Tom Hardy Describes Wearing Bane's 'Dark Knight Rises' Mask

There's a darkness in Bane. You'd expect as much, considering that the masked terrorist is fond of killing federal agents, crashing planes filled with dummy corpses, and breaking crime-fighters' backs from time to time.

But "Dark Knight Rises" actor Tom Hardy, who stars as Bane, does not share his character's dark side. Speaking with Latino Review at the UK premiere of "This Means War," Hardy insisted that he never had to get himself into an emotionally cold place in order to play Bane.

"I didn't get into a dark place at all," Hardy said of his "brutal" and "heavy-handed" character. "A lot of dark characters are easy to have distance from. It's something I feel comfortable with, I suppose."

It's not the first time Hardy's stressed his "good guy" nature, saying earlier this month: "I loved being able to play a baddie and, coming from East Sheen in South-West London, that doesn't come easily to me ... I actually had to work on not being very nice. I'm genuinely a nice guy."

So getting into bad guy mode isn't uncomfortable for Hardy. What isn't so easy, at least by the sound of it, is wearing the mask. As if weren't bad enough that Hardy's voice has been completely muffled by Bane's signature look, the mask itself is apparently no picnic to wear in the first place.

"Bane's mask is tight, actually," he said. "I got used to it, but you get used to anything really, in time."

Do you like the sound of Hardy's take on Bane? Are you looking forward to his "Dark Knight Rises" performance? Sound off in the comments section and on Twitter!