Back in 2000, Wolfgang Petersen, then planning a film called Endurance about the exploits of Ernest Shackleton, moaned that British thesps were too weedy to play the rugged explorer. We're not sure what he'd have made of Kenneth Branagh playing the man just two years later for TV, but we're fairly certain he'd approve the choice of Tom Hardy for the role.
Hardy, a man few would describe as "weedy" is the focus of casting attention for a new version that StudioCanal is trying to put together. Peter Straughan is writing the script, and the team is also looking for a director.
Several filmmakers and stars have tried to bring Shackleton's story of adventure and adversity to the screen – Endurance (the ship that brought him to Antarctica in 1912) was crushed by ice floes and he managed to keep his exploratory party alive on a journey through freezing temperatures – but have been foiled by logistical challenges. Hardy's no stranger to rough conditions after The Revenant and modern effects tech and cameras should help this one finally succeed where others have fallen. But it's still early days, and it may yet linger in development.
Hardy will be back on the big screen in Christoper Nolan's World War II epic Dunkirk, which will make landfall here on 21 July next year.