Tom Hardy attacks at "Venom" and perhaps also at the Marvel Universe

The well-inked English actor, who has made himself known in raw and muscular films such as "Bronson" and "Warrior", has slowly progressed in major studio films. "The black knight stands up." "Mad Max: Fury Road." "The Revenant", which earned him his first Oscar nomination.

By 2018, he is the face of the nascent world of Sony Pictures, thanks to the adaptation of the comic strip "Venom" (in the cinema Friday). "I'm half of the face," said Hardy deadpans, his recently discarded baseball cap. It shows Exhibit A: a movie poster at about ten meters in which the actor's head is half covered by a terrifying stranger to his teeth.

In "Venom", Hardy plays the amorphous and carnivorous parasite that enters San Francisco and into the body of an investigative journalist named Eddie Brock (also played by Hardy). The PG-13 movie, much darker than its Disney-backed "Avengers" style brothers, is more akin to such sneaky, so-called "Ghostbusters" and "Batman" films by Tim Burton.

Do not mess with this carnivorous stranger. Tom Hardy plays the lead role in "Venom". (Photo: SONY PHOTOS)

"I'm old and ugly enough and long enough to take on some responsibilities and not be swallowed up by something that I might have feared as a young actor," said Hardy, 41, who produces.

In short, it was time to make a jump.

And "Venom" is a bet. The violent character, who haunts the Earth feasting on human heads and ripped limbs, first appeared on the big screen in the critical bust "Spider-Man 3", which was then performed by Topher Grace.

Hardy persisted, determined to make a film for as wide a public as possible. This may bear fruit: Although critics have not been convinced, "Venom" should win the weekend with an estimated $ 60 million.

Tom Hardy plays investigative journalist Eddie Brock in "Venom". (Photo: FRANK MASI)

"I'm not an unconditional fan of comics. I'm a creative artist and I may be angry with some people, but not some people, "says Hardy.

And so the actor went thoroughly. For months before filming, Hardy was working on Venom's voice, playing recordings on GarageBand at home while sending Symbiot's paintings and drawings to director Ruben Fleischer. "He was just obsessed with that," says Fleischer.

On the set, Hardy had the idea of ​​diving into an icy lobster pool, exploiting a restaurant scene for comedy. "Most of the actors, you ask them, you're going to have to break the lobster, and they're reluctant to do it," says Fleischer. "He initiated it."

The actor was applauded by his 10-year-old son Louis, who adores Venom. "If I'm really honest, he likes them all," Hardy admits, from Captain America to Batman.

For some, "Venom" may be an audition to enter Marvel's "Avengers" line at Spidey. But for Hardy, the question is whether Venom is among all the other superheroes. "Could you see it in a combination of movies, whether it's for DC or Marvel, can you see Eddie Brock and Venom working with one of your other options, and if you can, it's successful," says Hardy.

In person, Hardy's accessories are his safety valves. As he plunges deeper into the conversation, a pile of wooden beaded bracelets is threaded and removed to be finally thrown in pile on the couch. He puts on his solid leather jacket. He does not touch his pen of vaporization always present. (And, yes, on his inner biceps is the little tattoo "Leo knows everything" that he got after losing a bet with Leonardo DiCaprio. "It's like a Basquiat." "Signed Hardy," he spins the gold tape on his thumb, a pledge of his dead grandfather.

His family life is one of the main reasons he took "Venom". His wife Charlotte Riley, an actress, and his sons did not accompany him to the shoot in Atlanta. (He and Riley have a toddler who is almost 3 years old, his elder is from a previous relationship.)

"Things have to change significantly," he says. "This is another good reason to move to slightly more lucrative activities and consider the possibility of saying" I need time to be here as a parent ". Like, months of being a parent. "

The days of innocence of children are ephemeral, he knows it. "There is a window with children where the world revolves around them, because it's supposed to do it," says Hardy.

When they are young, "they are small tank commanders, and you are basically there to carry them from one activity to another and feed them, and everything is done for them. they bang their heads, you keep them alive, and you keep them enjoying Christmas and all you can, enjoy it while it lasts! "

It's this innate wonder that Hardy protects. A freedom of suffering, of existential fear, that ahh, he says.

"I want to deepen that because it does not last." He laughs, considering: "Unless you are Bill Murray."