Actor plays twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray, shooting takes place in Essex

Jun 12, 2014 11:36 GMT  ·  By

In late 2013 and early 2014, there was a lot of talk about how actor Tom Hardy was being considered for and, in turn, was considering playing a double role in a mafia movie tentatively called “Legend.” Negotiations have been carried out with the utmost discretion, and he’s signed on the dotted line.

More importantly, he’s already on set, shooting scenes for the film, even though its status is still “pre-production” on the official IMDB page.

“Legend,” penned by the same guy who wrote the hit “L.A. Confidential,” is a biopic of the Kray brothers, Ronnie and Reggie, two East-Ender thugs who are considered the foremost perpetrators of organized crime in London in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Ronnie is believed to have suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.

The Daily Mail has photos of Hardy on set, playing both brothers. In the photos in which he’s playing Ronnie, he’s wearing glasses. Without glasses, he’s Reggie.

Speaking about the film before negotiations were over, Hardy said he was excited but also a bit scared about the idea of doing a double role because of how draining that would turn out to be. Hardy is a Method actor, which means he immerses himself in the character completely during the duration of the shoot.

“It’s quite technical and I’m a bit of an anorak. There’s a physical transfer; we’d have to shoot one bit, go away come back and shoot it all again with another part. I’ve never dreamt of playing two people on the screen!” he said at the time.

Eventually, he decided to take up the challenge and, right after the Cannes Film Festival in May, he said he was happy he could be part of such an interesting project. At Cannes, the script for the film reaped a lot of praise, so the project went full Steam ahead.

“I'm on that right now. I've got to work out how to play both twins, which will be fun. It's another experiment and I'm really looking forward to it,” he said.

From the photos available, Hardy makes not one, but actually two very convincing gangsters. Always a very intense type of actor, able to tap into his inner darkness and physically lose himself in a role, Hardy will definitely make this movie one that you will just have to add to your “Best Ever” collection.

There’s no release date for “Legend” just yet, but buzz online is that it will drop sometime in 2015. Meanwhile, if you wish to see other great Hardy movies, for proof that he’s one of the most versatile actors we have today, we suggest “Bronson,” “Warrio,r” or “Locke.” But you might have seen him already in a little movie called “The Dark Knight Rises,” as Bane.