How do you lose track of an Al Capone-centered trilogy that stars Tom Hardy? Well, when the prospective director attaches himself to adapt one of the 20th century’s most successful novels; drops that, signs on for a film based around one of the most famous sci-fi characters of the past fifty years; and then, just for the heck of it, gets involved with something else. Take that path, and the trick is no challenge at all.

But things are coming back around for Cicero, if only in the press. During an interview with The Daily Mail (via BleedingCool), Hardy spilled some fascinating details on both the production schedule and his own preparation. Read his quote on the latter below:

“I’ve been working with Warner Bros, watching their gangster films — the ones with James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson. It’s interesting to get them, and a bit of Capone, into the bloodstream. You look at pugnacious James Cagney in The Public Enemy and see how this guy rises up to become a kingpin in Chicago.”

Those films — Little Caesar, The Roaring Twenties, and some social issue pictures the studio put out during this time also among them — are, in addition to what’s said above, being used to “get a flavour [...] as we explore Capone’s career as a racketeer.”

Sounds pretty terrific, right? It’s just somewhat of a drag, then, that we’ll all have to sit patiently before the entire thing comes to fruition; Hardy has to shoot Mad Max: Fury Road in a few months, and, while production will begin on the first film next year, he fully expects to be playing Capone “well into 2014.” Commitment, ladies and gentlemen. That’s part of why Tom Hardy is amazing.

Speaking of Tom Hardy, gangsters, and… waiting: Yesterday’s news, which told us that his Wettest County was being delayed, has received a follow-up. 24Frames got in touch with Harvey Weinstein to talk about the move; turns out we were all right in assuming that the shift was for financial reasons.

In his words, “We have a star in Tom Hardy who’s completely anonymous right now. If you go to a line at the ArcLight nobody would know who he is.” But, with The Dark Knight Rises now hitting less than a month and a half before Wettest County, he’s “going to be a huge movie star by August.” Makes perfect sense; when you can put the villain in the latest Batman movie’s name all over commercials and place his mug on a poster, you’ve got a big boost in attention.

There was also the mention of hitting the Venice Film Festival before a theatrical opening and the potential for awards consideration, but that’s, at best, a minor reason for the financially-motivated decision. I guess it serves as something of a good sign, though, for whatever it may be worth.

Are you excited to see Cicero, even this far out? Do Weinstein’s reasons behind moving Wettest County make sense to you?