Tom Hardy & Andy Serkis Answer the Web's Most Searched Questions

'Venom: Let There Be Carnage' stars Tom Hardy and Andy Serkis answer the web's most searched questions about themselves and Venom. What kind of accent does Tom Hardy have? How did Andy Serkis get into acting? What is Tom Hardy's favorite martial art? How did Andy get cast as Gollum? Does Tom speak French?'Venom: Let There Be Carnage' opens wide exclusively in movie theaters October 1.

Video Transcript

TOM HARDY: Hi, I'm Tom Hardy.

ANDY SERKIS: And I'm Andy Serkis. And we are doing the Wired Autocomplete Interview.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

TOM HARDY: You really answered those super thoroughly and really fast.

ANDY SERKIS: Well-- well--

TOM HARDY: You have to turn it around and feature to the camera.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

ANDY SERKIS: What is Tom Hardy doing now?

TOM HARDY: Currently, I'm working. If it's a question is like, what am I working on right now? Currently, I'm doing a film with Gareth Evans for Netflix, which is a kind of police thriller, really uber violent movie.

ANDY SERKIS: Yeah. But what are you doing like, right now?

[LAUGHTER]

What is Tom Hardy's accent?

TOM HARDY: Mellifluous. I'd say at best as a collage of places, people, things, feelings. It's irrelevant.

[LAUGHS]

If you understand me, that's all that matters. I mean, it's a hybrid of-- of wish fulfillments.

[LAUGHTER]

And shame. I think I'm Bourgeois-- middle class-- posh. Middle class twat.

[LAUGHTER]

And-- and I affect it with all kinds of interesting variants in order to make myself seem interesting. Moving on.

ANDY SERKIS: What is Tom Hardy like in a real life?

TOM HARDY: That's a really good question. I've never-- I've never come across myself.

[LAUGHTER]

I imagine he's a bit of a knob. But honest, you know, as the day is long.

ANDY SERKIS: I know that to be absolutely true.

TOM HARDY: Hard working.

ANDY SERKIS: Very. Always.

TOM HARDY: Diligent.

ANDY SERKIS: Yep.

TOM HARDY: Late.

ANDY SERKIS: Often but not always.

TOM HARDY: I'm happy-- I'm happy, I think. And grateful, very grateful to be alive and to be privileged. And to be sat alongside you. And here with you, and you.

ANDY SERKIS: What is Tom Hardy's favorite martial art? Oh, God. Anyway.

[YAWNS]

TOM HARDY: I love Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

ANDY SERKIS: Let me know when you're finish.

TOM HARDY: I just want to-- yeah, finish and I just want to go and roll, and get all sweaty in Spandex.

ANDY SERKIS: With anyone in particular or?

TOM HARDY: With everyone.

ANDY SERKIS: With everyone?

TOM HARDY: And everyone. Yeah. It's such a lovely sport.

ANDY SERKIS: Can you demonstrate some jiu-jitsu?

TOM HARDY: No. It's impossible. It's impossible to do it alone.

ANDY SERKIS: Show me a grip.

TOM HARDY: Oh, you.

[LAUGHTER]

This is important. If you grip, you have to put the knuckles on.

ANDY SERKIS: Oh, really. That is actually quite an expensive sweater.

TOM HARDY: There you go. It doesn't suit you, though.

[LAUGHTER]

OK. So how did Andy Serkis-- going to off this side, get into acting?

ANDY SERKIS: How did I get in? Because they let me. And actually on my first day of acting, I went-- I got my equity card, which of course, he needed in those days to get into a theater. And I was told that I couldn't enter unless I had it in my hand so they didn't let me into the rehearsal room. And then it was a joke. And I felt really embarrassed.

TOM HARDY: So you didn't have to have an equity card?

ANDY SERKIS: No. It was a joke.

TOM HARDY: How did Andy Serkis get cast as Gollum?

ANDY SERKIS: So I was asked to audition for a film called "Lord of the Rings" that was being made down in New Zealand. And I said, surely-- they wanted a voice for a digital character. And I said, "surely, there must be like, some really good roles in that movie. Why do you want me to do a voice for a digital character?"

