Austin Butler and Tom Hardy’s upcoming action thriller movie, The Bikeriders, is just around the corner, and fans are already falling in love with the idea of men in leather jackets riding off into the sunset in a motorbike.
As much as everyone knows how attractive the leading men of this movie are, there was one point during production that someone suggested to make them look ridiculous; at least for Butler, he thought he would end up looking funny.
Austin Butler Revealed He Almost Looked Silly In The Bikeriders
In a conversation with Collider Interviews, actor Austin Butler was asked what it was like to film a movie where he’s riding around without a helmet on.
It’s a miracle we got this film insured. I remember when we were first having the conversations about how to do it, and somebody pitched the idea of these helmets with hair on the outside.
The actor could not fathom the idea of wearing a helmet with hair attached on the outside. He admitted seeing a picture of it and thought “it’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever seen because it makes your head look like it’s this big, and there’s hair on the outside.” He could not believe how that idea would even be possible.
Butler remarked that if he trained very well that riding becomes second nature to him, he wouldn’t need a helmet. Still, he confessed, “I only crashed once, so we’re okay.”
Indeed, he would never look good with that kind of helmet on. Besides, his character Benny, was considered the most attractive and enigmatic in the bunch. In fact, Butler and director Jeff Nichols talked about how to present him in a certain way.
Tom Hardy Explains The Change He Made For His Character In The Bikeriders
Tom Hardy recently spoke with Variety to talk about his new role as Johnny in The Bikeriders. He justified why he tried to challenge the stereotype of his character in the film.
You look straight away at a biker movie and think, ‘Oh, it’s leather. It’s s*xy. The music’s great. The hair’s great.’ The obvious choice is to play to all of these. So the obvious choice for somebody like me is to go to the counterpoint of all those.
This is the reason why he used a voice that sounded creepy and “a little like Bugs Bunny.” He tried to put so much personality in Johnny to defy the expectations of viewers. Not that he’s no longer attractive anymore because of his weird accent, but the actor believes there’s more to tell about the character rather than be boxed in one persona.
Butler and Hardy had somewhat different perceptions of their characters and the movie itself, but both of them worked hard to embody their roles in the most authentic way possible.
The Bikeriders hits theaters on June 21.
