PAIt’s no secret that Tom Hardy holds a special place in his heart for dogs.
Whether it’s at home, on the street, in a shop, on set or at a film premiere, he always has a dog close by.
In fact, Tom’s love for pups is so well-documented that there’s an entire Instagram page dedicated to him holding dogs.
Back in September 2015, Hardy further proved his commitment to the species by taking his dog Woodstock to the U.K. premiere of Legend:
GettyAnd in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Tom explained exactly why he holds man’s best friend in such high regard:
They’re just so clean and straightforward, and they wear their heart on their chest. You know what you’re getting with a dog. I love that. Unfettered companionship and loyalty in the most boring of manners. The life and the soul is right next to you, keeping the heart ticking over in the room. You know when a dog’s around, there’s good times. . . It’s like, why would it choose to be around us? What the hell does it see in us? We don’t deserve them! What does it see in us that it’s so like, ‘Well, I wanna be with you, you’re awesome?’ I’m not that awesome. You’re awesome.
A perfect explanation for why dogs are the best.
And his feelings for them aren’t just a put-on, you can trust Tom on that. While in Toronto, he clarified: “I love dogs. They’re always going to be around, doggies. They’re special creatures. I love all animals, but I think dogs are just fantastic.”
In fact, Tom loves canines so much, he says they’ve inspired his acting performances:
I do think there’s a lot about a dog that we can learn from. And I do put the dog into a lot of my characters because a dog, if you watch them, they’re so funny to watch. They speak with their eyes and their body, and I find that fascinating to observe.
He doesn’t just glean inspiration from dogs, either, he also gets valuable feedback from them:
[A]nother thing about the dog is you can never fool the dog into thinking that you’re somebody else, so they’re great bullshit monitors—especially for actors. So if you think you can transform, just try and pull off your transformation in front of your dog and I guarantee he’ll see right through your greatest transformation, which is quite humbling.
Moral of the story? Get a dog. And if you can’t get a dog, find someone who talks about you like Tom Hardy talks about dogs.
