Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace Drop by the Princess of Wales Theatre

In the gritty crime drama The Drop, living meat man Tom Hardy plays a Brooklyn bartender drawn into the seedy Chechen crime underworld. (Side note: why are crime dramas always “gritty” nowadays? Whatever happened to the squeaky-clean crime dramas of old? And why are people always “drawn” into underworlds? Why can’t they ever be sent a formal invitation?) The Brit hunk was scrubbed free of any screen grime when he took to the red carpet on King Street yesterday, alongside co-star Noomi Rapace (the original Girl With The Dragon Tattoo). Hardy greeted fans arriving with plenty of Dark Knight box sets to sign, while also fielding questions about working with the late James Gandolfini, who makes one of his last on-screen appearances in The Drop. Also: I heard through the ol’ grapevine that Hardy dined post-premiere at The Black Hoof on Dundas. That’s cool, because the Hoof’s a great restaurant. But frankly, it’s a bit disappointing that a guy built like Hardy doesn’t source his horse carpaccio from an Anadolu Pony he chases, tackles and consumes alive.