Tom Hardy has always refused to be typecast by picking increasingly unusual roles, but he does seem to favour the criminal/gangster type. Still, he's unrecognisable in his new role as Al Capone, unveiling a make-up job that puts him some distance from that British heartthrob label.

Tom Hardy at the Princes Trust awardsTom Hardy at the Princes Trust awards

With a face full of prosthetics, a bald cap and greasy greying hair, Tom Hardy is... Well, far from the double of the legendary Chicago gangster but he's certainly not far off. He's been having plenty of production fun for 'Fonzo' though with 'make-up legends' Audrey Doyle and Jay Wejebe.

'Mega awkward character misstep', he captioned a shot of his new look on Instagram.

'Fonzo' is the new Capone biopic set after the gangster's 10-year prison spell. He's 47-years-old and suffering from syphilitic dementia, leading him to be haunted by memories of his violent past. Little does he know how few his final days are.

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Interestingly, this isn't the first time Tom Hardy has been picked to play Al Capone. He was previously set to play him in a movie called 'Cicero' directed by David Yates, but the project was eventually shelved. In the fast, Capone has been portrayed by Robert De Niro, William Forsythe, Stephen Graham, F. Murray Abraham and Ray Sharkey among others.

The forthcoming movie has been written and directed by Josh Trank ('The Kill Point', 'Fantastic Four') and also stars Linda Cardellini, Matt Dillon and Kyle MacLachlan. 

Tom's next projects include a continuation of the series 'Taboo', the Spider-Man film 'Venom', and he's been announced to reprise his main role in 'Mad Max: The Wasteland' and star in the Andrew Dominik Navy SEALS drama 'War Party'.

More: Tom Hardy gets Leonardo DiCaprio's name tattooed

He's definitely well-qualified for his new role, having previously portrayed the Kray twins in 'Legend', Alfie Solomons in 'Peaky Blinders', a bartender at a dodgy bar in 'The Drop', not to mention Handsome Bob in 'RocknRolla'.