The thriller Tom Hardy Netflix does entirely in Wales

The team behind the new Netflix Havoc action thriller says it “will put Wales on the map” for filmmakers around the world.

With Tom Hardy as a “jaded” detective, Havoc recounts the consequences of a drug problem that went wrong.

Although it takes place in an anonymous American city, all this – including car prosecution and shootings – was filmed in Wales.

Hardy and his co-star Forest Whitaker were Spotted filming in the south of Wales in 2021But production has experienced several delays due to the pandemic and Writers strike in the United States.

Havoc, which also features Luis Guzmán, Jessie Mei Li and Timothy Olyphant, started with the vision of its Welsh director Gareth Evans.

“I had this, like a basic image that was a corrupt cop in a crime scene where a drug problem was wrong and for any reason, he brought cocaine in a cup of coffee,” said Evans, better known for the gangster film The Raid and Thriller Series Gangs of London.

“And everything hunted from there.”

Evans said it was “incredible” when Hardy came on board in the main role and as a producer.

“One of the most pleasant things about Tom (East), I knew that I was in my shooting with regard to the making of films, but with Tom, his skills are deep diving explorations with morally complex characters and we were able to merge two styles together.”

Evans, who grew up in Hirwaun, Rhondda Cynon Taf, still lives in Wales.

He said that recreating the United States in the south of Wales was “difficult” but that he wanted to bring work in the region.

“I started going around, like Swansea, Port Talbot, Cardiff and Newport, looking for a small architecture that I could find that could pass like a little Americaa,” he said.

“And so we have taken a look and we thought that if we can get 30% or 40% real in camera, the VFX (visual effects) can take care of the rest.”

The Brangwyn Hall of Swansea has become the outside of an American police district, the Bay campus of the University of Swansea has provided exterior street fire and a fishing hut was built in the Merthyr Mawr countryside.

Although Havoc was done in Wales, the American production company Xyz Films has united its forces with Severn Screen, based in Wales, to do so.

Aram Tertzakian, one of the founders of Xyz Films, works with Evans from Apostle, the 2018 horror featuring Michael Sheen which was filmed in Margam park in Port Talbot.

Tertzakian spent a large part of the pandemic in an airbnb in Cardiff while Havoc was filmed.

“Gareth brought me to Wales for this project because he is a great patriot and wanted to understand how to make films in Wales,” said Tertzakian.

He said he thought that after the ravages, filmmakers and industry producers would be “much more focused on Wales on the map”.

“I think it has always been considered an option, but when they are wreaking havoc and what we have succeeded, I think it will be in mind and make the country with much more viable for many people.

“Wales is one of the good guys,” he added.

“You have teams that work really hard, a lot of dedication and love for the game. You get incredible locations, interiors and exteriors and we had fun.”

According to Netflix and Creative Wales, Havoc is the largest feature film ever fully shot in Wales, with the post-production also completed in Cardiff.

Netflix said its productions in Wales, which also include sex education, had generated more than 200 million sterling pounds for the British economy since 2020.

Jack Sargeant, the Wales Minister of Culture, said productions like Havoc had offered “significant economic and reputation advantages”.

“We are extremely proud of our Welsh creative industries, who employ more than 35,000 talented people and the world’s class infrastructure that we have in place for cinematographic and television productions.”