Director Gareth Evans (The Raid) knew Tom Hardy was ready to take on playing an action star in the Netflix movie Havoc from a single touch.
“Tom came to us in f—ing beast mode,” Evans told Empire. “I tapped him on the shoulder, and it was just like granite. He came fully physically prepared.”
Hardy will play Walker, a detective forced to explore the criminal underworld who will do whatever it takes to complete his mission, no matter how ugly or messy it gets.
“Walker is not silky-smooth. He’s gonna cause as much carnage and as much mayhem as possible,” Evans said. “He’s not grabbing your wrist and turning you into an arm lock. He’s grabbing you by the scruff of the neck and driving your face into the nearest heavy object.”
Evans knows a thing or two about directing action movies, as evidenced by The Raid and The Raid 2. Havoc is a change of direction from the martial arts-inspired sagas.
“[Havoc] was never going to be a martial-arts film,” Evans explained. “I wanted this to feel like the gunplay stuff that I love watching.”
Who is involved with Tom Hardy in Havoc?
“Walker (Tom Hardy) is a bruised detective fighting his way through the criminal underworld threatening to engulf his entire city,” the Netflix synopsis reads. “In the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong, Walker finds himself with a number of factions on his tail; a vengeful crime syndicate, a crooked politician, as well as his fellow cops. When attempting to rescue the politician’s estranged son, whose involvement in the drug deal starts to unravel a deep web of corruption and conspiracy, he is forced to confront the demons of his past.”
Besides Hardy, Havoc’s ensemble includes Jessie Mei Li, Justin Cornwell, Quelin Sepulveda, Luis Guzmán, Michelle Waterson, Sunny Pang, Jim Caesar, Xelia Mendes-Jones with Yeo Yann Yann, Timothy Olyphant, and Forest Whitaker.
Evans is the writer and director of Havoc. Producers include Evans, Hardy, Ed Talfan, and Aram Tertzakian.
Havoc will begin streaming on Netflix on April 25, 2025.
(Source: Empire)
