Jeff Nichols’ Favorite Part of Making ‘The Bikeriders’: Watching Tom Hardy and Jodie Comer Go Head-to-Head

Steve Pond

TheWrap magazine: “It was our version of the scene from ‘Heat,’” the director says, nodding to the Al Pacino-Robert De Niro classic

Steve Pond
Tom Hardy Jodie Comer Austin Butler The Bikeriders
Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer and Austin Butler in "The Bikeriders" (Credit: Focus Features)
Steve Pond

Steve Pond

Steve Pond’s inside look at the artistry and insanity of the awards race, drawn from more than three decades of obsessively chronicling the Oscars and the entertainment industry.

It’s a measure of how long Jeff Nichols has been thinking about making a movie about the 1960s heyday of Midwest motorcycle gangs that at one point his close friend and frequent star Michael Shannon said to him, “Stop talking about this movie. You’re never gonna make it.”

Shannon was wrong: Almost 20 years after he became intrigued by a book about one such gang, Nichols finally made “The Bikeriders” with Austin Butler, Tom Hardy and Jodie Comer.

Steve Pond

Steve Pond

Steve Pond has been writing about film, music, pop culture and the entertainment industry for more than 40 years. He has served as TheWrap’s awards editor and executive editor, awards since joining the company in 2009. Steve began his career writing about music for the Los Angeles Times, where he remained a contributor for more…

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