Tom Hardy (Shinzon) recently recalled his audition for 'Star Trek Nemesis' - and the embarrassing gamble he took to win the part.

Having spent the day before the audition relaxing in his hotel room, when the appointed hour arrived Hardy realised he had to deliver the goods. "I have to do the job now," Hardy told SFX's Dave Golder (via Sci-Fi Pulse). "And I have to do it well. And I was appalling. Everything went. I had no idea who I was, where I was, why, who you are... Patrick [Stewart] was there going, 'Well, I think that went well.' But I said, 'That was awful wasn't it?' And Stuart [Baird] was like, 'Well yes, it was rather. But let's try it again.' And I completely forgot everything again."

Hardy had filmed himself reading the lines on the previous and offered to show it to the director. "So I went to Baird, 'Look I know I've really cocked everything up. It was appalling. I have some work that I already put on camera. This has all been too much, so can I give you the video to look at?' He goes, 'Absolutely. Calm down, we wouldn't have got you out here if we weren't serious about considering you'."

The tape also featured Hardy dancing around in his boxer shorts, and when there was no editor available to copy his acting performance to another tape, the actor was forced to swallow his pride. "And they were like, 'Yeah we'll just watch it tonight. And Rick Berman will see it. And the other producers...' And I was like, 'Great...right... Damn I've ruined that one.' And I went back to the hotel room feeling all depressed and staring at the bottom of my beer glass. And I got the job three days later."

To read more from Hardy, pick up issue 99 of SFX Magazine, out now. Alternatively, further excerpts are available here at Sci-Fi Pulse.

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