Tom Hardy's ‘The Bikeriders' Co-Stars Insist He's a ‘Teddy Bear': ‘He'd Give Us All Hugs'

Tom Hardy may not be as scary as his bad boy reputation makes him out to be.

"Tom was a teddy bear," "The Bikeriders" producer Brian Kavanaugh-Jones told me at Monday's premiere of the Focus Features drama at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Co-star Austin Butler agreed: "He's very much that. He's a sweetheart."

Actor Damon Herriman admitted, "I thought Tom was going to be scary but he turned out really lovely. Honestly, he would walk on the set and give people hugs. Pretty much every time he came to set, he was like, ‘How ya doing, mate? You alright?' And then he'd give us all hugs. I loved him."

"The Bikeriders" stars Butler as a member of a 1960s motorcycle gang who's been taken under the wing of its leader (Hardy). Jodie Comer plays Butler's girlfriend, who wants him to leave the dangerous and violent gang lifestyle behind. Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, the movie was inspired by a 1967 photo book of the same name by Danny Lyon (Mike Faist) about the Outlaws MC, an Illinois motorcycle club.

True to the era, the movie features the gang members riding motorcycles without helmets. "There's no CGI," Nichols told me. "There's no filter. We put up a camera and lens and they got up on the bikes and rode them. But, yeah, I was terrified."

"I mean you take all the safety precautions that you can and you have stunt coordinator Jeff Milburn, who is a motorcycle guru," he explained. "But at some point, it's a 60-year-old machine and you're spinning with speed and you have a famous person with no helmet on."

Butler said he wasn't initially worried not wearing a helmet, but then he got into an accident. Fortunately, he wasn't hurt because he was able to jump off his bike and land on his feet. "I should have been more scared on a motorcycle probably," he said. "It wasn't until I crashed, that I realized that it was possible. That then gave me a healthy respect."

Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Jeff Nichols and Norman Reedus at "The Bikeriders" Los Angeles premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre on June 17, 2024 in Hollywood, California.

Comer revealed filming her scenes riding on the back of a bike were far from dangerous: "Honestly, most times I was on it we were on kind of a pretend one for insurance reasons."

In fact, producers were concerned about not getting the movie insured because the cast wouldn't be using helmets. "It was the first time we actually had a risk management specialist - a whole new crew member," producer Sarah Green said. "She just interfaced with stunts, the grips, anyone who was handling safety and the insurance company. It was a big deal. I wasn't sure we'd get insurance because of the no helmets."

The Bikeriders

And then there was Norman Reedus' look for the movie. He's almost unrecognizable as a biker with shaggy, dirty-looking hair, a beard and rotted teeth. "He just didn't want to look like Daryl Dixon," Nichols said, referring to the actor's "Walking Dead" character. "The teeth were his idea and then we went with the hair and beard. His character felt like he could be a catch-all for every crazy frickin' idea we had and Norman was up for it."

Alexander Edwards, Cher, Jodie Comer, Norman Reedus and Austin Butler at "The Bikeriders" Los Angeles Premiere held at the TCL Chinese Theatre on June 17, 2024 in Hollywood, California

The star-studded premiere guest list included Cher, Jason Momoa and Sharon Stone.

I also asked Butler when he was going to start shooting "Heat 2." It was reported in May that he was close to signing on to play Chris in director Michael Mann's sequel to his 1995 film.

Butler simply smiled and said, "No comment," before he was pulled away to his next interview.

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