Rick Fulton reviews the best of the DVDs released this week including Lawless starring Batman baddie Tom Hardy.

LAWLESS (18) ****

BATMAN baddie Tom Hardy stars with Shia LaBeouf as bootleg booze brothers in early 1930s Virginia.

Adapted from Matt Bondurant’s novel The Wettest County In The World, Lawless is a Prohibition-era thriller that pulls few punches in its depiction of the violence meted out by law-makers and law-breakers.

Hardy plays Forrest Bondurant, and his brothers Howard (Jason Clarke) and Jack (LaBeouf) bootleg booze in the mountains of Franklin County.

They run a successful bar and eke out a living by trading moonshine, made at secret distilleries maintained by Jack’s disabled pal Cricket (Dane DeHaan).

The siblings’ business empire threatens to crumble to its foundations when sadistic Special Deputy Charley Rakes (Guy Pearce) arrives from Chicago on a mission to shut down the distilleries at the behest of District Attorney Mason Wardell (Tim Tolin). 

As young love blossoms between Jack and preacher’s daughter Bertha Minnix (Mia Wasikowska), Rakes sets about dismantling the brothers’ operation, targeting dancer-turned-waitress Maggie (Jessica Chastain).

Yet, for all its dramatic simplicity, John Hillcoat’s film packs a hefty punch.

Hardy delivers a brooding performance, maintaining his stoic hard-man image
around Chastain’s emotionally battered love interest.

But it’s Pearce who scorches every mud and blood-smeared frame as an obsessive-compulsive bully hiding behind his badge.

Also available to buy on DVD £17.99/Blu-ray £19.99

Source: Daily Record

Fox Searchlight is in final talks with Tom Hardy to star in Animal Rescue, and has offered the female lead to Noomi Rapace. Searchlight is eyeing a March start date in New York for a film that was scripted by Gone Baby Gone author Dennis Lehane from a short story first published in the collection Boston Noir. Animal Rescue will be directed by Michael R. Roskam, whose breakout film Bullhead was a nominee for Best Foreign Language film last year. He was set earlier this fall. Chernin Entertainment is producing.

The drama focuses on a man who wants to shed his criminal path but somehow gets mixed up in a bad heist and a killing resulting from a lost and contested pit bull. As he has done with all his books, Lehane set the short story in the outskirts of Boston. But so many movies have been set there lately–including his Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone and Shutter Island–that they’ve relocated the action to New York. The project originated at Fox 2000, but later moved over to Searchlight, and numerous pedigreed directors have circled it over the past two years. Hardy sparked to the chance to create the character and work with a director whose film he admired.

It’ll be next for Hardy, who has other projects lined up for later. They include Splinter Cell at New Regency; he is producing with Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio two separate projects at Warner Bros on the poaching of wild animals. Hardy is attached to star in one of them: a Sheldon Turner-scripted drama in which Hardy will play a former Special Forces soldier who signs on with a friend to work in the bush, training rangers to fight off the poachers decimating the rhino and elephant populations in Zimbabwe. The second film is a Traffic-like dissection of the trafficking industry that exploits the global market for illicit parts from slain animals that are used as aphrodisiacs and other ridiculous purposes. This film might involve Maguire, DiCaprio and Hardy in onscreen roles. Hardy is separately attached to play fabled British climber George Mallory and his quest to become the first man to scale Mt. Everest. That film, Everest, will be directed by Doug Liman at Sony. All this action comes after Hardy played Bane in The Dark Knight Rises and completing Mad Max: Fury Road, and it’s what happens when Hollywood decides you’re the next big star.

Rapace most recently starred in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus and the Brian DePalma-directed Passion, latter of which made its debut at the New York Film Festival. Hardy’s repped by CAA, Rapace and Roskam by UTA, with Rapace managed by Magnolia Entertainment and Roskam by Anonymous Content.

Tom attended the English National Ballet Christmas Party a few nights ago. Click here to view the images in the gallery.

Images of Tom at the Jack Reacher London premiere have been added to the gallery. View them here or by clicking the thumbnails below.

An old photoshoot from 2009 has also been added. View the images here.

New Regency has come on board to produce the action thriller Splinter Cell along with Ubisoft®. Tom Hardy is confirmed to star in the project which will be scripted by Eric Warren Singer (The International).

“With actor Tom Hardy attached and screenwriter Eric Warren Singer to write the script, Ubisoft Motion Pictures will lead the development with the support of New Regency to bring the franchise to the big screen in a dynamic way,” stated Jean-Julien Baronnet, chief executive officer, Ubisoft Motion Pictures, in the official announcement. “For Ubisoft Motion Pictures, creative control is key and New Regency shares our commitment to respecting the creative freedom of our team. Their ability to produce both blockbusters and intriguing indie hits is an ideal fit for the Splinter Cell franchise.”

New Regency CEO and President Brad Weston said, “We could not be happier to be teaming up with our friends at Ubisoft Motion Pictures on yet another truly iconic title. With a movie star like Tom Hardy in place and a gifted writer such as Eric Warren Singer penning the screenplay, we know the fans will not be let down.”

The synopsis for those who don’t play the video game: “Splinter Cell follows protagonist Sam Fisher, a highly-trained special operative in a fictional black-ops sub-division, ‘Echelon’. Sam Fisher and the agents of Echelon utilize combat skills, weapons and cutting-edge gadgets to neutralize international terrorist threats and rogue forces in modern, realistic stories ripped from the headlines.”

