Christopher Nolan's Brother Defends Tom Hardy's 'Bane' Voice in The Dark Knight Rises
Posted 01.14.12 by BrentJS
Many of the same die-hard comic book movie fans who helped to make the first trailer for director Christopher Nolan third and final Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR), the most downloaded trailer of all time, and flocked to IMAX theaters to see the extended prologue that ran before Mission: Impossible, have a major gripe with Nolan's vision so far: they say they can't understand British actor Tom Hardy, who plays' Batman's (Christian Bale) breathing apparatus-wearing nemesis, Bane.
The controversy has led to rumors that Warner Bros. is pressuring Nolan to "change the sound mix" to make him easier to understand — an assertion refuted by an anonymous "high-level exec" who said Nolan "doesn't dumb things down" for his audience — and the studio was forced to deny the claim of an IMAX projectionist who said that he received a new prologue soundtrack with "clearer and more understandable" dialogue. The director didn't say much about the controversy when he recently spoke with EW, other than to say that "things will come into focus" when the movie comes out, but his brother, Jonathan, defended Hardy's performance in a recent interview with AceShowbiz, describing it as "spectacular."
I've gotta tell you, I think what Tom Hardy is doing with the role is spectacular. I've had the benefit of seeing a little bit more than the audience has seen, at this point, and it's pretty spectacular.
Jonathan wrote the screenplay for TDKR from a story conceived by his brother and David S. Goyer, who he called "two great guys to work with and brainstorm with." He also said that the 'Batwing' sequence glimpsed in the prologue and trailer was something his director brother had wanted to film for some time.
I think Chris had long wanted to do the aerial spectacular. It's such a good fit for the IMAX cameras that he likes to shoot with, and so that was a long time in the making.
Joining Bale in returning in The Dark Knight Rises are Gary Oldman as Commissioner James Gordon, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, Sir Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, and Nestor Carbonell as the mayor of Gotham City. Along with Hardy, new additions in major roles include Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Josh Pence as young Ra's al Ghul, and Juno Temple as Holly Robinson. Additional cast members include Alon Aboutboul, Christopher Judge, Daniel Sunjata, Rob Brown, Adam Rodriguez, Christopher Judge, Diego Klattenhoff, Burn Gorman, Tom Conti, and Joey King.
Next Showing: The Dark Knight Rises opens July 20