Tom Hardy Discusses Why He Took the Role of ‘Venom,’ How He Found the Character’s Voices

Tom Hardy is no stranger to the world of comic book movies, having played the villainous Bane in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, but it made little to no sense when he signed on to play Spider-Man villain Venom in a standalone, non-Spider-Man film. Hardy seems to be fairly selective in what films he does—This Means War notwithstanding—so for him to headline a film based around a second-tier comic book character just didn't add up.

Thankfully Hardy is opening up in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, and giving us some insight into why he ever took this role in the first place, and his reasoning is every bit as stupid as you may have imagined...

“As far as Marvel characters, I have to say for me, Venom looks the coolest,” Hardy says with a laugh. “That sounds a bit shallow! But I appreciate that he has a kind of brazen swagger and a zero foxtrot attitude.”

Okay, the look is all well and good, but Hardy is also known for his world class mumbling. How, exactly, was he going to distinguish Eddie Brock's mumble from Venom's mumble?

“It’s a bit like Ren and Stimpy, you know?” Hardy says, laughing. “They have different sounds. I always saw Venom as sounding like a James Brown lounge lizard, and Eddie Brock is kind of…” — he switches to an aw-shucks American accent — “I don’t know, an everyday kind of guy. But he’s inherited this massive ego, this beast.”

Ren and Stimpy? James Brown? Did I actually just become excited for this movie? Nope, nevermind, must've been something I ate. Venom opens in theaters on October 5.