Tom Hardy seems to sign onto a new movie on the basis that he can do an accent. Fair enough: a lot of actors like taking on roles that permit them to change their voices - it helps them to get into character; to immerse themselves fully in another person. But when Tom Hardy does an accent, Tom Hardy does an accent. They're never straightforward affairs, Hardy's accents; they're curious, bizarre, slightly off, or end up sounding like different versions of his Bane voice. And it's hard to classify then, on account of the fact that it's impossible to work out whether they're bad or good. They're never quite right - there are far too many strange, idiosyncratic flourishes to claim actual accuracy. Which is another way of saying: Tom Hardy's accents are weird. Really weird. What doesn't help matters is that each and every time Tom Hardy appears on TV or does a press junket or interview, his voice has transformed itself. He always sounds different - even in real life. The man himself has even admitted to the notion that he has no consistent accent, and is always picking up bits and pieces from God knows where, which have a direct effect on the way that he talks and sounds. It's all very confusing. What follows is an exploration of Tom Hardy's accents - from weird to really weird, because there is honestly no other way to classify them. In order for a movie to qualify for a place, it had to feature a role in which Hardy consciously seemed to be changing his voice. Roles deemed to feature Hardy talking in his "normal" voice (or close to it) have been left off...
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
