We haven’t seen much of Tom Hardy's Venom. The trailers and teasers have focussed largely on his jittery alter-ego, Eddie Brock, with only sneak peeks of the sharp-toothed symbiote.
Not that anyone should be worried. From what we've seen Venom seems suitably terrifying, and we approve of Hardy’s accent choice: a kind of evil take on the guy who speaks over action movie trailers.
In fact, judging by the British actors recent interview with RTÉ, Hardy was possibly more concerned with his portrayal of investigative journalist Brock. He wanted to base the character on someone physically capable, and ultimately one name came to mind: Conor McGregor.
“It was not Venom: he was not based on him. There were more elements of [Venom's alter-ego] Eddie Brock which needed to be pinned on somebody who’s incredibly handy physically. And, obviously, Conor is incredibly handy physically," said Hardy.
“There was an aspect the studio wanted somebody who could fight, which they always do in these sort of hero movies," he added.
"They want somebody who can have a scrap. Conor obviously wants to have a scrap with everybody, so that’s useful. But then, the are other elements in the character like the neurosis of Woody Allen, Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and other elements within. But yeah, he was definitely a key note."
Hardy took extensive MMA training in preparation for the role, building on his experience from Warrior, to get a grip on the Jekyll & Hyde rage that exists within the Spiderman villain.
You can catch Venom in cinemas on 5 October.
Nick Pope is the Site Director of Esquire, overseeing digital strategy for the brand.
