Although Tom Hardy struggled a lot during his earlier days in the industry, he made a name for himself with prominent performances over the years. One such performance was in Christian Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises.
The Venom actor was already acquainted with the director due to his appearance in the cult classic Inception just two years ago. However, it was his first time meeting his onscreen opponent Christian Bale. Interestingly, although Hardy admired Bale, he admitted he was also terrified of him.
Christian Bale terrified Tom Hardy during The Dark Knight Rises
Tom Hardy always had an immense appreciation for people who go above and beyond for their craft. Well, training with the likes of Michael Fassbender and having Sir Anthony Hopkins’ mentor as his guide will do that to someone.
As a result, he had tremendous respect for his Batman opponent, too. He recalled meeting Christian Bale for the first time on the set in an interview saying,
“He was a massive draw to work with. When I first met him at the screen test, I put my outfit on, and I got to the trailer and saw him sitting there without a T-shirt on, and I saw what his arms were like, and I thought, ‘I am going to walk this.'”
However, his surprise and reverence for the Oscar winner only grew when started rolling the cameras. Now, Tom Hardy, as Bane, was not only impressive but pretty intimidating as well.
However, he admitted that his appearance was nothing in front of Christian Bale’s humongous Batman suit. He noted that when the shoot began he was expecting to confront a regular-sized, heavily suited Batman to appear in front of him. However, he explained,
“Then this huge looming figure turned up at 10ft tall with huge pointy ears, and he looked at me and said, ‘Hi. I am Batman.’ And that scared me. Christian Bale is really tough – not the kind of guy you want to p*** off.”
As a result, like anyone else, he was highly intimidated by him. And the appreciation mixed with a revered terror only grew as the shooting went on.
Tom Hardy’s next comic book anti-hero role became a legacy
Interestingly, after his bout with Christopher Nolan‘s version of DC, Hardy landed another big comic book movie franchise in the world with Venom. The Marvel anti-hero, struggling with his own dark impulses, started trying to save the world around him first with the 2018 movie.
Thankfully, for Tom Hardy, his character immediately became a fan favorite and went on to give birth to two sequels, with the last one reported to start filming next month.
Although fans are hoping to learn more about its plotline and associations as more details start getting revealed during the filming, with the WGA strike in full bloom, it will be interesting to see how that works out.
Thankfully, Hardy is nothing if not an improviser as he had proved many times during his eventful Hollywood career. As a result, fans are waiting to see what the Oscar nominee ends up cooking for them in this new adventure.
The Dark Knight Rises is available for streaming on Netflix.
Source: Mirror
