"I would wear a paper bag over my head for that man"- When Tom Hardy made his feelings clear about working in The Dark Knight Rises
Among the many roles that Tom Hardy has taken up over the many years of his glittering career, Tom Hardy's portrayal of Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, the final installment in Christopher Nolan's acclaimed Batman trilogy, has remained a classic. Not only did Hardy play this role to perfection, but he has also cemented his name among the best Batman villains adapted for the screen.
Casting Tom Hardy for Bane, one of the most physically dominant villains in the Batman franchise, may have initially come as a controversial choice, but after the movie was released, hardly anyone questioned it again. For Hardy, too, this was a great opportunity that he genuinely wanted to work on.
He spoke about getting the part in an interview with Entertainment Weekly back in 2012, where he revealed how Nolan was initially worried about the requirement of Hardy having to wear a mask throughout. But the actor revealed that he could have gone to any length to work with Nolan, whose films have since seen a lot of ups and almost no downs.
Speaking about this, Hardy had said:
"I think he worried it would be something I might not consider because wearing a mask might damage my career or something. He thought I'd be worried that the audience couldn't see my beautiful face,...Like I care. It's Chris Nolan! I would wear a paper bag over my head for that man."
In this same interview, Tom Hardy further dissected the iconic villain and revealed that they had two ways they could have done the character, and ultimately ended up choosing the riskier path.
"It's a risk, because we could be laughed at"- Tom Hardy on picking the riskier path to playing Bane
Over the years, Bane has been a character who has regularly appeared in comics, shows, and even videogames, but Nolan's take on the Batman universe was an offbeat one, and hence, there was also a Bane that was unlike any seen before.
As Hardy revealed in this interview, there was obviously a choice of playing the character in a conventional manner, but they chose to take the risk and give Bane more substance than viewers would expect. Elaborating on this, Hardy said:
"There were two doors we could walk through,...We could play a very straightforward villain or we could go through this very quirky door, which is totally justified by the text but may seem very, very stupid....It's a risk, because we could be laughed at — or it could be very fresh and exciting."
This experimental approach to playing the character saw many big changes, which included an exuberant Bane voice and a great character backstory. It all combined to make Tom Hardy's portrayal of Bane one of the most iconic supervillains of all time.
For Hardy, this was hardly his last participation in the genre. He went on to star as Venom in his own film trilogy, and with Marvel's reputation, he may just be back in the future.
Tom Hardy continues to be a giant presence in the industry. He most recently appeared in Havoc, which was released in 2025. He is also one of the primary characters in MobLand, which has released seven episodes so far.
