Ken Watanabe And Tom Hardy Join Christopher Nolan's 'Inception'

This is starting to get ridiculous. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” has added two more stars to its already very illustrious cast. Ken Watanabe, who worked with Nolan in “Batman Begins,” has come on board to play a villain who reportedly blackmails the film’s protagonist, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Tom Hardy, meanwhile, will play a member of DiCaprio’s team.

At this point, Hardy is probably best known for his portrayal of the gay gangster in “RockNRolla,” however, he is currently earning immense critical acclaim for his upcoming performance as the infamous British prisoner Charles Bronson in “Bronson” and is strongly tipped to be an upcoming star. Watanabe is no stranger to the spotlight either with notable performances in films such “The Last Samurai” and “Letters From Iwo Jima.”

As you may or may not know, details on “Inception” are currently being kept under tight wraps with, more or less, nothing known about the film’s story. The only released information thus far has been the ambiguous logline of: “a contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind.” We previously speculated that it was a thesaurus-friendly way to calling it a sci-fi psychological thriller.

To recap the cast at Nolan’s disposal to this point, we have:
– Leonardo DiCaprio as the CEO-type protagonist;
– Marion Collitard as DiCaprio’s wife;
– Ellen Page as a young graduate sidekick to DiCaprio;
– Cillian Murphy in an unknown role;
– Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an associate of DiCaprio;
– Michael Caine in a small, unknown role;
– Ken Watanabe as the film’s antagonist and
– Tom Hardy as a member of DiCaprio’s team

Pretty amazing. This project is quickly becoming one of our most anticipated films of 2010. Filming is set to begin this summer for a July 16th release. If someone happens to have the script, do the right thing and pass it along to us.