Tom Hardy's 'Shackleton' biopic is moving closer to reality

Hardy will play the Kildare-born Antarctic explorer.

Although it was first announced three years ago, the long and arduous journey of the Ernest Shackleton biopic may be coming to an end.

Variety is reporting that David Heyman, the producer behind the likes of 'Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood', 'Marriage Story' and the 'Harry Potter' franchise, has joined the production and is now being fast-tracked.

Hardy has been pushing for 'Shackleton' for the past four years, and has a script written by Peter Straughan, who previously wrote the 2011 adaptation of 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' and Lenny Abrahamson's 'Frank'.

So far, no director has been attached to the movie and no release date has been set for it, but odds are things will begin moving far quicker than they have been with Heyman attached.

This won't be the first time that a biopic of the Anglo-Irish exporer has been mounted, either. Kenneth Branagh played Shackleton in a 2002 Channel 4 miniseries, which went on to win two Emmys.

Currently, no release date has been set for 'Shackleton', but expect Hardy to tackle this after 'Venom 2' releases later this year.