Inception actor to tackle role in the new Batman . . .

. . .  but there is no word yet on who Tom Hardy is going to play. All that's confirmed is co-writer and director Christopher Nolan has cast him in a lead role in the film.

While there’s zero confirmation on his part, we in The Basement encourage you to go bug  nuts with your guesses – would he make a good Riddler? Is he taking on one of the other iconic characters from Bats’ rogues’ gallery? Bruce Wayne's mail man? Hey, it could happen.

Hardy has been shooting the latest version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for Thomas Alfredson and will appear in McG’s action comedy This Means War alongside Reese Witherspoon (whom yours truly caught a glimpse of in Vancouver last week. She's short and 50 per cent leg) and Chris Pine. His version of Mad Max has been temporarily waylaid due to bad weather Down Under.

The next Bat film is due out in 2012, just in time for the apocalypse.

Tom Hardy Reveals New Mad Max Details

I haven't watched Bronson yet, but hear good things about it and Tom Hardy's performance. And those in the know don't bemoan him taking over for Mel Gibson as the lead in a new Mad Max.

Hardy told Empire he's mentally preparing himself for a gruelling nine-month shoot: a colossally long period which is apparently causing some headaches for the production: "All kinds of people's shifting schedules need to be tied down".

What does appear decided is the "look" of the new Max. "Imagine a hungry wolf," suggests Hardy, "or like when you put a cat in the bath. That's what I'm going to look like, but like a puma: very hungry and dangerous. This is a guy who's not well, so it's imperative that I create that reality."

Hardy says the new film, subtitled Fury Road, has "the same amount of grit and rawness and authenticity" as before. "Big rigs, big explosions, big crashes, big violence. It's a relaunch and revisit and entire restructuring, which isn't to say it's not picking up from the Mad Max you know already. It's a nice retake on the character: depositing him in the same world but bringing him up to date by 30 years."

Given original director George Miller is back, I am keen to see this!