Tom Hardy Talks About Bane's Mask & Size

Will the actor be wearing the mask for Bane? Will he be bulking up?

Much of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises has been kept under wraps so far, with only a few scant details being leaked aside from the casting announcements. Knowing that Nolan favors a realistic approach to his characters, many have begun wondering how he will handle Bane. Will he wear the mask, will venom be used, and how big will he be? Luckily, some of those questions have been answered while Hardy was discussing The Dark Knight Rises on British talk show Alan Carr: Chatty Man.

First and foremost, Carr asked him whether or not he would be wearing the "gimp mask" as Bane. To which, Hardy replied with a coy, "Only if I feel like it," after mocking the Joel Schumacher version of the character from Batman & Robin. As for how faithful the character will be to the comics... Hardy does not appear to know.

"Chris Nolan will revisit the character so I wouldn't go by that at all."

And what about Bane's size? How can the actor bulk up when filming is so soon? He explains:

"I'm going to need to bulk up a lot for it. That's a lot of weight to put on and I've got to start shooting in May. I've got to go up to about 13 or 14 stone. I'm 12 and a bit now, so only have a few months to do that."

Not familiar with "stones" as a unit of measurement for weight? Yea, neither are we. Though we're told 14 stones is roughly 196 lbs. A small number for sure, but not as bad as you might think considering Hardy is only 5'9".