Tom Hardy confirms Al Capone movie Fonzo will follow Venom

Tom Hardy has taken to Instagram to announce his next project – Al Capone film Fonzo.

The project’s been in development since 2016, when it was first announced at the American Film Market. Back then, Fantastic Four director Josh Trank was attached to direct from his own script – and it appears that hasn’t changed.

The film will centre on Alfonse Capone (Hardy), the infamous Chicago-based gangster / bootlegger taken down by FBI man Eliot Ness. Fonzo will focus on Capone’s later years, after nearly a decade of imprisonment, as dementia destroys his mind and his past becomes present with memories of his brutal origins intruding into his waking life.

Hardy has played gangsters before, of course – on film in period movies such as Legend (where he played both Kray twins) and Lawless (where he played a 1930s bootlegger), in more modern crime flicks, such as Bronson (which is a bit like what we’ve heard about Fonzo – as it’s about a gangster in prison remembering his life), The Drop, Rocknrolla and Layer Cake, and on TV in Peaky Blinders.

Josh Trank is new to the gangster genre, and the film will mark something of a comeback for the director – following his controversial conflict with 20th Century Fox during the fallout of his Fantastic Four flop. Trank hasn’t directed since that film’s 2015 release – he was taken off the Star Wars spin-off he had in development with Disney at the time.

Meanwhile, Hardy has been savvily using Instagram to promote his upcoming projects, sharing behind the scenes glimpses at Venom’s production period. It looks like he could do the same for Fonzo.

Capone is a character that’s been fascinating to filmmakers and TV showrunners alike for decades, appearing in everything from Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables, to Martin Scorsese’s Boardwalk Empire series. This will be the first time audiences will see Capone’s prison life, however.

Al Capone died in 1947, aged 48, after spending eight years in prison for tax evasion and contempt of court. Capon developed paresis, caused by syphilis, and spent the last seven years of his life in his mansion in Florida.

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