A “disgustingly excellent performance.” Tom Hardy fans need to see this.
There are certain films that arrive at the perfect time and in the case of the talented director Nicolas Winding Refn, he ultimately found cinematic salvation in the most unlikely of places, the TV show Miss Marple.
Film fans might associate the Danish filmmaker with movies like Drive and The Neon Demon, but his road to Hollywood was paved with criminals, bankruptcy, and personal risk.
Over 20 years ago, the director announced himself to the world with his brutal and uncompromising drama Pusher. The film revolves around a drug pusher that grows increasingly desperate after a botched deal leaves him with a large debt to a ruthless drug lord.
The Mads Mikkelsen-starring film would go on to become a cult-classic and the director followed this up with the equally well-received Bleeder. At the time, Refn could do no wrong in Denmark. So he moved to Los Angeles in an attempt to crack Hollywood.
After spending years working alongside the novelist Hubert Selby on Fear X, the film flopped and it ultimately bankrupted his production company. With large personal debts mounting, the Danish filmmaker became a ‘jobbing’ director and he even made two episodes of Miss Marple in the UK. Thankfully, he stayed here to make his next film and it features a tour de force performance from Tom Hardy, Bronson.
If you haven’t seen it yet then you’re in for a treat because the drama chronicles the life Britain’s most notorious criminal.
In 1974, a misguided 19-year-old named Michael Peterson decided he wanted to make a name for himself and so, with a homemade sawn-off shotgun and a head full of dreams he attempted to rob a post office. Swiftly apprehended and originally sentenced to 7 years in jail, Peterson has subsequently been behind bars for 34 years, 30 of which have been spent in solitary confinement.
Bronson (based on a true story) follows the metamorphosis of Mickey Peterson into Britain’s most dangerous prisoner, Charles Bronson.
Before you start watching it on Netflix, it’s worth noting that Bronson isn’t for the squeamish. Throughout the film, you see Hardy’s character assaulting prison guards and fellow prisoners alike, strangling inmates with his socks and he even fights a dog.
This being said, Hardy’s performance is absolutely mesmeric and the physical lengths that he went to for the role are stunning.
In an interview with Ask Men, he said that “It was a race against the clock. We didn’t have any time to waste, so I started eating and my arse very quickly got very fat. For Bronson, I put on about 7lbs a week—with no steroids. In the end, I’d put on about 2 and a half stone by eating chicken and rice, which was my staple diet throughout the day. Then I’d have a pizza, Häagen-Dazs, and Coca-Cola: So not good stuff, but I had to put weight on. I needed to put a layer of fat on my body because Bronson – when he was younger – was a big guy, a brawler. My diet was lenient as we weren’t going for the Bruce Lee look and we weren’t looking for the cut.”
After the film was released, both its star and director were catapulted into the Hollywood limelight. Tom Hardy has since established himself as one of the best actors in the business while it’s fair to say that Nicolas Winding Refn won’t be directing any episodes of Miss Marple in the future.
If you’re looking for something to watch on Netflix, we highly recommend Bronson.
These critics agree:
LA Times – “Hardy chomps down on his once-in-a-career role with stunning ferocity. He’s extraordinary.”
BET.com – “Tom Hardy gives a disgustingly excellent performance.”
Rolling Stone – “Tom Hardy is pure dynamite in the role, beefing up 35 pounds to play Britain’s most notorious prisoner.”
Variety -“Has “cult hit” written all over it.”
