Christian Bale Once Scared Tom Hardy When They Worked Together in 'The Dark Knight Rises'

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Tom Hardy once opened up about what it was like acting with Christian Bale for the first time in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’.

Published on March 14, 2023

Christian Bale teamed up with Tom Hardy for The Dark Knight Rises. Although Hardy greatly admired Bale, the actor admitted it was intimidating to be in the Oscar-winner’s presence. Especially when he was wearing the Batman costume.

Tom Hardy was nervous after he was cast as Bane in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’

Hardy found himself portraying the supervillain Bane in Christopher Nolan’s final Batman film. The actor was excited about being a part of Nolan’s trilogy, and knew the role meant a shift for his career.

“Doing Batman has been massive. It’s a massive deal. My career was like a paddling pool. Bane has gone and thrown a grenade into it,” Hardy once said in an interview with Mirror. “It’s that kind of change.”

But he also felt the weight of responsibility he had playing the character.

“At times I have felt nervous about the role. It’s taken me 30 years to get here. When I got offered the part I was nervous because of the hype,” Hardy added. “It is huge. My friends have told me my that my life will change after the film but I have tried to remain focused and remain British.”

Tom Hardy once shared how Christian Bale scared him when they collaborated in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’

Rises saw Hardy working alongside Bale for the first time. Bale was one of the main components that attracted Hardy to Rises in the first place. And according to Hardy, the Batman actor’s intensity as a performer lived up to expectations.

“Christian can be quite fiery on set but I really wanted to meet him as he is exciting and an impressive actor,” Hardy said. “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.’”

But Hardy admitted that he was intimidated by Bale after seeing him in costume. The Revenant star thought Bale’s Batman would be less frightening than he was.

“I was expecting the old Batman in grey pants. 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,” Hardy recalled.

How Christian Bale felt about working with Tom Hardy

Bale was able to experience Hardy’s work ethic and dedication to the role firsthand, and had similar kind words for the actor.

“I’ve been working with Tom mostly over the last few weeks, he’s a real fascinating actor. He’s going to be creating some wonderful characters over his career and he’s doing so with this. He’s kind of just gleeful, coming into work every day. He’s got a great character to chew the scenery with in a good way, and he’s the real deal. I’m very impressed with him. I’m very impressed with all of the cast in this one,” Bale once told Superhero Hype.

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