When conducting interviews, members of the press are often hamstrung by very specific guidelines given to them by a celebrity or their handlers in terms of what they can and cannot ask. Alice & Dev, radio hosts on BBC 1, decided to get creative when given the chance to pepper Venom star Tom Hardy with questions: they used kids to do their dirty work for them.
Interviewer Dev begins the one-on-one by explaining this loophole, summing it up by joking, "If a guest doesn't answer, it means they hate children."
Things start innocuously enough, with a five year old boy asking how Hardy gets into everybody's televisions. The actor is unruffled, and comes up with an elaborate response that likely confirms what a lot of children already believe.
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"There's a little door 'round the back," he explains. "Inside there, there are various colleges -- it's a bit like Hogwarts, but different. And there's an acting school in there as well. After a period of time you graduate, and eventually you appear, when they let you."
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Hardy is quick to add, though, that this secret should be kept between himself and the boy, and that Cooper shouldn't necessarily go about confirming this bit of magic firsthand. "Don't go 'round the back of the telly without your mum or dad watching you, okay? Or touch any wires, or look for a door."
Hardy is the father of two children himself, which becomes evident early in the interview by how easily he navigates the kids' queries, which range from touchy to hilariously random. He's given a moment of pause when a question from an eleven year old girl, who is searching for a way to behave herself at school, asks, "What's the naughtiest thing you've ever done?"
"You don't want to know!" Hardy exclaims. "Go online when you're old enough and have a look. It gets worse! But making the effort to try to be good is really, really important. But being yourself is more important. Enjoy being young, because it's very, very special."
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Other lines of inquiry from the kids include asking him what snack he would be, which of the Disney princesses is his favorite, and whether Hardy likes goldfish more than humans. Impressively, he has a thoughtful (and funny) answer for each child.
Known for being a convincing onscreen villain, like Bane in The Dark Knight Rises and infamous British prisoner Michael Peterson in Bronson, Hardy shows here that he's quite different in real life. There are some stories out there about his misspent youth and substance abuse, which explains his comment about what kids should search for online when they're all grown up, but he seems to have lived a not-very-villainous life for many years. Hardy may have to continue embracing his dark side for a while, though, as he is rumoured to be on board for two more Venom films.
Venom, the latest instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will hit theatres Oct. 5. Directed by Ruben Fleischer, the film stars Tom Hardy as Venom/Eddie Brock and Michelle Williams as Anne Weying, and co-stars Woody Harrelson, Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate, and Michelle Lee.