With a unique nack for versatility, actor Tom Hardy has tackled a breadth of offbeat roles throughout his successful career. His most iconic to this day has been his famed "Bane voice" in The Dark Knight Rises in 2012. Whether you love it, hate it or still show off your impression of it, Hardy's voice in that flick will likely go down in movie history as the one of the most recognizable. While it was recently revealed that the actor's next crack at a comic book villain in Venom includes him voicing not only Eddie Brock but his alien symbiote counterpart, Hardy pushing the outer edges of his voice talents won't stop there. Audiences will also see him play the infamous Chicago mob boss Al Capone in Josh Trank's Fonzo and Hardy is drawing from the likes of Bugs Bunny to transform into the gangster.
In a recent interview with Esquire, Tom Hardy revealed his inspiration for the Al Capone voice, showing a raw footage clip of him acting in his upcoming role to prove it. It does feels like an unlikely pair, Hardy and Bugs but if it works, it works? The cartoon character's accent is said to be Flatbush, a blend of Bronx and Brooklyn New York dialects, and Al Capone did hail from the same region. Looney Tunes also gained its popularity around the same time the gangster was owning the streets of Chicago, so Hardy's choice of inspiration isn't too far off. Fonzo follows the crime boss during the final year of his life, picking up after he's spent 10 years in prison and has started to struggle with dementia and the violent memories of his past.
Like many of his involved roles, Tom Hardy prepped for over a year to play Al Capone, developing characters as if they were "case files" and "investigations." Hollywood actors have taken on the notorious criminal for almost 60 years, with 21 varied appearances on film and television. Hardy's portrayal will uniquely take place after the gangster's golden years, at the brink of death, but Fonzo will also likely flashback to his past too, giving him the chance to play Al Capone in his prime.
Hardy is no stranger to period crime dramas, he played twin gangsters Ronald and Reggie Kray in 2015's Legend and made a 10-episode appearance in the gangster family epic, Peaky Blinders. The actor is sure to bring something new to the role, especially with that Bugs Bunny-inspired voice we will hopefully get a taste of once the trailer hits. While we will have to wait until 2019 to see Tom Hardy in Fonzo, the transformative actor will soon show his acting chops when he suits up as Venom in theaters on October 5.
