Heroes don’t always wear capes — sometimes they’re covered in venom … at least if you’re Tom Hardy.
The actor, 47, reportedly offered to pay £250,000 — or approximately $315,000 — in lost wages to set workers who had been constructing sets for his new Paramount+ series, the Guy Ritchie-directed Fixer, when the construction company that employed them went out of business, according to The London Times.
While the workers, who were employed as contractors by the construction company Helix 3D, completed the sets this past summer, a leaked WhatsApp message from the week of Dec. 9 revealed that Helix 3D had no funds to pay the contractors — despite having been paid by Paramount.
The ordeal reportedly prompted Hardy to step up and provide funds to pay the workers so that they could receive the wages owed to them in time for the holidays.
“He offered to [pay],” a source close to the actor told the Times. “But the production and Paramount have sorted the payment.”
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Another source at Paramount told the Times that the studio was “outraged” when they learned of the situation and immediately stepped in — along with the show’s production company 101 Studios — to ensure that the contractors received payment.
Prior to the financial commitments from Paramount and 101 Studios, Chris Hudson, an official for the broadcasting union that represents the set workers, wrote a letter, obtained by the Times, expressing anger and frustration on behalf of union members.
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“Our members deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and compensated on time for their work. It is wholly unacceptable that they are facing significant financial precarity, particularly ahead of Christmas,” Hudson wrote, per the outlet.
He added, “This close to Christmas, our members are rightly very distressed, with many fearing they will be unable to cover necessities. I trust you can appreciate the significant impact this is also having on their mental health.”
Representatives for Hardy, Paramount and Helix 3D did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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According to Deadline, Fixer is about two warring families whose enterprises “stretch across all corners of the globe.”
Hardy plays Harry Da Souza, a “fixer” hired to do the bidding of one of the families. Filming for the series, which also stars Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan, is currently underway in London.
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