This year, Hardy was seen on the big screen playing Bane in The Dark Knight Rises and the head of a bootlegging family in Lawless. He recently wrapped up work on Mad Max: Fury Road written and directed by George Miller.

Source: About.com

Tom’s recent photoshoot has been added to the gallery. View the images here.

 Home > Photoshoots & Outtakes > 2012 Photoshoots > Shoot 001

Tom Hardy is engaged to the gorgeous Charlotte Riley, and she’s spilled on her relationship with the hot Brit actor!

Yes, we might be super-jealous of Charlotte’s closeness to our crush, but the lovely lady is set to star opposite Tom Cruise in All You Need Is Kill next year, so we’re thinking there might be a lot of men who are just as jealous of Tom H!

So, how do Charlotte and Tom make it work? She told TV Choice:

“We have a very strict rule that we see each other every two weeks. We’ve been lucky. The job I just did was very exhausting, so I took a long period of time off to spend time with my family and Tom, and he had some time off before. He’s doing Mad Max [in South Africa] now, so we had six months together. We’ve been quite blessed really and we make it work.”

She also spilled the beans on what it was like to live with Tom when he was GINORMOUS for Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises:

“It was wicked. It was really cool. It’s interesting living with a person that’s bald and five times the size he normally is. I said to him, ‘When am I just going to have a normal boyfriend where you’re not either bald and huge?’ He had a beard for like six months for Mad Max and he’s just shaved it all off. Hurrahhhhh! I was like, ‘Oh my God, you have a face! Amazing! There you are, the person that I fell in love with.’”

Bless! What an adorable couple.

Source: Look

Tom Hardy was back in London this weekend to take part in a magazine signing with Prometheus star Noomi Rapace at Rough Trade East!

Fans queued from before 7am for a chance to meet the actors between 12 noon and 2pm, and the pair signed copies of the 20th Anniversary Edition of BLAG, alongside editors Sarah and Sally Edwards.

Gorgeous Tom was in high spirits throughout the event, eventually sitting on top of the desk in order to hug those that wanted a hug properly. Bless him!

Tom and Noomi share the front cover of the mag, but have never starred in a film together – however it’s rumoured that they’re looking at taking on an adaptation of the book Child 44 together. We’ll have to wait and see!

Either way, it’s clear that the two of them made a lot of fans very happy this weekend

Source: Look

High quality images of Tom at the signing have been added to the gallery, click the thumbnails below to view them all.

Tom Hardy has signed on to star in “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell,” Ubisoft’s film adaptation of its popular videogame franchise that Eric Warren Singer (“The International”) will write for the company.

Project is the second major movie based on one of its properties that Ubisoft is looking to get on the bigscreen after setting up “Assassin’s Creed” at New Regency and Fox, that Michael Fassbender will co-produce and headline.

“Splinter Cell” is not yet set up at a studio, although Ubisoft has had preliminary talks with Warner Bros. and Paramount.

Hardy will play Sam Fisher, a highly-trained special operative in a fictional black-ops operation called Echelon.

Thesp recently played Bane in WB’s “The Dark Knight Rises” and is shooting “Mad Max: Fury Road.”

Singer also penned Black List script “American Bullshit,” which David O. Russell will direct with Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Renner set to star.

“Tom Hardy is currently one of the biggest talents in the film industry, and he has a phenomenal ability to take on complex and varied roles with his broad range of acting skills,” said Jean-Julien Baronnet, CEO of Ubisoft Motion Pictures. “His involvement in the ‘Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell’ movie is exciting news for movie and video game fans alike. Meanwhile, Eric Singer is one of the most talented writers of the moment, and … we’re confident he’ll bring a fresh approach and create a thrilling story … while still respecting all the codes and traditions of the franchise that are so important to fans.”

Game has sold more than 23 million copies since its debut in 2002. Six games have been released so far with “Splinter Cell: Blacklist,” released next spring, developed by Ubisoft Toronto.

UMP, founded last year, also has a “Rabbids” TV series, based on the “Raving Rabbids” game set to bow on France Televisions and Nickelodeon.

Source: Variety

After kicking around handful of options at Warner Bros. including the drama “Your Voice In My Head,” the thriller “The Imitation Game” and potential gangster epic “Cicero,” ‘Harry Potter’ helmer David Yates has finally settled on “Tarzan” as his next project. The decision has slowly been coming over the past few months, but now it’s time to find out who’s going to shirtless and swinging from vines, and some interesting names are cropping up.

Vulture reports that “Man Of Steel” lead Henry Cavill, “Sons Of Anarcy” star Charlie Hunnam and “True Blood” fang banger Alexander Skarsgard are meeting Yates to discuss the lead, with eternal badass Tom Hardy is also being eyed by the studio. You might recall that Hardy and Yates were set to pair up on the aforementioned “Cicero,” with the actor playing Al Capone over a proposed trilogy of films. Whether or not he finds his particular vehicle more enticing remains to be seen.

All the names are familiar faces around the WB lot. Cavill and Hardy, because, obviously. Hunnam features in next summer’s “Pacific Rim” and Skarsgard has that Viking movie “The Vanguard” developing at the studio, but clearly execs like working with these guys and/or have been impressed with what they’ve done.

So we’ll see how it all plays out. We have to say, a new “Tarzan” movie doesn’t exactly thrill us, but seeing that Yates was able to manage making Harry Potter grow up and take the series successfull in a darker direction, we’ll be curious to see how he handles this.

Source: IndieWire