Following a rather uncharacteristic dry spell on the silver screen this year, it looks as if Tom Hardy is once again open for business. Less than a week ago, we reported that the staunch leading man had joined Studiocanal’s Ernest Shackleton biopic, written by Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy scribe Peter Straughan, a film in which Hardy played a pivotal role. Now, a press release informs us that Hardy is attached to Josh Trank’s upcoming Al Capone movie Fonzo to portray the legendary gangster.
Currently in pre-production, Fonzo, based on a script written by Trank, will detail the “myth and lore” of the notorious Capone during his criminal reign in Chicago during Prohibition. “Once a ruthless businessman and bootlegger who ruled Chicago with an iron fist, Alfonse Capone was the most infamous and feared gangster of American lore. At the age of 47, following nearly a decade of imprisonment, dementia rots Alfonse’s mind and his past becomes present as harrowing memories of his violent and brutal origins melt into his waking life,” says the official synopsis.
Trank, whose coming off the now infamous 20th Century Fox reboot of Fantastic Four, which is rumored to have cost him a gig helming one of the new Star Wars films, looks to build off his strong directorial debut Chronicle and put the 2015 superhero blunder behind him. As for Hardy, while we didn’t get to see the Oscar nominee in any films this year, he did reprise his bit-part in the hit BBC series Peaky Blinders and has an eight-part miniseries, Taboo, produced by Ridley Scott, supposedly premiering sometime this year. On the big screen, one can see Tom Hardy next in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming WWII epic Dunkirk, set for release July 21st, 2017. According to Indie Revolver, as Nolan once again is helping keep celluloid alive, Dunkirk will open two days earlier exclusively in 35mm and 70mm, on July 19th.