6) Legend
Taking on a dual role for Legend was, Hardy has admitted, fueled in part by his own desire to challenge himself as an actor. It’s a gamble that pays off, too: as both Ronnie and Reggie Kray, Hardy stretches himself to give two of the performances of the year, and casually propels himself into the dual role hall of fame.
Individually, Hardy’s two performances would be impressive enough, with Reggie Kray a composed matinee idol figure prone to both heart-felt sensitivity and enormous cruelty, and Ronnie Kray a detached, mentally ill oddball with an appetite for chaos and blood.
Taken together, however, these two turns become all the more impressive: side-by-side, Reggie and Ron pose as evidence of how diverse Tom Hardy can be as an actor. He’d be primed for a Best Actor Oscar nom were the film around him not so average.
5) Bronson
Though he usually takes a subtle, naturalistic approach, Hardy has on occasion shown he also likes to veer off into sheer theatricality with his performances. Currently, he is proving on TV’s Peaky Blinders just how much he enjoys chewing scenery as a demented British criminal, but he’s done it before to even more mesmerizing effect in Nicolas Winding Refn’s crime biopic Bronson.
If Inception brought him mainstream attention, Bronson was the film that had arthouse audiences sit up and take notice of Hardy. His is a turn that can only be described as ‘powerhouse,’ as his heavy-set, moustachioed prisoner ‘Charles Bronson’ rages through 90 minutes of performance art surrounded by a movie.
It’s an astonishing, brutal role that requires Hardy to give his all – which he promptly does, baring himself both figuratively and literally, coming across both hilarious and terrifying.
