertainment Tonight.

Actor Tom Hardy. Picture: Getty

Hardy as he appeared in 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis.

When he saw Hardy’s audition tape, it stood out from the rest: “It was a bizarre video and there are some people who believe he was actually naked in this video,” he said, per ET. “He had the sides of some of the Shinzon scenes, but he was improvising them. He wasn’t really doing what was in the script.”

Hardy was hired shortly after, but didn’t turn out to be all that friendly, Stewart said. In his newly published memoir, Making It So, Stewart described his co-star as an “odd, solitary” person, per Insider. Hardy, who was supposed to work together with Stewart and share his character’s traits, allegedly kept to himself during filming.

Stewart reveals Hardy “wouldn’t engage on a social level.” Picture: AFP

“Tom wouldn’t engage with any of us on a social level,” he wrote. “Never said, ‘Good morning,’ never said, ‘Goodnight,’ and spent the hours he wasn’t needed on set in his trailer with his girlfriend.”

He added, “He was by no means hostile — it was just challenging to establish any rapport with him.”

When the movie set concluded, Hardy left without a goodbye, according to Stewart.

“On the evening Tom wrapped his role, he characteristically left without ceremony or niceties, simply walking out of the door,” Stewart shared. “As it closed, I said quietly to Brent [Spiner] and Jonathan [Frakes], ‘And there goes someone I think we shall never hear of again.’ It gives me nothing but pleasure that Tom has proven me so wrong.”

Since, Hardy has starred in The Dark Night Rises, Mad Max: Fury Road, Venom, and Peaky Blinders.

This story originally appeared on Decider and is republished here with permission.