2015 was a year to remember for the 39-year-old English actor Tom Hardy. Two of his films, The Revenant and Mad Max: Fury Road, were up for a combined staggering total of 22 Academy Awards.
He received an Academy Award nomination for best-supporting-actor for his performance in The Revenant.
Known as the Most Promising Newcomer back in the 2000s, Hardy has played a number of iconic characters including real-life figures.
He took method acting to another level portraying notorious British prisoner Charles Bronson (Bronson) and he also portrayed both of the infamous Kray twins (Legend).
Hardy is about to portray another iconic character who also existed in real life – Ernest Shackleton.
He will be again reunited with Oscar-nominated screenwriter Peter Straughan, known for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, who will be writing the script for the untitled polar-themed film.
Ernest Shackleton was an Irish explorer who led three British expeditions to Antarctica over a century ago. He is credited for being an important part of the “Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.”
Shackleton was the third officer on the Discovery Expedition from 1901 through 1903 when he explored the polar regions for the first time.
During his second expedition with the Nimrod from 1907 through 1909, he established a new record surpassing the farthest point reached before. But he’s best known for his third expedition with the Endurance from 1914 through 1917.
During his third expedition, he mounted one of the greatest survival stories in the history of mankind and the movie is sure to focus on this particular expedition.
Shackleton’s third expedition started on December 5, 1914, but unfortunately, the Endurance became trapped in ice as early as January 19.
Shackleton and his crew decided to convert the ship to a winter station, hoping that when spring came the boat would be freed. They ended up waiting for nine months before they were forced to abandon the ship because it was too damaged.
They spent two months camping on a large, flat floe and then on another floe before Shackleton decided to use the lifeboats rescued from the Endurance to reach the barren Elephant Island.
Shackleton decided to take the risk and make a journey of 720 nautical miles to South Georgia. He left most of his men on Elephant Island and with five companions he left the island on April 24, 1916, sailing through the waters of the Southern Ocean.
Believe it or not, Shackleton made the journey successfully and managed to send help to rescue the rest of the men still trapped in Antarctica.
The entire crew of the Endurance survived and went back home as heroes.
The film will be produced by StudioCanal. It’s not known when filming will start and no release date has yet been set.