And then they said, "no. It's Gollum." And so I said, "OK." So I based it on, I thought, how am I going to-- how am I going to do it? I'm going to get into-- I'm going to basically impersonate my cat. So I impersonate my cat coughing up verbals. And I went [VOCALIZING] and that became "Gollum."

Woo-hoo. That's cool. OK. So how did Andy Serkis play "King Kong?" How did you play "King Kong?" I played him on set with Naomi Watts in a gorilla muscle suit.

TOM HARDY: Do you still have that?

ANDY SERKIS: I was on top-- I do have the gorilla muscles suit. And I was on top of-- I was on top of cherry pickers, and cranes, and saws, all sorts of adjustable height ladders so that we could be in close proximity to each other, or I could be at the right height. And then I had a thing called a [? Congalizer, ?] which was a thing, which then projected my voice through these big speakers so I could sound like a big gorilla.

And then I did-- and then when all of that was finished when we did the onset stuff, and we shot all of Naomi's side of things, then I went onto to the motion capture stage for two months, and did all of the Kong's movements. So it was a complex affair.

TOM HARDY: It's kind of blowing my mind. I need to work with you on that hand stuff. OK. So how did Andy Serkis prepare for "Venom 2?"

ANDY SERKIS: There was nothing that could prepare me for "Venom 2."

Does Tom Hardy speak French?

TOM HARDY: Not really. I speak really bad French. I can understand--

ANDY SERKIS: [SPEAKS FRENCH]

TOM HARDY: No. It's possible. I do-- I do-- I do understand it enough to know what you're saying.

ANDY SERKIS: But why would that question be asked?

TOM HARDY: Because I may have said that I speak French like I speak. If I say I ride horses and I can ski proficiently, and all kinds of things to get work.

[LAUGHS]

None of it is true.

ANDY SERKIS: Does Tom Hardy--

TOM HARDY: Even though I am honest.

ANDY SERKIS: -- sing?

TOM HARDY: I don't sing. No.

ANDY SERKIS: You do.

TOM HARDY: I do not.

ANDY SERKIS: You sing in this movie.

TOM HARDY: That's true. But I'm being paid. But not-- it's not something that I bring-- it's not something that I feel the need to express myself through the medium of.

ANDY SERKIS: Do you-- is easy. But do you-- so you don't sing in the shower? You don't sing around the house when you're making sound over?

TOM HARDY: Yes. Sometimes. I sing-- sing to the babies when they were babies just so they get to know my voice and they could hear my berr, you know, when they were baby. But now my children say, "Daddy, don't sing because it rains when you sing."

[LAUGHTER]

Move on please. It's emotional.

ANDY SERKIS: Does Tom Hardy support Tottenham?

TOM HARDY: I did a documentary about Tottenham Hotspur. But I'm afraid that if I had to support a team, I think I'd fall into the category of where I grew up and what team was the closest to me, and that would be Brentford.

ANDY SERKIS: Does Tom Hardy well, I mean-- [SIGHS] like dogs? I mean, what kind of question is that?

TOM HARDY: Yeah. I love dogs. Yeah. Of course, I love dogs. Yes. I was--

ANDY SERKIS: As much as if-- more than humans.

TOM HARDY: I think it's my gateway to liking human beings. Yes. Or understanding at least. Yeah. But interesting. Each to their own, right?

ANDY SERKIS: A gateway drug to humans.

TOM HARDY: A gateway of understanding and caring. yeah, more.

ANDY SERKIS: That's amazing.

TOM HARDY: Of compassion. Yeah.

ANDY SERKIS: No. I believe you.

TOM HARDY: In less complicated in that aspect, whereas you know, human beings are not.

[LAUGHTER]

ANDY SERKIS: Next.

TOM HARDY: Does-- does Andy Serkis sing?

ANDY SERKIS: No. Not really. No. No.

TOM HARDY: Not in the shower. I supposed me.

ANDY SERKIS: No. No. No. How dull. Was that question--

TOM HARDY: No. It wasn't dull.

