Tom Hardy became 'really overweight' to play Bane: 'I just ate more pizza'

Tom Hardy has been a chameleon over the years — fully sinking into defining roles such as MMA fighter Tommy Conlon in "Warrior" (2011) or the titular notorious British criminal in "Bronson" (2008). He even earned an Oscar nomination for how convincing he was as John Fitzgerald opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Revenant" (2015).

But none of Hardy's transformations have been more widely discussed than his nearly 30-pound weight gain for Bane in "The Dark Knight Rises," Christopher Nolan's third installment of his Batman trilogy from 2012.

While promoting "Venom: Let There Be Carnage," Hardy recently visited with BBC Radio 1, where kids submitted questions for him to answer. A 10-year-old named Sam wanted to know, "How did you get so muscly to play Bane in The Dark Knight Rises?"

"Well, actually, if you look closely, if you really study the photographs, I was really overweight, actually," the 44-year-old actor and producer responded. "I ate a lot. I was not much heavier than I am now, but I just ate more pizza on top of it, and then they shoot from low to make you look big."

"In fact, I would go around and people would pull up on their motorbikes and lift the lids and go, 'I always thought you were bigger, mate,'" Hardy continued, laughing. "Nah, man. I was just bald and slightly porky with pencil arms. But no, that's the magic of lighting and stuff. Three of four months of training and lifting and eating lots of pizza. It wasn't great for my heart."

When asked if he felt good during that time, he confirmed he did not. "But that's not the point, is it?" he countered. "The point is to look as big as possible. I wore two or three pairs of trousers as well because I have really skinny legs."