“He Showed Up in Beast Mode” – Gareth Evans Reveals the Shocking Truth About Tom Hardy on Havoc Set!

After years of near-misses and mutual admiration, action maestro Gareth Evans and screen titan Tom Hardy finally collided in Havoc — a Netflix original that sees both talents push their limits in a gritty, blood-soaked thriller. In a series of revealing interviews following the film’s April 25, 2025, release, Evans opened up about the long journey to collaboration, Hardy’s “beast mode” preparation, and the deliberate tailoring of Havoc‘s brutal action to suit his leading man’s formidable strengths.

Evans, celebrated for redefining action cinema with The Raid series, had wanted to work with Hardy for years. Although their paths nearly crossed before, it wasn’t until Havoc — a politically charged crime story set two days before Christmas — that stars aligned. Under Evans’ exclusive Netflix deal, the project kicked off in 2021, weathering production delays and industry strikes before finally hitting screens in 2025. Throughout it all, Evans praised Hardy’s patience, professionalism, and fierce commitment to the vision.

In Havoc, Hardy plays Walker, a morally compromised homicide detective caught in a nightmarish web of corruption after a botched drug deal. Far from his typical martial-arts-infused choreography, Evans crafted a different kind of action for Havoc — gritty, grounded, and brutal. “It was never going to be a martial-arts film,” Evans explained to Variety, emphasizing instead physicality inspired by ’70s American crime dramas and Hong Kong “heroic bloodshed.” Scenes feature Hardy driving enemies into hard surfaces, grappling in claustrophobic spaces, and trading bone-crunching blows — all captured in Evans’ signature bite-sized, puzzle-piece sequences designed for clarity and intensity.

Hardy, Evans said, arrived on set “properly jacked” and in “fucking beast mode,” physically embodying the battered, desperate detective. His performance, noted by critics as reminiscent of Bruce Willis’s worn-down hero in Die Hard, carries the weight of exhaustion, survival, and simmering rage — essential qualities Evans sought to portray.

Interestingly, Evans didn’t write the character of Walker with Hardy in mind. As he told Digital Spy, “The worst thing you can do is write for someone. You meet the character fresh.” This allowed Hardy to discover Walker organically, shaping a more authentic, layered portrayal rather than a mere extension of his earlier tough-guy roles.

The production of Havoc wasn’t without challenges. Originally wrapping in 2021, reshoots and external delays pushed the release by several years. Yet Evans saw this long gestation as a blessing in disguise, giving him time to refine the film into the “blistering, fast-paced action-thriller” he envisioned, a love letter to Hong Kong cinema with a uniquely Western grit.

Since its release, Havoc has sparked praise for its visceral set pieces and Hardy’s unrelenting intensity, even if some critics noted the character development lacked the depth of Evans’ earlier work. Still, for Evans, the collaboration with Hardy represents a creative high point. Their partnership delivered a raw, relentless thriller that honors the bruised humanity at the heart of great action films — a testament to two artists meeting at the peak of their craft, with nothing held back.