ANDY SERKIS: Yeah. I mean, I mean, I wouldn't say like, my wife Lorraine sings all day long. She's just like-- it's just like a-- you know, the house is full of song all day long. So actually, I don't get even a word in edgewise to sing. Should I even want it.

TOM HARDY: Well, maybe it's a touchy subject. But does Andy Serkis have one arm in real life?

ANDY SERKIS: I don't understand that question. But I guess that's related to "Black Panther," where I played Ulysses Klaue who lost an arm. But I wouldn't say I was method in the sense that I was prepared to chop my arm off--

TOM HARDY: Do you have a green sock?

ANDY SERKIS: -- in "Black Panther." I had a green-- I had a green sock because the arm had to then unpeel, as if you liked it. So I had a sort of plastic, rubber prosthetic arm over the top, which then-- then had lines on it, which then unpeeled to become the sonic weapon. But yes and no.

TOM HARDY: Does Andy Serkis have kids? Does Andy Serkis have kids? Does you have kids?

ANDY SERKIS: I does. I does. I have three kids. Ruby, Sonny, and Louie. My daughter's 23, my son's 21, Sonny, and Louis 17. All of whom have entered into the profession as young thespians.

TOM HARDY: Fantastic. They all got their equity cards. Does Andy Serkis play a hobbit in "Return of the King?"

ANDY SERKIS: I mean, not strictly speaking although of course, Gollum was a stoor hobbit. So yes, I suppose you could say. He was in before he became-- before he became emaciated, and-- and overpowered by the ring. He is a hobby. So yes when he smiggle, before he gets transformed into Gollum. He is a stoor hobbit, stoor hobbits were river hobbits and they lived by the river Gladden.

TOM HARDY: Does Andy Serkis ride motorbikes?

ANDY SERKIS: No. I had a very-- I had a Kawasaki 125 when I was about 17 but I came off at that many times. It was just-- it was just not going to happen. Yeah. No. I was constantly crashing, and sliding, and trying to be-- trying to be Evel Knievel at the time.

TOM HARDY: Oh, yeah. [INAUDIBLE]

ANDY SERKIS: You know what I mean?

TOM HARDY: Oh, there's more boards? OK.

ANDY SERKIS: There's four each.

TOM HARDY: Oh, Jesus. Here we go.

ANDY SERKIS: We could go for days.

TOM HARDY: What movie is Andy Serkis-- I'm going to go this way, right? --directing next? What are you directing next?

ANDY SERKIS: That's a good question. We've got a whole bunch of movies that are kind of in development. But what actually comes up, likely to be, Animal Farm. I think that's probably the next thing I'll do.

TOM HARDY: George Orwell?

ANDY SERKIS: George Orwell's Animal Farm. That is actually currently in the early works of being developed into a movie.

TOM HARDY: What does Andy Serkis do for fun?

ANDY SERKIS: What? That we can talk about here?

TOM HARDY: Well, what do you feel comfortable talking about?

ANDY SERKIS: I'm massively into climbing. I'm a big, very passionate mountaineer. I love being in the mountains, adore being in the mountains. In fact, you know, I was in the mountains last week.

TOM HARDY: What did Andy Serkis play in "Star Wars"?

ANDY SERKIS: People know that. So why is it--

TOM HARDY: Because people Google this because they didn't recognize you, clearly. Maybe, my guess would be--

ANDY SERKIS: Oh, I see.

TOM HARDY: It's like, well, we looked, we watched it, but we couldn't-- It was so remarkable.

TOGETHER: The transformation--

TOM HARDY: He's invisible.

ANDY SERKIS: All right. If I say this, might this give you a clue? Have you felt it? That was a line from "Star Wars" in which I played Supreme Leader Snoke, The character that no one knows where he came from, where he's going to, or what he is, or whatever, anything about him because he's so mysterious, including myself.

TOM HARDY: What is Andy Serkis work-- What is Andy Serkis's workout routine?

ANDY SERKIS: OK. I like cycling. I like, as I said, climbing, and I do occasional-- And I like walking. I actually like walking every day, very fast around the heath.

TOGETHER: [LAUGHS]

TOM HARDY: Are you being investigated? OK. So what inspire-- What inspires Andy Serkis? That's hard.

