How Tom Hardy shot 'best scene in British film' while playing both Kray twins at same time

If you’re talking some of the best British films and shows ever made, for many people Tom Hardy is an inevitable name that will come up.

Whether it be Peaky Blinders, his turn as Charles Bronson, or more underrated classics such as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Hardy is often a synonymous name with quality (we can forgive the Venom films).

His role in a film that many feel has the ‘best scene in British film’ sees him playing both Kray Twins, Ronnie and Reggie Kray.

The film, of course, is Legend, focusing on the real-life Kray twins and their rise to become two of the most feared mafia dons in London.

You can watch it on Netflix now in the UK and it has an absolutely stacked cast, including Emily Browning, Taron Egerton, Christopher Eccleston, Colin Morgan, and Peaky Blinders’ star Paul Anderson.

The identical twins meant that Hardy plays both characters in the same film, starring in numerous scenes alongside himself, and even at one point fighting himself.

It is a technical marvel that the pair can seamlessly act in the same scene as one another.

Tom Hardy starred as both Kray Twins in the same film (Universal Pictures)

Director Brian Helgeland said he was wary of the process at first, saying: “There’s a tradition of casting one actor to play twins in movies, but usually in those movies, I just can’t get into it. I keep looking at it and not thinking about the movie.”

Helgeland was eventually won over, as per The New York Times, after being told of how different the pairs mannerisms were, allowing them to be differentiated more clearly.

They used a traditional camera trick used to duplicate Lindsay Lohan in The Parent Trap called the split-screen method.

This sees them locking the camera down in a fixed spot, shooting the scene twice with actor doubles and splicing the film together with something like a door way down the middle of the screen.

For Legend, software meant you no longer need this constant down the centre, but you still need the camera to be kept still.

Hardy as Reggie Kray (Universal Pictures)

This was achieved in Legend with motion controlling when the camera needed to follow both characters.

Hardy had a stand-in for all his scenes and would pre-record all his audio for both characters so that both could hear it during scenes in which the Krays were speaking to each other.

Hardy said of playing both lead characters: “The two characters, they were pretty easy to slip between. The complicated part was to make an audience believe it wasn’t one performer doing both parts."

One scene in the film was a popular reply to a Twitter thread questioning what is the best scene in British film.

They replied with an iconic scene from the film that sees the Kray Twins get into a brutal bar fight.

One fan commented saying: “The pub fight scene in Legend is one of my favourite scenes in history.”

A second said: “The pub fight scene in Legend is up there with my favourite movie scenes of all time.”

Another quite creatively added: “The pub fight scene in Legend is one of the most iconic scenes ever and if you don't agree you can suck my d**k."

Lovely.

Legend is available to stream on Netflix now in the UK and Ireland.