Tom Hardy Reveals Inspiration For Bane's Voice In Dark Knight Rises Blu-ray Special Feature

The Dark Knight Rises will be fighting crime on Blu-ray today, and that means Bane's unusual vocal cadence will be thundering through your home theater systems in dolby digital surround along with it. Whether you loved it or hated it, there's no denying that director Christopher Nolan and Tom Hardy made a creative choice with Bane's voice that will be remembered for all time. Bat-fans wondering where the genesis for Hardy's linguistic symphony came from can look no further than the special features section on the disc.

Tom Hardy has been carving out a nice little niche as a tough guy in films like Warrior and Bronson, but the actor was at first hesitant to reveal to his fans where Bane's voice is channeled from. "I didn't want my admirers to feel I was a girly-man, but the truth is I'm just doing an impersonation of Katharine Hepburn," the actor confesses. "I'd sit in my trailer between takes and just continually watch her films over and over to get it right. Christopher and I felt that Bane's voice needed to be tough, annoying, and always sound like he's about to choke on phlegm. But there had to be a touch of class mixed in with all those elements as well, and we felt impersonating Hepburn would bring all those things together wonderfully. Also,  Bales Bat-voice always sounds like a guy who is speaking while continually having his ass wiped with sandpaper. We felt we needed to have Bane's vocalization be the ying to Batman's raspy yang."

Hardy studying Hepburn's cadence between takes  

Perhaps now movie geeks will better appreciate what Hardy has created in Bane now that they know the actor's motivations. So when you get your copy of The Dark Knight Rises home, make sure when Bane speaks, you turn your speakers up to eleven!