Tom Hardy a Top Contender for the Next James Bond
Actor Tom Hardy has emerged as the top betting choice to play the next James Bond when Daniel Craig steps down from the role.
Among the top contenders to be the next suave 007 English spy, "Mad Max" star Tom Hardy has emerged as the top choice as the next James Bond following Daniel Craig who is rumored to be leaving the franchise after his fourth outing as 007 in "Spectre" next month.
The 37-year-old British actor, who first entered the film industry with a small part in the 2001 Ridley Scott war film "Black Hawk Down," has admitted he wouldn't mind stepping into the shoes of the debonair spy, telling Sky News, "I think anybody would consider doing Bond, wouldn't they?"
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Hardy is no stranger to playing the strong, stalwart type in action films, from his mostly grunt-filled dialogue in "Mad Max," to his eloquent rendition of Bane in 2012's "The Dark Knight Rises, "and even to his quiet and obdurate performance as patriarch, Forrest Bondurant in "Lawless."
Hardy will next be seen in gangster movie, "Legend," scheduled to hit theaters on October 2 in the US, where he will play infamous mob twins, Ronald and Reginald Kray, who ran an organized crime syndicate in London during the 1950s and 1960s.
Apart from Hardy, nine other actors have been considered for the role of Ian Flemming's smooth and intrepid Mi6 agent, including close runner-up and controversial choice, Idris Elba, who is better known as blind Heimdall from the Marvel Cinematic Universe's "Thor" movies, and as Stacker Pentecost in "Pacific Rim;" "Unbroken's" Jack O'Connell; "Homeland's" Damien Lewis; "The Walking Dead's" Andrew Lincoln; Superman actor "Henry Cavill; "Avatar" and "Clash of the Titans" Australian actor, Sam Worthington; King Thorin Oakenshield from "The Hobbit" trilogy, Richard Armitage; Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver from "Avengers: Age of Ultron," Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and American "Mad Men" star, Jon Hamm.
