If you've seen The Raid or Gangs of London, you'll know that Gareth Evans is one of the best action directors around, and Tom Hardy got his first taste of it on Havoc.
The new Netflix action thriller has already been hailed as "relentlessly brutal" by critics ahead of its release this Friday, with a night club set piece being singled out as one of the best action scenes of the year so far.
Luckily, Hardy was aware of just "how intense it was going to be" ahead of filming starting on Havoc.
"I trained a lot for it and I'm glad I did because it was intense enough to keep up with people who are very, very athletic, switched on and focused. Luckily I have massive support with [stunt double] Jacob Tomuri," he told Digital Spy.
"The entire set is saturated with stunt performers whose job is literally to make people like me look better, anyway, and hold us up in what is their arena of expertise, but I really enjoyed being part of that."
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One of the stand-out moments of the club sequence is when Hardy's corrupt cop Walker charges into action with a running drop kick.
Sadly, it was actually Jacob Tomuri who pulls off that stunt, but the actor's preparation for the scene did involve skills with a fake pipe.
"You would have won the Masters the way you were swinging that pipe around," joked Evans, with Hardy adding: "Our pipe man with the North-South-East-West going on. I was all over that rubber, that foam bat."
The club sequence was memorable for Hardy's co-star Quelin Sepulveda because she got to shout in his face.
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"We wrapped on that day and I could not go to sleep until like 2.30 in the morning because my adrenaline was pumping. I was just like, 'I just shouted at Tom Hardy in the face'," she recalled.
"But honestly, he just really took me under his wing. He was incredible with me and so, so helpful and just playful and, yeah, I owe him a lot."
At least you don't have too long to wait to find out what the fuss is about when it comes to Havoc's club scene.
Havoc is released on Netflix on 25 April.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
