7) Inception
If there’s one film to pick out as an example of why Tom Hardy would make a great James Bond, it’s Inception. Christopher Nolan’s dreamland opus is big, hulking cinema, but the director ensures none of the actors get lost under the weight of it all. It’s star Leonardo DiCaprio’s film really, but – in a role that brought him some much-needed mainstream attention – Hardy is a veritable scene-stealer.
As the ‘forger,’ Eames, Hardy adopts a roguish Englishman act (one who paradoxically dresses like a wheeler dealer and sounds like a public schoolboy). Eames comes across like an out-for-himself, opportunistic loner type and regular criminal playing at being James Bond. And Hardy makes it all look effortless, like Eames is the easiest job he ever decided to take. Free of his usual intensity and rigorous method preparation, it’s simultaneously both Hardy’s most casually comedic and inclusively fun role.