Tom Hardy is bald, fat, and completely unrecognizable as Al Capone for new movie

Tom Hardy is an actor known for physical transformations, be it sporting tribal tattoos for FX’s Taboo, developing a strapping physique for 2008’s Bronson and then again for 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises, or donning a mask in two separate Christopher Nolan films (The Dark Knight Rises and Dunkirk), as well as, for a time, in George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road. Nonetheless, his latest big-screen makeover may be his most drastic one yet — to the point that fans may not recognize him at all.

Hardy shot the fishing scene with co-star Matt Dillon in Louisiana. (Photo: Patriot Pics/Backgrid USA)
Hardy shot the fishing scene with co-star Matt Dillon in Louisiana. (Photo: Patriot Pics/Backgrid USA)

Hardy is next set to star as Eddie Brock, a reporter who bonds with an alien symbiote to become a spidery antihero in this October’s Marvel-based superhero film Venom. After that, however, he’ll be embodying one of America’s most notorious criminals, Al Capone, in Fonzo, about the 47-year-old mobster’s struggles with dementia following his 10-year stint in prison.

Another shot of Hardy as Capone. (Photo: Patriot Pics/Backgrid USA)
Another shot of Hardy as Capone. (Photo: Patriot Pics/Backgrid USA)

As proven by new photos from the ongoing production — in which Hardy chomps on a cigar, fires a rifle, and wields a fishing rod while aboard a boat — he has packed on the pounds and lost some hair to play the iconic criminal, to the point that he barely looks like himself any longer. Which, in turn, is a stark contrast to the below sneak peek of a far more svelte Hardy in the role, which the actor posted on Instagram in late March:

Chasing Fonzo…

A post shared by Tom Hardy (@tomhardy) on Mar 24, 2018 at 10:55am PDT

Co-starring Matt Dillon as Capone’s friend Johnny, Linda Cardellini as his wife, Mae, and Kyle MacLachlan as his doctor, Karlock, the film will be the first behind-the-camera effort for writer-director Josh Trank since 2015’s troubled, and dismally received, Fantastic Four, whose failure reportedly contributed to his departure from a standalone Star Wars feature rumored to focus on bounty hunter Boba Fett. Fonzo doesn’t yet have a release date.

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