Tom Hardy had to apologize for comparing working on The Dark Knight Rises to working at Starbucks

Tom Hardy once had to apologize for comparing working on The Dark Knight Rises to, um... working at Starbucks?

Hardy starred in the third and final Christopher Nolan Batman flick as Bane, a supervillain hell-bent on destroying Gotham who wears a terrifying mask that supplies him with an analgesic gas - something he uses to control the pain from an injury earlier in life.

According to reports, the actor added an additional 30lbs (13.6kg) to his frame for the role - something he didn’t particularly enjoy, saying he felt ‘really overweight’ at the time.

While the role instantly became one of his most famous, Hardy had conflicted feelings about working on such a huge franchise, having become all too aware of the unique pressures that come with Hollywood crowd-pleasers like the Dark Knight trilogy.

Warner Bros. Pictures

“These movies are huge vehicles to make a lot of money… and make a large audience happy,” he once told Hitflix - in comments that would later land him in trouble.

“So now you’re at the very top level of trying to bring character work in a boutique way to something that is, y’know, Starbucks.”

These feelings weren’t just related to the Batman films, either, as Hardy felt it was just the nature of the beast when working on big-budget blockbusters.

He continued: “You deal with something Dark Knight - or Mad Max, or Superman or Spider-man, whatever - it’s like going to work in an airport and going, ‘Hi I’m over here!’ and then everybody goes ‘Oh here’s that, that’s the villain of the piece.’ Then it’s a thousand people going to Duty-Free. Like, ‘I AM THE VILLAIN!’ and make a lot of noise.”

Warner Bros. Pictures

Hardy added: “There’s a formula here, you can’t muck around with it. There’s a lot of rules, you’re restrained in many ways as an artist. But then you’re also grateful because of the huge exposure and the paycheck.”

He was later forced to apologize for his comments - specifically the comparison to working at coffee giant Starbucks.

Speaking to Variety, the star said: “I’m really sorry if anyone misunderstood what I said about comparing working for a huge franchise to being like working for Starbucks.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, it could have been British Airways, it could have been Virgin, it could have been Nike, it could have been any huge company.”

Describing himself as ‘sensitive’, Hardy added: “I’m human and I do read things and I get hurt. My friends say, ‘Don’t read anything, just ignore it,’ but I do. And I read comics. And I cry.”