Gareth Evans and Tom Hardy seem like the perfect fit based on the first reactions to Netflix’s Havoc, so it might surprise you to learn that Evans didn’t write it with the star in mind.
The action thriller sees Hardy play troubled detective Walker who uncovers a conspiracy when he has to protect the son of a crooked politician.
But when Evans was writing the script for Havoc, he didn’t actually have anybody in mind for the role of Walker – and for a very good reason.
“When you write a character, the worst thing you can do is think of writing for someone,” he exclusively told Digital Spy.
“Otherwise what it does is it colours the cadence of the character and really what I want to do is meet this person fresh and discover who that character is and the way they behave within the world of that film.”
Related: How Tom Hardy prepared for “intense” Havoc fight scenes
Evans continued: “I’ve got to know Tom quite well now in the time that we’ve worked together, but before that, I only know him from one time that we’d met and then otherwise it’s [his] films I’ve seen so that’s leaping off other characters and that’s not what Walker is.
“Once we’d written the script, we had a call from Tom’s reps who were like, ‘Hey Tom’s available’. We’d been circling each other’s work for a while and so it was a perfect opportunity to send the material across and then thankfully he responded to the script.”
It’s a decision that paid off in the end, which you’ll see when Havoc lands on Netflix this Friday (25 April).
Hardy’s performance is so good that even his co-star Justin Cornwell’s favourite moment from the movie isn’t even one he’s directly involved in.
Related: First reactions land for Tom Hardy’s “relentlessly brutal” action thriller
“The thing that I rewatched about this movie is not even a part that I’m in. I’m in the part, but I’m somewhere else. It’s Tom and Michelle [Waterson]’s fight,” he told Digital Spy.
“I just think it’s so intense. There’s lots of stuff going on and I just love that sequence. It’s just so incredible.”
Ahead of the movie’s release, Cornwell’s co-star Quelin Sepulveda also recalled the moment with Hardy that meant she struggled to sleep after filming it.
Havoc is released on Netflix on 25 April.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.