Ken Watanabe and Tom Hardy have joined the cast of Christopher Nolan's contemporary sci-fi actioner film Inception, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The story, which Nolan wrote, is set within the architecture of the mind, with Leonardo DiCaprio portraying a CEO type.

Watanabe will play the film's villain, a man who is blackmailing DiCaprio. Hardy will be a member of DiCaprio's team. The two join a cast that includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page and Marion Cotillard.

Watanabe's deal reunites him with Nolan, with whom he collaborated on 2005's Batman Begins.

Nolan and the studio are aiming for a summer shoot ahead of a 2010 release.