That is the chief goal of any double performance-convincing the audience of both characters’ individual authenticity to the point where the duplicate actor is forgotten. But I think we got to a point where people forget that and are genuinely watching the story.” Hardy says the believability of a dual performance is a “technical minefield: can you authentically create two characters within a piece at all? So that the audience can look past that and engage in the film? It is what it is: it’s two characters played by the same actor. But it’s the execution of a double-duty performance that can make or break a film. The idea of an actor splitting top billing is nothing new-we’ve seen Sam Rockwell interact with himself in Moon (2009), Jeremy Irons doing it in Dead Ringers (1988), all the way back to Hayley Mills playing her own twin in The Parent Trap (1961). Sensing the tone of his actor’s desires, Helgeland came to a compromise: Hardy would play both brothers. It’s very easy to play Ronnie because there’s an unpredictability to him, so my brain can start to respond in a dramatic environment to that type of mechanism.” It’s quite ‘plod, plod, plod’ and kinda boring.
Things happen to them and they respond to the environment. He told Herts & Essex Observer, “I find straight leads really quite complicated, because they don’t do anything. We could have gone and found a superlative character actor to play Ronnie, and that would have been the best of everything.” ’Cos that’s all the fun there! And Reggie’s so straight! But there was a moment when I could have come away just playing Reggie. As Hardy recalled to ShortList, “I was like, ‘Well, I feel Ronnie,’ so which actor am I gonna give up Ronnie to, if I play Reggie? I can’t have that. When he decided to undertake the story of Reggie and Ronnie Kray, the notorious London gangsters prominent in the 1950s and 1960s, he initially wanted actor Tom Hardy for the role of Reggie. Confidential (1997) and Mystic River (2003), and shared writing and directing duties for Payback (1999) and 42 (2013). Academy Award-winner Brian Helgeland, writer and director of Legend (2015), has a strong resume under his belt.