Liam James Collins | Tom Hardy's body double reveals what the actor is REALLY Like

I had only been acting a couple of years at this point and I got an audition but I didn't know what the audition was for so my agent wouldn't tell me they didn't even know they were just like look I've just been told um this is a good opportunity you just gotta turn up at this location that's that so I turned up at this location I can't remember where it was now I think it was some office in the depths of East London somewhere when I first turned up I needed to fill out this form that that was asking me all of my physical dimensions now I was really into bodybuilding at the time I was probably I would say about two and a half Stone heavier then than I am now this is when I was 19. so anyway I was so into bodybuilding that I knew my physical dimensions down to like the last millimeter I'm talking like forearm calf like this this is now I filled in the form and I handed it in I sat there and there was about 100 guys in this room and I was like I was just trying to figure out what we were going to be auditioning for and this one woman came out and she said right you're all here for this one particular thing apart from you Liam you're here for something else and I was like I just pretended I knew what she was talking about so I sort of tipped my hat to it I was like yeah okay and she took me into this room and she was like right and she looked flustered like she was worried uh as she it's like she couldn't collect her thoughts and she said we're working on the biggest movie in the world at the moment and she said I can't tell you what the film is because contractually I'm not allowed all I can tell you is that it's the biggest movie on Earth with the biggest budget a movie has ever had with the biggest director in the world at the moment and the and the world's greatest cast of actors she said our lead actor needs a body double and we've been looking for a body double for him for about six months and you've just walked in and your physical dimensions are exactly the same as his down to the last millimeter they're exactly the same you're a match basically we've been looking for a match for months she said have you got any holidays booked over the next six months to a year I was like yeah I've got two should I cancel them she said are you willing to completely shave your head wet shave I was like yeah 100 I only turned up to that audition for a bit of beer money for the summer holidays and she was like right okay she said just leave it with me I'll get back to you so I I was like flustered I didn't know whether or not I'd just been offered something if I hadn't I'm sitting by the phone for like two weeks thinking is she gonna phone me she phoned me and then she was like right I want you to turn up to to this this location and I turned up to this location and I was doing all of these like movement things and they were getting me to move in certain ways and I was like okay and it happened again and again and again and I still didn't know what this thing was I was talking to my brother at the time who's like a big comic book geek and he was like I think you're gonna be body doubling for Bane in Batman because the third Batman film's coming out it's the biggest movie in the world they Bane is this big stocky bald guy and I was like no way do you think and we were like maybe maybe and then eventually she called me and she was like go to L Street Studios where they used to shoot Big Brother turned up to Ulster Studios and I walk into this room and there's All These Blueprints on the wall that say the bat cave Gotham City Baines prison bains this and I was like oh [ __ ] he was right he was right and I sat down I spoke to this producer and he was like brilliant you got the part well done you're gonna body double for Tom Hardy and Bane in Batman for the next six months at least every day on set literally the next day I turn up on set which we filmed it in a place called Cardington in Bedford which are like these huge aircraft hangers I turn up on set and this you would the security you wouldn't believe like the layers of security that I had to go through just to get on set now I get on set and the woman's like right go into hair and makeup they wet shave my head they put me in full Bane costume and they're like right go that way and I walked around this corner I walked up about three flights of stairs I walk out into Bane's prison and they built a fully operational prison for this thing and then there's Christian Bale There's Tom Hardy there's Chris Nolan is Michael Kane as Morgan Freeman there's Anne Hathaway there's Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Chris Nolan's like ah Liam come in we've we've been waiting for you so there's the axes and their body doubles and there's like a bit of a rundown of like what's about to happen and it was to this day the still the best six months ever wow just absolutely off the chain spending six months every day with my heroes and just picking their brains and talking to them over lunch and spending every day with them William I'm a Nut of Tom Hardy so can you just give me a little bit more information on what it's like to work with Tom Hardy so unpredictable oh yeah unpredictable really unpredictable you don't and and bear in mind I'm talking about people change right so who know who knows now because this was 2010. you know we're talking 13 years ago and so you might be you know who knows what the Tom Hardy of 2023 is like I don't know I've not seen him since well I saw him after that well come on yeah I saw him again after that but um yeah that's a that's a really interesting question what's he like now my I think the expectation would be for me to be like it's brilliant it's amazing like great sky so it wasn't my favorite person on set not to mean I didn't enjoy being around him but he wasn't out of everyone on set it's not like he's the one I warmed to the most I was probably I probably approached chatting to him with a bit more apprehension than I did with everyone else because I idolized him you know I really loved him in a big big way he was he was the guy in my head you know I'd and I'd seen everything he'd ever done because I got that job I was I'm gonna do Tom Hardy Marathon right and I knew him before and I had this really weird experience where I saw him on the uh Jonathan Ross show about six months earlier and I was in a hotel room with my girlfriend who's now my wife and that was the first ever time I saw him I didn't know who he was and I was really taken with him because I think he's so full of Charisma and I and I remember I never I didn't vocalize it but I remember internally thinking I'll definitely work with him at some point I'll definitely meet him at least and then the whole opportunity came up so I I idolized him big time I do still now in many ways and I think because of that I probably approached