ANDY SERKIS: Tom Hardy.

TOM HARDY: Oh.

ANDY SERKIS: Majorly. Woody Harrelson, Naomi Harris, Kandinsky, Francis Bacon, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Nina Simone.

TOM HARDY: They're beautiful inspirations, man. I mean, me withstanding, obviously. Like--

ANDY SERKIS: How did Tom Hardy become an actor?

TOM HARDY: Yeah I think I was about 19, 20. 19 or 20. And it was when we were auditioning for drama schools. And I didn't get in. I said, No, I need to do that. It's FOMO. No, I have to-- Well, there's nothing else I can do. Nothing. It's an unusual thing to have gotten into really, to sort of have invested everything on something that was unlikely to work. But there you go.

ANDY SERKIS: How did Tom Hardy fight himself in "Legend"?

TOM HARDY: Well, I didn't fight myself actually. I fought with Jacob Tomuri, who's obviously a good friend of mine and a brilliant stuntman. And we've been working since "Fury Road" together. And we coupled that together with Justin Spencer in a couple of days. And it took us two days to shoot. And it was really good fun actually. And it was over Jakie's shoulder and to me. And then over Jakie's shoulder onto me as he swapped from one knee to Reggie as well with me.

ANDY SERKIS: Here we go. How did Tom Hardy train for "Venom"?

TOM HARDY: I had two knee surgeries and sat around. Didn't I? I'd had two meniscus surgeries.

ANDY SERKIS: Just before. Literally not long before shooting. It was unbelievable.

TOM HARDY: Eight weeks. Eight weeks before.

ANDY SERKIS: I don't know how you did that.

TOM HARDY: Well I just had to do it. I tore the meniscus on the first "Venom" because I wore boxing boots, because it looked so cool. And I was like, Oh, they look really good. And I really think that would be great for the character. And they were. But they've got no cushion in them. So you were running around on the concrete.

I just, I'm old enough to cause damage quick. And that was it. And then I had the meniscus went in jujitsu. And then I couldn't get-- If I bent down, I couldn't stand up again because they were locked and stuff. I was rubbish. So I had the operation really quick. I think it was just to shave on both. But it was-- I had two back to back eight weeks before we started filming. And then so that, the fighting was a little bit [NERVOUS NOISE].

ANDY SERKIS: How did Tom Hardy do the Bane voice?

TOM HARDY: That was actually a really cool choice that Chris made, Chris Nolan. Bane quintessentially is Latinx in many-- of origin of a character. And I am not. So I looked at the concept of Latin and found a character, a gentleman-- not a gentleman --a man called Bartley Gorman, who's a Romani gypsy, and the King of the Gypsies in inverted commas and a bare knuckle fighter, and a boxer.

And he said, "When I get into a ring with a man, he will want to wipe me off the face of the earth. Nobody wants to kill me." And I was like, Oh, this is great. And then I was like-- I showed Chris. I said, Chris, we can either go down a sort of arch Darth Vader kind of route in a straight neutral toned villain voice or we could try this.

And this I'd been thinking of just in case we've got to consider the roots and origins of Bane. But we could get laughed out of the park with, it might be something that we regret, but it's your choice, ultimately. And he goes, No. I think we'll go with it. And that was that. And we played with it and made it a bit more florid. And now people laughed at it.

TOGETHER: [LAUGHS]

TOM HARDY: Is Andy Serkis-- Actually, is Andy Serkis American?

ANDY SERKIS: Well, it's a little known secret that I'm not. No.

TOM HARDY: Is Andy Serkis in "Venom"? Be honest. Be honest.

ANDY SERKIS: OK. No. Actually. Do you know what? There is a moment where--

TOM HARDY: Yeah.

ANDY SERKIS: Do you remember at the breakfast table where Venom is tapping Eddie Brock on the shoulder?

TOM HARDY: Yes

ANDY SERKIS: And you said, Can you be the tendril of Venom?

TOM HARDY: Yes. Yes. Yes.

ANDY SERKIS: So I kind of am.

TOM HARDY: Cheer up, buddy.

