Patrick Stewart has recalled working with “odd” and “challenging” Tom Hardy on the set of Star Trek: Nemesis.
The Jean-Luc Picard actor detailed his experience working on the “particularly weak” 2002 film in his new memoir Making It So, where he starred opposite a young Hardy who played villain Shinzon.
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“I didn’t have a single exciting scene to play,” Stewart wrote about the film (via Insider). “And the actor who portrayed the movie’s villain, Shinzon, was an odd, solitary young man from London. His name was Tom Hardy.”
He added: “Tom wouldn’t engage with any of us on a social level. Never said, ‘Good morning,’ never said, ‘Goodnight,’ and spent the hours he wasn’t needed on set in his trailer with his girlfriend.
“He was by no means hostile – it was just challenging to establish any rapport with him.”
Despite his reservations over Hardy’s future at the time, Stewart said he’s glad the actor has proven him “so wrong” in the years since.
“On the evening Tom wrapped his role, he characteristically left without ceremony or niceties, simply walking out of the door,” Stewart wrote.
“As it closed, I said quietly to Brent [Spiner] and Jonathan [Frakes], ‘And there goes someone I think we shall never hear of again.’ It gives me nothing but pleasure that Tom has proven me so wrong.”
Following Star Trek: Nemesis, Hardy has achieved worldwide fame through roles in Bronson, Peaky Blinders, The Dark Knight Rises, Venom and Mad Max: Fury Road.
The actor next stars in The Bikeriders opposite Jodie Comer and Austin Butler. The film, which follows a motorcycle gang in the 1960s, is scheduled to be released on December 1, 2023.