Despite what the daredevil antics and intense dedication of a certain Tom Cruise may have you believe, actors are under no obligation to perform their own stunts. There are entire teams of people that have dedicated their careers to safely putting themselves in harm’s way, making them arguably the most unsung and underappreciated aspect of the entire filmmaking process as a result.
The superhero genre tends to make things a lot easier on both the stars and their doubles, when the rapid advancement of CGI has made the impossible possible and negated many potential hazards. However, even though his turn as Eddie Brock in Venom required a heavy assist from the effects team given that the titular antihero is essentially a monster from outer space, Tom Hardy revealed in a recent interview that he was forced to undergo double knee surgery following the shoot.
In typically understated fashion the leading man, producer and co-writer of sequel Let There Be Carnage boiled it down to a succinct “my knees were f*cked”, and he was only eight weeks into the recovery process when director Andy Serkis called action on the second installment, which was hit with another three-week delay yesterday to October 15th.
Having appeared in The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, Mad Max: Fury Road, a pair of Venoms and Gareth Evans’ upcoming Netflix actioner Havoc, Hardy is no stranger to getting intensely physical onscreen. Luckily, he appears to have fully recovered from his knee issues, so he should be able to make his way down the red carpet with a hop, skip and a jump whenever Let There Be Carnage finally gets around to holding an official premiere.
