Claim: Bronson (film) starred Tom Hardy as Charles Bronson.

Bronson is a 2008 British fictionalized biographical crime film co-written and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and starring Tom Hardy . The film follows the life of notorious prisoner Michael Gordon Peterson , who was renamed Charles Bronson by his fight promoter . Born into a respectable middle-class family , Peterson would nevertheless become one of the United Kingdom 's most dangerous criminals , and is known for having spent almost his entire adult life in solitary confinement . Bronson is narrated with humour , blurring the line between comedy and horror .