UK: Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton get in shape to play cage fighting brothers in "Warrior" - but say it's still co-star Nick Nolte who would win in a fight

Record ID: 203287

  • Title: UK: Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton get in shape to play cage fighting brothers in "Warrior" - but say it's still co-star Nick Nolte who would win in a fight
  • Date: 21st September 2011
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOEL EDGERTON, ON THE FIGHT SCENES, SAYING: "Just imagine getting to a location eight weeks early and then pending six sometimes seven days a week getting up at seven in the morning and through to mid afternoon just training. Fighting, eating an lot of food, lifting a lot of weight. So you're trying to kind of change your diet and the shape of your body and the skill set and your ability to use your body all at the same time in this mad crash course to get you looking and feeling and belonging in a cage. Looking and feeling like a fighter who in the real world would have had probably maybe upwards of ten years background in the fighting world. So incredibly exhausting but I have to say also very invigorating."
  • Embargoed: 6th October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVA2UCM5M5DRBKPY8XFIXARI9OA5
  • Story Text: Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton take sibling rivalry to new extremes in the fight drama "Warrior".
    The physically demanding roles required the two lead actors to look and move like mixed martial arts cage fighters - which meant rigourous training and intense preparation ahead of filming.
    "Just imagine getting to a location eight weeks early and then pending six sometimes seven days a week getting up at seven in the morning and through to mid afternoon just training. Fighting, eating an lot of food, lifting a lot of weight," Joel Edgerton told Reuters Television. "So you're trying to kind of change your diet and the shape of your body and the skill set and your ability to use your body all at the same time in this mad crash course to get you looking and feeling and belonging in a cage. Looking and feeling like a fighter who in the real world would have had probably maybe upwards of ten years background in the fighting world. So incredibly exhausting but I have to say also very invigorating."
    For Tom Hardy the training required for the part almost eclipsed the acting.
    "It was plate spinning for me. I bit off more than I could chew, I felt, personally," he said. "The world of MMA is fascinating and also also overwhelming if you're not ready for athleticism at that level and a lot of it was busking for me, oh my God these guys are so disciplined, so fit, so strong, so confident in many ways. And the acting part of it was the most important component in many way because otherwise they would have got two fighters to play the brothers but there was so much work to do on the physical side of it that it took the back seat in many ways and it was a bit of a scramble."
    Written and directed by Gavin O'Connor, "Warrior" tells the story of two estranged brothers facing the fight of their lives when they compete against each other in a high stakes, winner-takes-all mixed martial arts event.
    Ex-marine Tommy Conlon (Hardy) has returned home to enlist the help of his former alcoholic father (Nick Nolte) to train for the fight.
    The mysterious Tommy, harbouring a secret from his past that drives him to win the prize money, steadily demolishes anybody in his path to enter the final.
    Hardy's brooding Tommy is a man of few words in the film, usually letting his fists do the talking.
    The actor said the sparse dialogue for his character made for a refreshing change as an actor:
    "It's nice to be silent. Stillness is so--- it's almost exposition these days in film it's nice to actually be, have the pretension to shut up."
    Meanwhile in the movie, Brendan (Edgerton), an ex-fighter-turned teacher, returns to the ring in a desperate bid to save his family from financial ruin - putting himself on a collision course with his brother - the seemingly unbeatable Tommy.
    But when the two brothers finally confront each other inside the cage there is more at stake than just the winning of the belt.
    Despite the intense training - and a convincing performance to the contrary - Edgerton say he is still no fighter.
    "And I know now I'm no greater fighter than I was when I started the movie and just a note to anyone out there who is really interested in beating the shit out of me, I promise you, you'd be able to do it so don't even try," he joked.
    Out of all the cast, Tom Hardy said there would be no contest about who would win in a real fight
    "Nick Nolte. Blatant," he said without hesitation.
    Edgerton - from personal experience - agreed.
    "Nick jumped on me, we were watching an MMA-- we were watching UFC over at Gavin O'Connor's (director) house and there was a really intense moment, two fighters wrapped up in a jujitsu hold and no one was moving for a while and nick got so tense he leapt on me, started beating me up," he recalled.
    "Warrior" hits UK cinemas on September 23.
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