Dark Knight Rises director Christopher Nolan reveals Tom Hardy based Bane on him

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"Tom Hardy maintains that Bane is somehow based on me"

Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises
(Image credit: IMDb)

Christopher Nolan has revealed that Tom Hardy’s portrayal of Bane in The Dark Knight Rises was based on him – according to Hardy, anyway. Bane is a masked villain intent on destroying Gotham in the final instalment of the Christian Bale-fronted Batman trilogy.

"I think there is a slightly mischievous tendency on the part of actors to see in the filmmakers where as a writer, particularly writer/directors, were able to put a bit of themselves into something and then build on that,” Nolan said in a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. 

“Tom Hardy maintains that Bane is somehow based on me, but in Tom’s mind there’s some very complex interweaving of impulses and influences that somehow I have a voice in. I think it’s certainly not conscious on my part.”

Nolan went on to praise Hardy’s performance in the movie, which he thinks remains under-appreciated eight years after the movie’s release in 2012. “What he did with that character has yet to be fully appreciated. It’s an extraordinary performance, and truly amazing,” Nolan said. 

We can next see the Caped Crusader on our screens played by Robert Pattinson in The Batman, with an ensemble cast including Zoe Kravitz, Colin Farrell, and Paul Dano. The release date has been pushed back several times due to the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s now due out on March 4 2022.

In the meantime, you can catch up with the rest of the DCEU – here’s how to watch the DC movies in order.

Emily Garbutt
Emily Garbutt
Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related. I help bring you all the latest news, features, and reviews, as well as helming our Big Screen Spotlight column. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.