The Dark Knight trilogy left an indelible mark on the superhero genre, raising audiences’ expectations for comic book movies. With the success of the first movie, the second installment introduced Tom Hardy’s Bane who forced Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne to resume his role as Batman. Though the former’s character often garnered comparison with the late Heath Ledger’s Joker, he faced yet another challenge.
Due to Bane’s mask, the actor was unable to hear while filming whereas his co-star faced the same issue. His prop eventually ended up becoming a hurdle in the actors’ communication but they came up with a genius cue trick to tackle the problem.
Christian Bale Used Gestures to Communicate With Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises
During an interview with Heart to promote his 2022 movie, The Pale Blue Eye, Christian Bale spilled the beans about the secret he used with The Dark Knight Rises co-star, Tom Hardy to communicate on set.
Recalling that the duo was unable to hear one another, he shared,
“We were so far apart and I couldn’t hear what he was saying because there was so much noise and he couldn’t hear what I was saying because there’s so much noise.”
He continued,
“Every time, Christopher Nolan, the director. was going; ‘Guys – you’re not answering each other?’ [And we’d say] We can’t hear anything!”
Since their lack of communication was affecting their performance, they decided to finger gesture to each other just when they finished their lines, making the conversation flow smoothly. He added,
“So I would say my line, and then I would go [points finger] and he’d know I’m done, your turn. And then he would do his bit. Then he would do the same, but a bit more discreet.”
It’s quite spectacular as no one noticed their gestures in the movie. Not just the American Psycho star, but the Venom actor himself addressed the issue during his interviews.
Tom Hardy Talks About His Role in The Dark Knight Rises
Not just the Caped Crusader actor, but the bad guy himself addressed facing hearing issues when he wore the face mask, needed to play Bane’s role in the 2012 movie.
He shared via Contact Music,
“Any time you put something on your face, you’re going to adopt a personality and a physicality that has nothing to do with acting.”
He continued,
“It allows a performance to be free. The only downside is you can’t hear a f**king word anyone is saying. Batman can’t hear me and he can’t see me speaking so we sort of stand there looking at each other for a while.”
Being unable to communicate verbally, they opted for hand signals which made their jobs easy.
“We’ve been doing hand signals! I put my thumbs up when I finish my lines or I wink. And he sort of wiggles his fingers out of shot and I go, ‘OK, now I’ve got to run up and kick you in the b******s!'”
While this role was surely a challenge, he enjoyed portraying the character. He told Vanity Fair about his preference to play an antagonist over a hero.
“It’s always fun to be the villain, much more fun than being the straight guy.”
While Hardy did a great job playing his character, many fans couldn’t help but compare him with Heath Ledger’s Joker with the actor garnering mixed critical responses. Nonetheless, the film was a commercial success, surging past $1 billion worldwide, breaking numerous box-office records.
The Dark Knight Rises is streaming on Max.