him with a bit too much of a kind of young actor beggar mentality like you know please be my friend you know I know and it just didn't I don't know it didn't create the right Vibe so this is not on him this is very much on me look enough of the diplomacy was Tom Hardy a dick no he wasn't a dick in any way I promise he wasn't a dick but he was he was there were days where like we'd have like a really warm conversation and it'd be really really really loving and like happy to talk and then there'll be other days and who knows this might be part of a process and acting process there are other days where it was prickly it was very prickly and I thought no I don't say anymore I'll go and talk to someone I'll go and talk to Morgan three minutes oh I'm just going down to who you actually I've heard C phoned a little bit boring he said he's Tad boring yeah he's a little bit worried is it it's so funny he's the voice of God isn't he you just sort of expect him to be the most interesting man on the planet yeah but uh Anne Hathaway is way more interesting really way more she's so [ __ ] cool and she's like call me Annie please and she's just chill she's down to earth she Joseph Gordon-Levitt so [ __ ] cool like chill that's what I like and I think it's just because I react well to that you know regardless of who the person is or what position you're in I like it when people chill people are people aren't they at the end of the day yeah 100 exactly and there and I think looking back on it now one thing that I definitely didn't appreciate was the pressure that was on all of their shoulders to create the best film they possibly could I mean this had like a 300 million dollar budget back in 2010. this was pretty Avatar I believe pre-avatar one I think this was huge like this was massive and there must have been interestingly enough I became very very good friends with Tom Hardy's personal trainer guy called Patrick Monroe Patrick peanut Monroe who last year sadly left this world passed away absolutely phenomenal guy really incredible guy and if you go back on YouTube and you watch some of Tom Hardy's um Jonathan Ross interviews Patrick's there they were like brothers they were like best friends and there was a Fallout at one point they didn't talk for for a few years but because I was always on set I would I used to talk to Patrick a lot I really got to know him and he became a very close friend and I told him you know I'm an actor of course I'm I'm trying to get my acting career off the ground I'm here like trying to network as well I'm not only doing this film but I'm trying to maximize this opportunity and it was really funny because I didn't talk to him for like two years after that and he phoned me completely out the blue and he was like I've I'm directing my first movie he became a director and he was like there's a part in it for you I was like [ __ ] sweet what are we doing and he was like well Benedict Cumberbatch is playing the league the newer Benedict are going to have this like fight scene and I was like this guy I haven't spoken to this guy in two years I was this young like 19 20 year old on the set of Batman like I'm trying to make it in this world and he remembered he remembered that and he and he said to me if I ever do any it was like one day I want to start writing movies I want to start directing doing it he was a [ __ ] personal trainer at the time and he was like if I ever do films like we'll do a film together and he remembered and he phoned me what a man just incredible you know what there's actually quite a powerful message in their relationships are the highest form of currency but we've all heard the scene you are who you spend you're the average of the people The Five People You spend the most amount of time with yeah but when you're on a set networking at that level I mean it's it's a Priceless opportunity it's money can't buy it totally is and you know what's a almost a real shame about that as well is you are 100 correct that is a networking opportunity money can't buy it and at the same time it's one that you've got to be so sensitive around because of course at the time everyone's just focused on making this film and you don't want to be and I was I was very conscious of this as a 19 year old as well I wish I wish I was doing that film now it would be completely different because I was so young I was trying to find my way around and I was so cautious of not rocking the boat and I was so cautious of not wanting to upset anyone because I was so grateful to have have that job the there were two things that I I regret the first thing is I wish I networked more on that job because I kind of tried my best but I was new to it and I didn't want to you know be intrusive but like that one relationship with Patrick was enough for that to springboard me onto something else the second thing is on day one of shooting that movie they gathered the whole crew and bearing in mind this was like 400 people and they held up a picture of this man's face and they said this man had a job working on this movie as a runner or something like that he not only has been fired from this film but he will never work on a movie for as long as he lives and the reason why is because he had his mobile phone on set and we don't have our Mobile phones on set because no one wants you to take a picture now I took that so seriously that I have zero pictures from the whole experience the whole time there there should have been I I regret that because there were people that had their phone on set and they were like sneaking pictures and whatever I was so terrified of being let go from that film that I took that rule [ __ ] dead seriously but now this many years later I think so wish I had some [ __ ] pictures from that you know it's really interesting when I was doing my due diligence I was trying to find some pictures if you're in like the main outfit and there's just nothing online there is none there's nothing there's one there's one there's one picture of me on set in the costume and I'm like there's the Baines layer and there's like this bridge and I'm standing on the bridge and you I'm quite far away but you can see it's the only picture and a fireman because all movie sets need to have firefighters on the certain cases of fire he snapped it for me and then he sent it to me and was like by the way I have this and it's it's the one thing I've got and I and I do I treasure it I wish I had more foreign [Music]

Channel: On a Mission

Views: 705,457

Keywords: tom hardy, bane, dark knight rises, batman dark knight rises, batman, actor, actors, ceo, entrepreneur, entrepreneurs, life story, podcast, personal development, personal growth, self development, tom hardy films, tom hardy actor, tom hardy legend, tom hardy venom, tom hardy peaky blinders, tom hardy bane

Id: U3nowUICzlM

Length: 13min 32sec (812 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 09 2023