Tom Hardy And Benedict Cumberbatch Shared The Screen In This Little Seen HBO Movie

Long before Tom Hardy became world-famous for his weird voices, he was an up-and-coming actor looking for a break. He didn’t find it with 2007’s “Stuart: A Life Backwards,” but he did find a consummate screen partner in a similarly young Benedict Cumberbatch. The TV film — a co-production between the BBC and HBO — was based on Alexander Masters’ book of the same name, a biography of his friend, Stuart Clive Shorter. For those intrigued, be warned; the story of Shorter’s troubled life is truly upsetting. But it’s also a story of remarkable fortitude, and both Hardy and Cumberbatch did excellent work in bringing it to life in what remains an underrated project in both their filmographies.

From the very beginning, Stuart Shorter faced hardship. He was born with muscular dystrophy and as a child endured years of sexual abuse at the hands of multiple predators. Criminal convictions, homelessness, and coping with borderline personality disorder characterized his adult life. But Shorter — who died in 2002 — also spent several years as an activist, having been given a place to live by a charity for whom he subsequently worked. It was during this time that he met Masters, who ultimately turned his life story into the 2005 book.

The BBC/HBO adaptation followed two years later. “Stuart: A Life Backwards” is directed by David Attwood, a veteran of the British TV and film industry who’d been working since the mid-’80s. “Stuart: A Life Backwards” was his penultimate project and followed his Award-winning BBC adaptation of William Golding’s “To the Ends of the Earth,” which also starred Cumberbatch. Unlike that miniseries, however, “Stuart: A Life Backwards” was a truly heartbreaking portrait of a man who’d faced insurmountable odds since the moment he was born.

The book, “Stuart: A Life Backwards” won critical acclaim and multiple awards. Not everybody was convinced, however. The Washington Post’s Carolyn See pointed to a passage in the book where Masters describes inviting Shorter to a weekend retreat to which he’s also invited a coterie of his well-to-do friends, whom he entrusts with judging “whether this man is really worth a book.” At least the author split the book’s profits with Shorter’s family.

The TV follows Benedict Cumberbatch’s Alexander Masters, a mathematics and physics student at Cambridge University, as he begins working in a shelter. Here, he meets Tom Hardy’s Stuart Shorter. After the two become friends, Shorter reveals the horrifying details of his life, and Masters asks his new friend if he can write a book. It’s Shorter that suggests telling the story in reverse so that it’s “more exciting – like a Tom Clancy murder mystery.” This is actually based on Shorter’s real-life suggestion. As detailed in a 2006 Guardian interview with his sister, Zoe, Shorter read a first draft of Masters’ book and gave him some advice: “Make it more like a murder mystery. What murdered the boy I was? See? Write it backwards.” As Shorter recounts his horrific ordeals, which also include suicide attempts and prison bids, Masters comes to understand his new friend more fully.

The adaptation was one of Hardy’s best films and the first major TV production from Neal Street Productions, the company co-founded by Sam Mendes. Like the book on which it was based, it debuted to critical acclaim and, according to Neal Street, was shown in “schools, colleges and charities” after it aired.

By the time a 30-year-old Tom Hardy came to portray Stuart Shorter, he’d already played the villain, Reman Praetor Shinzon, in 2002’s “Star Trek: Nemesis.” Still, Hardy was yet to truly break through — as evidenced by Hardy and Charlie Cox’s early-career psychological thriller “Dot the I.” He wouldn’t truly start to make an impact until the year after “Stuart: A Life Backwards,” when Hardy played the lead role of Charles Bronson/Michael Peterson in “Bronson.” As such, his portrayal of Stuart Shorter came at an interesting time in his career, arriving just prior to him finding major success and earning him a BAFTA nomination that hinted at what was to come.

Meanwhile, Benedict Cumberbatch (31 at the time he starred in “Stuart: A Life Backwards”) was similarly on the rise, having played Stephen Hawking in a 2004 BBC film, appearing in a handful of movie roles, and starring in David Attwood’s aforementioned “To the Ends of the Earth” adaptation. He wouldn’t start to break through until “Sherlock” in 2010, after which his career truly took off. Interestingly enough, the year after “Sherlock” debuted, Cumberbatch re-teamed with Hardy for the modern spy movie classic “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.” But it’s easy to overlook “Stuart: A Life Backwards” which to this day remains one of Cumberbatch’s best non-Dr. Strange roles.

Stuart Shorter himself sadly passed away in 2002 after being hit by a train near his home village of Waterbeach. His death was thought to be suicide, though there were several factors that suggested otherwise. Either way, Shorter’s story remains a powerful and enduringly relevant one that’s well worth watching. Those interested can head over to HBO Max, where the film is streaming at no extra cost.