Bikeriders, The: Star Tom Hardy on his Jeff Nichols Movie, Riding Motorcycles, and Austin Butler

Benny (Austin Butler), the new member of the Vandals motorcycle club, has a chance run-in with Kathy (Jodie Comer) at a local bar. Drawn to each other, they are pulled further into the Midwestern motorcycle club. However, it changes from a community built around mutual love of riding into violence and danger. Benny is forced to make a choice between his loyalty to the Vandals and Kathy.

Based on Danny Lyon’s photo book of the same name, Nichols took inspiration from every detail to encapsulate the era and individuals who took a dark turn while searching for a place to belong.

Hardy sheds light on the the bond between Johnny and Benny, including what Johnny sees in the Vandals’ new young member.

Hardy: Complications Of Motorcycles 

“There are some accent similarities to what Johnny in the film sounds like and to him, but there’s a tonality to it that doesn’t lift. There’s an energy element to it. It would be a very different performance, very different music of the whole ensemble if you were to be absolutely accurate.”

Extensive experience riding motorcycles

“They’re dangerous, they’re contrary, and they’re going to fall apart on you and you need to know how to put ’em together. If you don’t know, you need someone that does, and that’s around the clock thing. If you don’t live and breathe it, then you’re not going to get far on one or certainly not for long because it will inevitably fall apart in the next 24 hours. They’re a thing of beautiful engineering and you can understand why some people their heart is open to be near them all day, all the time.

For somebody like me who daytrips in the riding, I ride in the sun. If it’s wet I’m in the car. It’s not like I’m proficient. I can use motorcycle to get around anywhere, if it is got a road. Riding a time piece takes a lot of effort because they can fall apart and that can be dangerous.

Dynamic Between Johnny & Benny

Hardy explained the complexities of Benny and Johnny’s dynamic. While there is loyalty and brotherhood there Johnny also sees a freedom in Benny that he yearns for.

“It’s multi-layered. Johnny is older than Benny by some significant years. Certainly generational. Johnny has two children and wife, and he’s truck driver. He rides for pleasure and it’s his passion outside of family life.

But Benny doesn’t have a family. Benny just rides and is free and pretty much encapsulates for Johnny wish fulfillment, potential life lost, promise, vitality, adoration almost like looking at the part of you that will never be. The love stems for the lamentation of the loss of vitality and the sense of being as pure and wonderful as that, which he projects upon a human being that he’s objectified.”

Jeff Nichols’ contributing directing style

Jeff didn’t add to it. Jeff was it! Jeff came with the quality and we hoped to add value. Everybody had to play their part to add value to what Jeff had laid down. He takes his time to articulate himself, but he has his own way of doing things. You can see it in the writing, in the design, you can see it around him. He’s very clear about what he wants. So finding out what he wants is the key to adding value for Jeff and in turn, that adds value to the audience watching it.

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