2011's Warrior is undoubtedly one of the best sports dramas of the past few decades – and for my money, it's actually the greatest ever made. Directed by Gavin O'Connor, the film stars Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton as two estranged brothers who end up fighting against each other in an MMA tournament. But the confrontation isn't just the physical fight, as they come to terms with their history, relationship, and more.
The pair are more than a match for each other in the ring, with both actors famously piling on the muscle ahead of shooting. In fact, Hardy's routine saw him gain 28 pounds of muscle, developing a physique which would later also serve him when portraying the villainous Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.
However, 13 years later, who would win in a fight now? Whilst promoting his latest film The Boys in the Boat, also a sports drama, we asked Edgerton whether he has been keeping up with any of the MMA training. And alas, his answer confirms he would no longer be a match for Hardy as he admits to GamesRadar+: "No, I haven't been doing any of the MMA. I've been doing a little bit of boxing – but that's nothing compared to Tom Hardy. He's doing jujitsu tournaments now! Strangely, in the film, his character actually wasn't so much into that side of things, but now he's doing a lot more of it. For me, whilst I do box, I'm more into gentle things these days."
Whilst Edgerton does say he's into more "gentle" activities, George Clooney's latest directorial effort The Boys in The Boat tells the astonishing real-life story of the University of Washington's Olympic medal-winning rowing team. In the film, the actor portrays Coach Al Ulbrickson and, whilst he does watch the crew from the sidelines, he still had to do some rowing: "I did some single scull rowing. We shot a couple of things where my character goes into the rivers to check the lanes and conditions. So, I didn't have to row out a stroke, but it had to look like I knew what I was doing. But those scenes aren't in the film because they ended up being unnecessary, not because I did a bad job. Well, I like to think so, anyway – but ask George!"
The Boys in the Boat is out in US theaters now and will release in UK cinemas on Friday 12th January. For more from Edgerton, you can read our full conversation here.
Meanwhile we also spoke to Clooney, and Turner about training for the new sports drama and why casting Hitler for the film was a strange experience. You can also hear more from the pair on the latest episode of the Inside Total Film podcast.
