How Tom Hardy came up with the voice for Bane
Anyone taking on the mantle of a Batman villain after Heath Ledger already had the odds stacked against them. Ledger’s turn as The Joker remains one of modern media’s most horrifyingly realistic portrayals of a superhero villain. It was no small task for Christopher Nolan to recapture that same threat level for The Dark Knight Rises. While the next step in Nolan’s trilogy was to bring in Bane as Bruce Wayne’s next adversary, Tom Hardy had something specific in mind for the voice.
When combing through different inflexions, Hardy started studying the vocals of a Latin man named Bartley Gorman, recalling to Wired: “The king of the gipsies, in inverted commas, is a bare-knuckle fighter and a boxer. And he said, ‘when I get into a ring with a man, I would want to wipe you off the face of the Earth, and nobody wants to kill me’. And I was like, this is great”.
Knowing that Bane would likely be a foreign enemy to Batman, Hardy wanted his performance to reflect that. Combined with the brute strength of the character, the sheer intensity of Hardy’s vocal performance made the voice that much more threatening, bringing an heir of sophistication to the performance.
Granted, Hardy did mention it being a bit of a risk at the time, continuing: “I told Chris [Nolan] we could either go down a Darth Vader route with a neutral tone villain voice or we could try this. It might be something that would be laughed at by the public. It might be something we regret, but it’s your choice ultimately. And Chris was like, ‘Yeah, we’ll do it'”.
As Hardy prepared for the role, his physical shape drastically changed, packing on pounds of pure muscle to fully incapacitate The Caped Crusader. As the film progresses, Hardy’s now-iconic voice has depth from the first moment he speaks. Although he first appears in the film underneath a hood along with other refugees, his voice blends perfectly with the mask that he wears, almost like he’s being muffled while also sounding threatening.
Despite Nolan’s fairly thorough history with his films, some of Hardy’s improvisational skills also made it into the film. As Gotham eagerly awaits a football game, Bane has been working underground to blow up the stadium around them and enforce marshall law throughout the city. Once a young boy comes into the centre of the field to sing the national anthem, Hardy’s off-handed comment of “that’s a lovely, lovely voice” made it into the final cut. The subtle nuance of the line gives more depth to Bane’s arc, a man who appreciates beauty in the world but knows his job is to spread chaos wherever he goes.
Hardy’s transformation into the character didn’t come without his fair share of physical tolls. When speaking to The Daily Beast, Hardy did not recommend the strain he put on his body for anyone else, saying, “It was alright when I was younger… but I think as you get into your 40s, you have to be more mindful of the rapid training, packing on a lot of weight and getting physical. I haven’t damaged my body, but I’m certainly a bit achier than I used to be! Carrying my children is a little bit harder than it used to be—but don’t tell them!”.
