East Sheen’s Hollywood star Tom Hardy was always director Brian Helgeland’s first choice to play the lead in his new movie, Legend.

But the former Tower House, Richmond, and Reeds’s School, Cobham, pupil favoured the supporting role.

Luckily for both Hardy and Helgeland, that was ideal – he could take both.

That approach doesn’t always work, as Adam Sandler has ably demonstrated, but it seems only natural when the two roles are the real-life identical twins who ruled London in the 1960s - Ronnie and Reggie Kray.

While they look similar on film but not identical, thanks to some genius make-up work, Ron and Reg are a long way apart as characters.

Ron was clearly mentally ill, outwardly gay and overtly violent while Reg - on whom Legend focuses more - was the more glamorous gangster for whom violence was always an option but not as often the only option.

Tom Hardy told the Legend press conference in London this week: “Ron is predictably unpredictable.

“For a performer it is fun to play because you have got everything on the smorgasbord you can use. You have multiple options and you can pull the rug on anybody you want at any time.”

And Hardy, who studied at Richmond Drama School, certainly went for it. He is menacing, unhinged and downright deranged.

Scenes where Ronnie eats cake at his mum’s house inspire pity and contrast with him smashing rivals to bits with a hammer in a pub, seemingly out of distain because they weren’t up for a shoot-out.

He added: “Whatever way you want to play it, the character is a free ball character to roam with in any scene whereas Reggie is constrained to boundaries and strict discipline.

“I don’t want to go straight down the line, I want lateral choices and I want to have fun so I was drawn initially – because I have a discoball head – to Ronnie.”

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Hardy arguably does his lead role a disservice there. In his hands Reggie is a more subtle beast, but a beast nonetheless.

His matinee idol looks and smooth exterior belie a character who is a consummate gangster not averse to casually breaking jaws.

Of course, there’s a difference between playing two characters and doing so in the same scene.

On a short shoot with more than 100 locations around London and no budget for CGI, it was a tricky task to make it work without being a novelty.

Hardy said: “It was split screen, talking to a tennis ball, talking to Jacob [Tomuri, Hardy’s double]. Ultimately, there had to be another actor there to act opposite who would not only take notes of what I’m doing at the top of the day but could replicate it at the end of the day but also leave an opportunity for me to change it.

“It was more of a mental puzzle that needed to be unpacked and life breathed into it.

“It was kind of mathematical in a strange sort of way.”

For his co-stars it meant a degree of waiting around – it took about an hour and a half to go from Reg to Ron – but the change was more than physical.

Christopher Eccleston said: “Most of my scenes were with Reg. I had one with Ron and that was a revelation.

“I had only met Tom as Reg and then suddenly there was Ron and they were completely different.

“I have twin brothers and it was very different to see what an actor was doing with one role and the other. And I was jealous.”

Legend (18) is out Wednesday (September 9).