Tom Hardy will play Al Capone in a new film focusing on the final years of the Chicago mobster’s life.
Capone, who died in 1947 at the age of 48, had spent eight years in prison for tax evasion and contempt of court. He suffered from a mental condition called paresis, caused by syphilis, and spent the last seven years of his life at his mansion in Florida.
According to a report by Deadline, the film will focus on this period, as “dementia rots [Capone’s] mind and his past becomes present as harrowing memories of his violent and brutal origins melt into his waking life”.
Hardy has been cast as Capone before: in 2011, he signed up to play the gangster in Cicero, which was reportedly intended to be the first in a series of films. However, the project never got past the development stage.
Capone has been portrayed on screen many times before, most famously by Robert De Niro in The Untouchables and Rod Steiger in Al Capone.
The film will be directed by Josh Trank, best known for directing 2015’s Fantastic Four, which was critically mauled and reportedly lost Fox about $60m.
Hardy has more experience than most at playing gangsters and criminals, having portrayed both Ronnie and Reggie Kray in Legend, Alfie Solomons in TV show Peaky Blinders and Bill Sikes in the 2007 TV adaptation of Oliver Twist.