ANDY SERKIS: I kind of am in the movie.

TOM HARDY: You are. Cheer up, buddy.

ANDY SERKIS: Cheer up, buddy.

TOM HARDY: Is Andy Serkis in "Game of Thrones"?

ANDY SERKIS: Well, look anybody who watches "Game of Thrones" will clearly know that I'm not in it.

TOM HARDY: But are you in it?

ANDY SERKIS: Well I'm invested in it but definitely not in it.

TOM HARDY: Is Andy Serkis married?

ANDY SERKIS: Very, definitely, yes.

TOM HARDY: I can answer that. Yeah.

ANDY SERKIS: Yes I've been together with Lorraine for 30 years now, 30 long, very happy, we've never argued once, years. And we have three children, Ruby, Sonny, and Louis. And, yeah. Yeah. We sort of still rub along together. Things are all right. You know, hanging in there.

Well, this is going to be-- This is not as dangerous now. This is getting into dangerous territory. Did Tom Hardy actually eat a live lobster?

TOM HARDY: Several. Yeah.

ANDY SERKIS: Was-- Wow, really?

TOM HARDY: Yeah. Several.

ANDY SERKIS: Did you actually--

TOM HARDY: I think it's only fair. Isn't it? And I was like, Once I did one in the tank, then I finished the rest of them off because they witnessed. And they are higher beings as well because they-- No. I didn't eat any of them. They were-- it's a highly sentient being apparently because it lives off shit, and he eats as a bottom feeder, and it can subsist on what people don't need, the lobster.

ANDY SERKIS: Oh, that's very interesting. Were there not rules in the union against lobsters?

TOM HARDY: There is no union for lobsters.

ANDY SERKIS: Really? Did Tom Hardy ad lib "Peaky Blinders"

TOM HARDY: Ad lib in "Peaky Blinders"?

ANDY SERKIS: I guess.

TOM HARDY: Well, to be honest, Steve Knight is such an awesome writer of dialogue that there is no reason to ad lib in "Peaky Blinders" at all. And he always gives me a good 10 page scene whenever I turn up a day. So I can't lie. I do lib as well. I like to go off that.

ANDY SERKIS: [INAUDIBLE] stage I've noticed.

TOM HARDY: I do like to ad lib. Yeah. But based off a solid script. I like to get all of Steve Knight's work in there because that's what should be in there. It's awesome. But it's just so good that I just like to go off. What's next?

ANDY SERKIS: Next is did Tom Hardy actually fly a plane in "Dunkirk"?

TOM HARDY: On the day like Douglas Bader, kind of old school?

ANDY SERKIS: Yeah.

TOM HARDY: Or in the film?

ANDY SERKIS: In the film.

TOM HARDY: Oh. Because I wasn't-- On the day, I didn't actually fly a plane back in the Second World War.

ANDY SERKIS: Oh you didn't?

TOM HARDY: No.

ANDY SERKIS: But in the film?

TOM HARDY: In the film, I didn't actually fly a plane in the film either. But everything that I shot was shot in a sort of cockpit seat taken over a cliff.

ANDY SERKIS: That's amazing.

TOM HARDY: So you see the scene in the background.

ANDY SERKIS: Did Tom Hardy voice Bane in "South Park"?

TOM HARDY: No. I didn't. No. I didn't. But I'm glad that somebody did, if they did. Did they? Have they?

ANDY SERKIS: They must have done.

TOM HARDY: That's awesome.

ANDY SERKIS: That's cool. Isn't it?

TOM HARDY: Yeah. It's nice.

ANDY SERKIS: It's great to have your character immortalized in such a fine piece of animation.

TOM HARDY: I like being reminded that I'm just a collage and fragment of insecurities and neurosis.

ANDY SERKIS: But we've established that you are deeply honest. So that's at the root of everything that's important.

TOM HARDY: Yeah. That's true. And you like to climb mountains.

ANDY SERKIS: Exactly. Exactly. Nothing profound in that. It's been--

TOM HARDY: A pleasure.

ANDY SERKIS: Completely.

TOM HARDY: Thank you for watching.

ANDY SERKIS: Goodbye.