Christopher Nolan doubles down on Tom Hardy’s divisive Bane in The Dark Knight Rises
Christopher Nolan has revisited Tom Hardy’s Bane in The Dark Knight Rises — this time focusing on the reasoning behind a choice that split audiences at the time.
If you thought the debate over The Dark Knight Rises and its most memeable villain had died down, think again. Christopher Nolan is still banging the drum for Tom Hardy’s much-discussed turn as Bane, more than a decade after the film came out. Nolan’s not convinced people give Hardy anywhere near enough credit for what, let’s be honest, was quite a mad performance — accent, mask and all.
'The Dark Knight Rises closed the trilogy with more than $1.08 billion worldwide.'
The Bane Voice Lives On
Nolan got onto the subject chatting with Josh Horowitz, who pointed out that both Heath Ledger (as the Joker) and Hardy went all in on their Batman baddies. No half measures — we’re talking total commitment and ‘audacious choices’ (that’s Horowitz’s phrasing). Apparently, Nolan fully agrees; he thinks Hardy’s Bane hasn’t been 'fully appreciated' even now. While opinions split instantly on Bane’s slightly odd vocal stylings when the film dropped, Nolan reckons Hardy delivered something 'extraordinary.'
One thing Nolan stresses is that Hardy had, in his words, 'no safety net.'
The bane of Bane (sorry) is that the bloke spends nearly the entire film with his mouth and most of his face covered, which means all of the character has to be delivered with eyes, brows, and whatever physio-clowning can be squeezed through a mask.
According to Nolan, that mask was almost an acting straitjacket, but Hardy found a way to make even a raised eyebrow terrifying.
There were loads of conversations between director and actor about how to squeeze emotion through those tiny exposed bits of face — but in Nolan’s view, Hardy brought 'monstrous' depth to it.
Box Office, By the Numbers
It’s easy to forget how massive Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy actually was on release — in superhero terms, it’s up there with the cultural juggernauts. 'Batman Begins' raked in over $375 million and hangs onto a very respectable 85% on Rotten Tomatoes and 8.2/10 on IMDb. The middle entry, 'The Dark Knight', went stratospheric: it cracked $1 billion worldwide, has a 94% RT and 9.1 on IMDb. And the supposedly 'divisive' final entry with Hardy’s Bane? Still pulled in $1.08 billion, getting an 87% and 8.4/10 from critics and punters, respectively.