While doing the press rounds for
Warrior, talk has once again inevitably turned to his role as Bane in
The Dark Knight Rises. The actor revealed that while he put on over 18 kg for
Bronson back in 2009, he's shot right up to 87 kg for this latest role - the most he's ever weighed!
"I feel heavy. This size is not real. I only feel strong in short stints of times. If I needed to get across the room and throw someone through a door, I could do that, but...as soon as I’m done shooting, I’m dropping the weight."
Hardy then went on to elaborate on how exactly he landed the role. Filming rom-com,
This Means War, he was just about to head on over to Australia to film new Mad Max movie,
Fury Road, only for the torrential floods down under to cause the cancellation of the shoot. It was then that he received a call from the man he worked with on
Inception, Christopher Nolan.
"Chris rings and says, 'I’m not sure if it’s your sort of thing because it would mean wearing a mask. How do you feel about wearing a mask as an actor?' How do I feel about wearing a mask? I’d wear a plastic bag over my head for Chris! I’ll do anything for him. I did not see that coming. I never, ever thought I’d be in Batman."
And in a surprising turn of events, the British actor then confessed to his trouble past, and how strange it is to look back on that time of his life now that his Hollywood career is taking off to such an extent.
"I’m 10 years into being aware of my addictions and in those 10 years, my life has gotten fortuitously better and better. I can’t use, I can’t drink. So that means I can’t go out and dance and be comfortable doing it because I feel stupid and embarrassed. And I’m embarrassed doing karaoke because I haven’t had a beer. You win a few, you lose a few. I can’t have beer, but I can have a fight with Batman. At the end of the day, who’s complaining?"
STARRING:
Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman
Michael Caine as Alfred
Gary Oldman as Commissioner Jim Gordon
Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox
Tom Hardy as Bane
Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tom Blake
Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate
Josh Pence as Ra's Al Ghul
RELEASE DATE: July 20th, 2012