With thanks to the generosity and talents of Echo Mute here’s a proper translation of the Taiwanese Elle article on Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises! Tom Hardy is a joy to everybody, oh yes indeed. :)
Started from a street boy, Tom Hardy, with great enthusiasm for acting, had his bad times, and a not so good marriage with his ex-wife Sarah Ward. After years of hard work in the show business, he finally got global attention with Inception. Director Christopher Nolan saw what others couldn’t see and cast him as the villain of The Dark Knight Rises, since he could see that the uninhibited Tom had a soft and vulnerable heart.
Since the Joker crashed Batman mentally in The Dark Knight, Nolan thought the villain in the third movie was supposed to attack Batman physically, yet not a brainless terrorist. When Nolan decided on Bane as the main villain, he thought of Tom Hardy. He said Bane is a monster who knows torture very well. Bane realized that the way to destroy a man is by destroying his mind, so he devastated Batman’s Gotham City to leave him full of regrets. Tom Hardy is the right one for Bane, who in private is also full ofemotions and affections, just like Tom’s personality. Nolan even described Baneas Darth Vader in Star Wars. Masked, ambitious, horrible, but rarely known as affectionate in private.
Christian Bale thinks Bane knows everything about Batman. He controls Batman’s weaknesses and plans to totally destroy him. This is unbearable for Batman who just suffered in the previous movie, but he must face the difficulty, otherwise he cannot move on. Tom put it straight-forward. He said Bane was a ambitious revolutionary, but also a man with a delicate mind. Furthermore, wearing a long coat and heavy mask in summer days was truly a nightmare. Hadn’t it been for the support of Christian Bale, he wouldn’t have made it.
However, Tom Hardy in person is a joy to everybody. Though outgoing and optimistic, he has been used to playing physically brutal and strong yet emotionally delicate roles, so he played Bane very naturally. He said the set of TDKR was like a big family. Everybody still keeps in contact with each other. Although he was absent from some promotions due to the filming of Mad Max 4, he managed to attend the NY premiere and appeared alongside everyone. When asked if he hoped to work with Nolan again, he casually answered of course, depending on whether Nolan wants him or not.
(Source: elle.com.tw)
