EastEnders’ Danny Dyer admits regrets over turning down Tom Hardy’s role in The Take after failing to crack America

DANNY Dyer thinks he missed his one shot at becoming a Hollywood star, and instead that chance went to Tom Hardy.

The EastEnders star, 43, thinks he could've seen his name in the big lights if only he'd said yes to playing a sociopathic gangster in 2009's The Take.

The role of Freddie Jackson ended up going to Tom Hardy who would go on to take Hollywood by storm and even earn himself an Oscar nomination along the way.

Speaking on his podcast – Sorted with the Dyers – alongside daughter Dani Dyer, he revealed he regretted rejecting the role in the Sky crime drama.

Asked what he would tell his 15-year-old self, he said: "I'd have gone: 'Right, you're going to be offered a job called The Take.

"Say yes to it even though your agent and everyone is going, 'No, don't do it, because if you do this you're going to be pigeonholed as a gangster for the rest of your life.' "

He added: "My 15-year-old self would go: 'F**k off, you got any fags mate?'

"And I would say: 'No, listen. Do say yes to The Take. Because if you don't they will give it to an actor called Tom Hardy, and it'll be the making of him and he will go off and go to Hollywood. And you won't.' "

Danny also opened up about he "couldn't be bothered" to do Who Do You Think You Are? because it would only highlight his ties to East End gangsters.

Danny explained: "I was taken off on some show, Who Do You Think You Are?, I didn't really want to do it."

Dani replied: "They asked you a couple of years in a row didn't they?"

Her dad explained: "Yeah, and I was like: 'Oh I can't be bothered, what are we going to go to, east London gangsters? I don't know … poverty.'

"But they gave me this information, very, very clever, people. So I'm a direct descendent of King Edward III."

Danny added: "Some professors argue we are all related to King Edward III, but how the f**k does that work?

"It's ridiculous. And if that is the case then why hasn't every celebrity on Who Do You Think You Are? been traced back to King Edward III? Because they haven't got the paperwork for one."

Despite not cracking Hollywood, Danny is still doing alright for himself.

He recently built a gym in his garden and has taken up yin yoga.

Danny revealed: "I've just built a nice gym in the summer house. I need to start running, we've got a running machine, I need to get a nice bike and some dumbbells."

The actor who plays Mick Carter on the BBC One soap said he is focusing on looking after his health.

Speaking on Sorted with the Dyers podcast, he said: "I'm in my forties, I need to start looking after myself."

The EastEnders actor shocked listeners after he revealed that he practises the ancient form of exercise that focuses on strength, flexibility and breathing to boost physical and mental wellbeing.

Danny piped up: "And me, I wear a tiny little pair of shorts but I prefer yin yoga where you don't get up. Every move is on the floor and every pose if four minutes long, it's all about stretching your muscles.

"My favourite is the dead frog, you sort of lay on the floor as if you've been run over, like the recovery position, it's all candlelit. It's about controlling your mind in 40 degrees heat."

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