Benny (Austin Butler), the newest member of the Vandals motorcycle club, has a chance run-in with Kathy (Jodie Comer) at a local bar in The Bikeriders . As the two are drawn to each other, they are pulled further into the Midwestern motorcycle club. However, it soon changes from a community built around a mutual love of riding into a hotbed of violence and danger. Benny will be forced to make a choice between his loyalty to the Vandals and Kathy.

Jeff Nichols helms The Bikeriders as both the screenwriter and director and his passion for this project is palpable. Based on Danny Lyon’s famous photo book of the same name, Nichols took inspiration from every detail to encapsulate the era and these individuals who took a dark turn while searching for a place to belong. The Bikeriders cast delivers compelling performances, with Tom Hardy, Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, and Norman Reedus disappearing into their roles.

Screen Rant interviewed Tom Hardy about his role in The Bikeriders. He shed light on the depth of the bond between Johnny and Benny, including what Johnny sees in the new young member of the Vandals. Hardy also explained the complications that come with riding motorcycles from this era and praised Nichols’ directing.

Tom Hardy On The Complications Of Motorcycles In The 1960s

Hardy discussed how he was able to listen to recordings of Johnny’s voice in order to base his own voice on it in the movie and broke down how he differentiated it from the actual voice of Johnny and why he felt it was important to do so. He also shared how his experience riding motorcycles (which fans have previously seen evidence of in Mad Max: Fury Road) came in handy on The Bikeriders set.

Tom Hardy: There are some accent similarities to what Johnny in the film sounds like and to him, but there’s a tonality to it that doesn’t lift. There’s an energy element to it. It would be a very different performance, a very different music of the whole ensemble if you were to be absolutely accurate, although it would’ve been also very interesting in its own right.

I know you have extensive experience riding motorcycles. Can you talk about riding motorcycles from this era?

Tom Hardy: They’re dangerous, they’re contrary, and they’re going to fall apart on you and you need to know how to put ’em together. If you don’t know, you need someone with you that does, and that’s around the clock thing. If you don’t live and breathe it, then you’re not going to get far on one or certainly not for long because it will inevitably fall apart in the next 24 hours. So they’re a thing of beauty and beautiful engineering and something that you can understand why some people literally their heart is wide open to be near them all day all the time.

For somebody like me who day trips in the riding, I ride in the sun. If it’s wet I’m in the car, but I can ride. So it’s not like I’m proficient. Only is the fact that I can use a motorcycle to get around anywhere, if it is got a road. So riding a time piece takes a lot of effort because they can fall apart and that can be dangerous. Ss well as it is a thing of beauty. Not helpful when you’re under pressure.

Tom Hardy Shares Insight Into The Dynamic Between Johnny & Benny

Hardy explained the complexities under the surface of Benny and Johnny’s dynamic in The Bikeriders. While there is loyalty and brotherhood there Johnny also sees a freedom in Benny that he yearns for. Hardy’s explanation brings a new level of depth to this friendship.

Tom Hardy: Yeah, so it’s multi-layered. I think Johnny is older than Benny by some significant years. Certainly generational. Johnny has two children and a wife, and he’s a truck driver. He rides for pleasure and it’s his passion outside of his family life. But Benny doesn’t have a family.

Benny just rides and is free and pretty much encapsulates for Johnny wish fulfillment, potential, life lost, promise, vitality, an adoration almost like looking at the part of you that will never be. So the love stems for, I suppose, the lamentation of the loss of vitality and the sense of being and purpose being quite as pure and wonderful as that, which he projects upon a human being that he’s objectified.

Can you talk about what Jeff Nichols’ directing style added to this film as a collaborator?

Tom Hardy: Jeff didn’t add to it. Jeff, was it! Jeff didn’t add value. Jeff came with the quality and we hoped to add value. Everybody had to play their part to add value to what Jeff had laid down. So he takes his time to articulate himself, but he has his own way of doing things. But you can see it in the writing, you can see it in the design, you can see it around him. It’s come from somewhere and he’s very clear about what he wants when he’s clear about what he wants. So finding out what he wants is the key to adding value for Jeff and in turn, that adds value to an audience watching it, great.

About The Bikeriders

The Bikeriders captures a rebellious time in America when the culture and people were changing. After a chance encounter at a local bar, strong-willed Kathy (Jodie Comer) is inextricably drawn to Benny (Austin Butler), the newest member of Midwestern motorcycle club, the Vandals led by the enigmatic Johnny (Tom Hardy). Much like the country around it, the club begins to evolve, transforming from a gathering place for local outsiders into a dangerous underworld of violence, forcing Benny to choose between Kathy and his loyalty to the club.

Check out our other The Bikeriders interviews:

• Austin Butler & Jodie Comer
• Norman Reedus
• Jeff Nichols

Source: Screen Rant Plus