The actor rescued Woody Woodstock Yamaduki Hardy after he found him as an 11-week-old stray on the side of the road while he was shooting the film, Lawless.
The actor rescued Woody Woodstock Yamaduki Hardy after he found him as an 11-week-old stray on the side of the road while he was shooting the film, Lawless.
He said: "I don’t normally speak out about family and friends but this is an unusual circumstance.
Woody affected so many people in his own right, so with great respect to his autonomy and as a familiar friendly face to many of you, it is with great great sadness a heavy heart that I inform you that after a very hard and short 6 month battle with an aggressive polymyostisis, Woody passed away, two days ago..."
"...Above all I am completely gutted.
The world for me was a better place with him in it and by my side.
To the bestest friend ever.
To me and to a family who loved him beyond words and whom he loved without doubt more than I have ever known."
He said he ‘watched this thing running towards the highway’ where there were cars and lorries and how he remembered seeing what were Woody’s ‘floppy ears bouncing towards the traffic’.
"...Whatever it was had no road sense and was tearing away.
I panicked a little because I couldn’t help it had no name to shout and now it was close to the freeway.
I put my fingers to my mouth and I whistled.
Loud as I could.
The whistle pierced the black.
And It stopped the dog dead in its tracks.
Then it turned and set eyes on me, in one swift movement and the dog decided to run straight at me in the darkness all flashes of teeth and snarling and shrieking.
Fuck this, I thought, that’s not a fkn dog.
What am I doing?"
"...It was so noisy, shrieking.
I snatched out expecting to feel teeth and grabbed a fist full of soft neck fur, lifted what was actually an incredibly light weight up to my face and shone my phone at it.
It was a very small bundle, literally sagging from its neck fur, with two big brown eyes staring straight into mine.
Terrified and utterly quiet."
He said: "When I got back to the car and sat in my seat he lay on my shoulder and fell asleep.
And snored, clearly he’d been through a lot.
And now the ordeal was seemingly over enough for him to relax.
Jessica [Chastain] asked me ‘was he a girl or a boy?’
‘It’s a boy’, I said.
‘How do you know?’
‘Erm… I can feel his Woodstock’.
Great !!! let’s call him Woodstock!!!
And so it was.
He was covered in dog shit.
Now so was I.
And we rode and We took him straight to the pet store to clean him up and buy him well things.., lots of things things dogs need and we walked the aisles the three of us letting him..."
"..He wore a red bandana that night and from then on and drank religiously from the toilet throughout the night despite having a few bowls of water in the apartment he was every inch a survivor."
"Thank you Woody for choosing to find us.
We will love you and be with you and you with us forever.
Never ever ever forgotten.
Your Boy tom xxx
I love you beyond words.
To the moon and back again and again to infinity and beyond.
Run with Max now and the Angels.
I will see you when I get there.
With all of me I love you.
Always.
Thank you for your love, beautiful boy."