By Rudie Obias | 8 years ago

An actor’s career can change so much in the course of 10 years. The proof of that can be found in this fan video of Tom Hardy playing the role of Praetor Shinzon, the evil clone of Jean-Luc Picard, during a screen test with Patrick Stewart for Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002. The screen test is intercut with the actual film scene and the results speak volumes.

Over the past few years, actor Tom Hardy has had a pretty successful film career. He first got the attention of audiences in 2008 when he played the title role in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Bronson, afterwards he was featured in Christopher Nolan’s Inception in 2010. Recently he can be seen playing the menacing Bane in Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. But before all of that, Hardy was a theater actor in Great Britain until he got the chance to play the villain in Star Trek: Nemesis.

Although Tom Hardy didn’t get the critical acclaim or success he hoped for with Nemesis, it’s clear to see even at the young age of 24, Hardy showed that he can hold his own with Stewart. But more importantly, Hardy showed promise.

Unfortunately, Star Trek: Nemesis was not well received by critics, general audiences or even Star Trek fans. Although it did bridged the gap between The Next Generation and the Voyager series, Star Trek: Nemesis felt like an overlong TV episode with a bigger budget. It was also the lowest grossing Star Trek movie and the last in a long 23-year film series until J.J. Abrams hit the reset button in 2009 with the re-boot of Star Trek.