Tom Hardy Replaces Michael Fassbender In Tomas Alfredsson's 'Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy'

One of 2010's biggest success stories has probably been British thespian Tom Hardy who stole the show from many of his talented counterparts in Christopher Nolan's "Inception." The actor will now excitingly back that up with Tomas Alfredsson's upcoming adaptation of John Le Carre's British Cold War spy thriller "Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy."

Hardy replaces Michael Fassbender -- who evidently left to star in Matthew Vaughn's currently in-production "X-Men: First Class" -- in the role of 'Tricky' Ricky Tarr, a British operative acquaintance of protagonist George Smiley, a "breathtakingly ordinary, anti-James Bond"-type character who will be played by Gary Oldman. While the loss of Fassbender is disappointing, we can't think of any replacement we'd want more than Hardy.

Adapted for the screen by the talented Peter Morgan ("The Queen," "Frost/Nixon"), Le Carre's novel follows the story of a British Intelligence operative whose task is to delve into the world of Cold War espionage and root out a Soviet mole in the Circus, the highest echelon in the British Intelligence Services.

The cast also boasts the previously revealed Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch, as well as Ciaran Hinds and "Mad Men" star Jared Harris, who now join as fellow British operatives probably somehow entangled with the mess Smiley has to clean up. No mention, however, of Ralph Fiennes who was set to star in a leading role -- has he dropped out like Fassbender and been replaced by Hinds or Harris? Or has Bamigoye simply forgotten to mention him?

Shooting will look to begin sometime in the next few weeks for what is shaping up as one of 2011's most anticipated releases, in our books anyway. [Baz Bamigoye]