Tom Hardy as Bane, The Dark Knight Rises
Regarding the villainous Bane’s oftentimes unintelligible dialogue in The Dark Knight Rises prologue and trailer, director/co-screenwriter Christopher Nolan said that "I think when people see the film, things will come into focus. Bane is very complex and very interesting and when people see the finished film, people will be very entertained by him.”
Bane is played by Tom Hardy, the London-born actor who was last year’s winner of the British Academy of Film and Television’s Orange Rising Star Award. Hardy will next be seen in This Is War, opposite Water for Elephants‘ Reese Witherspoon and Star Trek’s Chris Pine. Next in line are The Dark Knight Rises and John Hillcoat’s The Wettest Country, co-starring The Tree of Life and The Help’s Jessica Chastain, Transformers: Dark of the Moon’s Shia LaBeouf, and Hardy’s fellow The Dark Knight Rises actor Gary Oldman. Further down the road are (for the time being, at least), Mad Max: Fury Road and Cicero. Hardy could also find himself as one of the top 2013 Best Supporting Actor Oscar contenders.
Now, is it too early for this type of prediction? Should one have to wait until after the Best of 2011’s Golden Globe winners are announced? But why wait?
While recently discussing Hardy’s performance as Bane, The Dark Knight Rises co-screenwriter Jonathan Nolan (who is a rumored possibility for doing some brushing up on the currently stalled Akira) got the buzz ball rolling by remarking that "I think what Tom Hardy is doing with the role is spectacular. I’ve had the benefit of seeing a little bit more than the audience has seen at this point, and it’s pretty spectacular.” Another Heath Ledger?
In addition to Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, and Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne, The Dark Knight Rises features Oscar nominee Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Oscar winner Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) as Miranda Tate, two-time Oscar winner Michael Caine (Hannah and Her Sisters, The Cider House Rules) as Alfred, Oscar winner Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby) as Lucius Fox, and Oscar nominee Tom Conti (Reuben Reuben).
Other cast members include Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who supported Leonardo DiCaprio in Nolan’s 2010 blockbuster Inception), veteran Matthew Modine (Birdy, Full Metal Jacket), Juno Temple, Josh Pence, Daniel Sunjata, Nestor Carbonell, Joey King, Brett Cullen, Chris Ellis, Josh Stewart, Christopher Judge, Adam Rodriguez, and Rob Brown.
The Dark Knight Rises predecessors were Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008), both directed by Christopher Nolan, and starring Bale as Batman. The first movie also featured Liam Neeson and Tom Cruise’s wife, Katie Holmes. The second co-starred eventual Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Heath Ledger as The Joker, in addition to Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Jonathan Nolan’s quote via MTV.uk.
Tom Hardy/Batman/The Dark Knight Rises photo: Ron Phillips / Warner Bros, via Entertainment Weekly.