Tom Hardy Says He Was 'Really Overweight' When He Played Bane

Tom Hardy has said he was ‘really overweight’ with ‘pencil arms’ when he played Bane back in 2012. 

Hardy underwent an impressive transformation to play the villain in The Dark Knight Rises alongside Christian Bale’s Batman - but it seems that the actor wasn’t particularly impressed with how he looked at the time. 

Speaking in a recent interview on BBC Radio 1’s Kids Ask, the 44-year-old said he ‘just ate a lot of pizza’ to get to the size he was and credited good lighting for how he looked on screen. 

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Hardy said: "If you really study the photographs, I was really overweight, actually.

"I ate a lot and I wasn't much heavier than I am now, but I just ate more pizza.

"They shoot from low to make you look big.

"People would lift up the lids on their motorbike [helmets] and say 'I always thought you were bigger, mate'.

"I was just bald, slightly porky and with pencil arms.

"That's the magic of lighting and three or four months of lifting and training and eating lots of pizza. It wasn't great for my heart.

"The point was to look as big as possible. 

"I have really skinny legs and my friend Jacob Tomuri — my stunt man — liked to say 'Why did Tom come in riding an emu?’"

To play the role, Hardy packed on two stone (13kg) and has previously said that making ‘drastic’ changes to his body has taken its toll. 

In an interview with The Daily Beast a few years back he said: "I think you pay the price with any drastic physical changes.

"It was alright when I was younger, to put myself under that kind of duress, 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, and then not having enough time to keep training because you’re busy filming, so your body is swimming in two different directions at the same time.

Warner Bros Pictures

"And then after the film I’m tired, and you maybe have to change your shape again and go back to your normal size for the next film.

"To go from one extreme to another has a cost.

"I haven’t damaged my body, but I’m certainly a bit achier than I used to be! I kind of miss it.”

He went on to say that his personal transformations were ‘by no means extreme’ when compared to co-star Bale.

Topics: Celebrity, TV and Film

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]