Bane was easily the coolest character in The Dark Knight Returns, wasn't he? His most defining feature was that scary mask as is synonymous with the comic book, but his huge muscles were a close second. Critics were talking about his voice (go on, read this article in it), but everyone else was staring at his guns. And that's because Tom Hardy put on a whopping 42 pounds of muscle and fat in three short months for the role.
Credit: Warner Bros.
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Talking to The Daily Beast, he revealed that in his next film, Fonzo, he's playing Al Capone in prison but this time it's a different kind of transformation.
"Al Capone was 40-something when he passed away, so he wasn't that far off my age anyway," said the 40-year-old Taboo star. "And he'd lost a lot of weight before he passed because he was suffering from Syphilis and deteriorating. It's not the classic Al Capone that you necessarily envision with the silhouette."
"I don't know if it's as drastic as Bane. I've probably damaged my body too much. I'm only little!" the 5ft 9 inches actor exclaimed. "If I keep putting on weight I'll collapse like a house of cards under too much pressure."
"To go from one extreme to another has a cost," he admitted. "I'm certainly a bit achier than I used to be! I kind of miss it. Compared to Christian Bale I've been by no means extreme in my body changes, but for what little I've done, yeah, I certainly have joints that click that probably shouldn't click, you know what I mean? And carrying my children is a little bit harder than it used to be - but don't tell them!"
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Here he is talking to Jonathan Ross about the role and meeting Christian Bale in the bat suit.
Credit: the Jonathan Ross Show/ITV
Movie star body transformations...
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Here are a few other intense body transformations that actors have put themselves through.
Christian Bale is the king of body transformations. He went from losing an insane amount of weight for the insomniac in The Machinist to bulking up in a few short months for Batman Begins.
Bale in The Machinist. Credit: Paramount Pictures
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Another one who lost a lot of weight for a role is Irish actor Michael Fassender. For his breakout role as human rights activist Bobby Shands who went on a hunger strike, he lost 42 pounds and lived off berries and nuts.
Credit: Icon
In Monster, actor Charlize Theron put on weight and changed her appearance. The former model was playing a real life serial killer and ditched her usual glamour - and ended up winning an Oscar.
Credit: Newmarket Films
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And of course there's Renee Zellwegger. She piled on the pounds to play British singleton Bridget Jones in Bridget Jones' Diary, then lost it again after the movie then piled on even more for the sequel. Her secret? Doughnuts. For the third film, she didn't bother gaining any weight.
Words Laura Hamilton
Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros.