Tom Hardy dreamed of opening a "sourdough cafe" during lockdown.
Tom Hardy covers Esquire UK
The 'Venom: Let There Be Carnage' actor - who has two children, aged five and two, with wife Charlotte Riley and a 13-year-old son from a previous relationship - enjoyed the "commitment" of making his own bread while isolating at home amid the coronavirus pandemic and it led to him imagining an alternative career for himself.
He said: "Fifteen-minute workouts in the garden, home- schooling and making sourdough. I still have the leaven! You have to feed that every day. That’s a commitment. I’ve actually managed to back it up so I’ve got two.
"Just in case someone drops one on the floor or the jar explodes and it’s like, ‘That’s a year-and-a-half’s work!’
"I was thinking I might open up a sourdough café. Coffee and sourdough and jiu-jitsu and AA meetings. You can bring your dog.”
The 43-year-old star has had a lot of time to reflect over the last year and has learned to care less about what people think of him.
He told the new issue of Esquire UK magazine: “I had an opportunity to observe the world and my own behaviours and how I lived my life and what’s important and what isn’t. I spent a lot of time fighting the concept of ‘grown-up’. I think all the baddies and all those sorts of ‘grrrr’ characters that I’ve played, I’m not that. The whole acting thing has been kind of peacock-ish, counter to what I am.
"What’s most indelible on my memory are things that are shocking or scary so it’s very easy to mimic them. It’s actually much harder to mimic things that are soft and nice and intimate if you don’t grow up in that way.
"Now I’m getting older these things are becoming less scary. So it’s not caring so much what people think.”
And Tom feels he has "less reason" to work now because he'd rather be around his family.
He said: “I think there’s less reason to work, ultimately, because the life-drive is to be with the kids and to be fit and healthy and eat well and stuff. If you’ve got a roof over your head and a bed underneath you and food in the fridge, how much is enough? Because it’s not a dress rehearsal, life, is it? It’s going out live. This is one-time.”
The 'Legend' actor is fine with the idea of "disappearing" now because he has "established" himself and his career.
He said: “I’m not so worried to disappear now. When I was a youngster you had to be heard, otherwise you’d be invisible. Once you’ve established yourself you can stop making that much noise.
"Because you’re here now, what are you going to do? And what is enough? What do you need? What do my family need? So that is very relevant.
"I think everybody needs a little bit of their own thing that they do. I like jiu-jitsu and sourdough. That fulfils me.”
The Autumn 2021 issue of Esquire UK is on sale from 11th August. For more from Tom, visit http://www.esquire.com/tom-hardy-venom
Tagged in Tom Hardy Charlotte Riley