The Italian Rêve – Movies...with Style: Legend

The movie ‘Legend‘ tells the story of two identical twin gangsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray, two of the most notorious criminals in British history and their crime empire in the East End of London during the 1960s.

The plot is a continuous combination of violence and sarcasm.

Tom Hardy, the newly Oscar nominee, who plays both Reggie and Ronnie, is perfect: he puts the same commitment and dedication for both parts. He told to the media that technically this was for him the hardest role to play.

At the beginning, he was really concerned about playing two characters in the same movie. His first thought was: “It’s gonna be rubbish!”.

In fact, he had a little argument with the Director Brian Helgeland: Tom wanted to play only Ronnie but the Director was sure he could play both. So, at the end of a long discussion Helgeland said: “Ok, I’ll give you Ronnie if you give me Reggie”. Easy, no?

But at the end the actor was very pleased: “That’s a f*cking result!”.

Credits: The ShortList

Credits Images: GQ, NY Magazine

We won’t spoiler anything, we’ll only tell you that you’ll feel immediately a sense of Nostalgia of the 1960s.

And the plot changes when Reggie meets Frances, his wife-to-be.

Frances, portrayed by Emily Browning, is a fragile woman with a loud voice that no one wants to listen.

Her face is perfect for this role: she seems to be born in the ’60, and her make-up and dresses in the movie are a perfect transpositions of those years.

Credits Images: InStyle Australia

In some interviews Emily said it was easy for her to connect to the fragile character but not so much to realize that she was going to be on set with Tom Hardy.

And, after being intimidated by his figure, she felt really at ease working with him.

She always describes Tom like a very talented actor, generous person, full of energy and one that really cares about what he’s doing like nobody she has met before. (Credits: Instyle)

And we are telling you, you can feel it in the air!

Caroline Harris is the movie’s costume designer. To recreate the magic atmosphere that surrounds actors, places, and the plot itself, she used mainly vintage pieces.

But, for the wedding scenes, she decided to not replicate the real dress worn by Frances Shea. In fact she designed a new one, inspired by beautiful Emily, that could be perfect for her body and skin tone.

It was an homage to her.