^ I keep telling people about that performance and there have even been pics of it on the thread but they keep harping on about him not being bulky enough!
Well, I'll have to take your word for it, but I just meant that my initial reaction was one of surprise, not that I still think he can't do it.
And I do think that Nolan is likely to play up Bane's intellectual side more than his physical side, since after all we are talking about a Nolan film here. Do you really think the main villain in the climax of Nolan's Bat-trilogy would be someone who would only challenge Batman on a crude physical level? All his film foes to date -- Falcone, Scarecrow, Ra's, Joker, Two-Face -- have challenged him more on a level of intellect, emotion, and strategy than muscle power. I don't think that's likely to change. So I think that whether Hardy can meet the physical standards for the role is probably a rather unimportant question. I'm expecting Bane-as-mastermind rather than Bane-as-superthug.