♦ First of all, some great news- FLACK reached its goal of £45,000 and will remain open!  Thanks to everyone who donated.

9 January 2012
100% thank you so much. FLACK is no longer facing immediate closure. Now their work really begins, FLACK still needs our support – if you haven’t already donated please do.
Tom Hardy

♦ Entertainment Weekly‘s new issue has Batman on the cover and a couple of new stills of Bane.

And a comment from Christopher Nolan on Bane:

“I think when people see the film, things will come into focus,” says the director. “Bane is very complex and veryinteresting and when people see the finished film people will be very entertained by him.”

Co-screenwriter Jonathan Nolan also spoke about Tom and his portrayal of Bane at CBS’s Television Critics Association panel:

“I gotta tell you, I think what Tom Hardy’s doing with the role is spectacular. I have the benefit of seeing a little bit more than the audience has seen at this point. It’s pretty spectacular.”

♦ Here’s a new clip of Candy Chops that Charlidos found on the director’s showreel.  Candy Chops was meant to be a semi-autobiographical sitcom on BBC3 in the UK co-written by Tom and Kelly Marcel, but never aired.  Tom played the aspiring rapper Ethx.

♦ Brief interview from The Mirror at the Iron Lady premiere:

“Batman is such an amazing ­franchise that I honestly feel ­overwhelmingly privileged to be a part of it,” he said over a ­cocktail with his fiancée actress Charlotte Riley, who he met on the set of 2009’s Wuthering Heights.

“It’s such an amazing cast to work alongside, they are all so ­talented. 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.”

“I’m not even thinking about how it’s ­going to blow up for me after Batman. I’m just going to ­enjoy it and I’m still going to be buying a pint of milk by ­myself at the corner shop.”

Rather than ­dreaming of Oscars glory, humble Tom’s mind is on more down to earth ­matters… literally.

“My aim is to get an ­allotment,” the 34-year-old said. “But where I live they are very ­selective about who they give one to, so even when I get to Michael Caine levels of ­acting I may not be able to have one.”

And with a nod to his well- ­publicised bad-boy past, Tom said: “I was so happy to ­finally have a ‘TW’ ­postcode when I got my place in East Sheen, as I always got excited when I heard police ­radioing in that postcode – and there was me ­probably sat in the back of their car!

“And don’t forget it’s where Sir Trevor McDonald is from. That’s enough reason to stay. I would never consider moving.”

Tom has the lead role in the new Mad Max film, which he begins ­shooting in Namibia this April with ­Charlize Theron and A Single Man star Nicholas Hoult.

But his next huge project is to play the ­Depression-era Chicago crime boss Al Capone.

He enthused: “I’m going to be learning Italian for the film. I’ve got 18 months beforehand but I’m not sure how long it’s going to take – the studio are paying for it anyway! I don’t think it will be too difficult, it’s just what you do for the role.

“Saying that, after watching Meryl Streep play Margaret ­Thatcher I’m now sh***ing myself at my attempt at a biopic, as she blew it out the water.

“How am I meant to live up to that? She truly lived and breathed that role. That was ­definitely ­America 1, UK 0.”

And a video of Tom signing autographs at the premiere:

♦ This Means War‘s US release date has been moved up to Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2012.  Have some new stills to celebrate, with more in the gallery.

♦ Joel Edgerton on who would win in a fight:

Edgerton said however his toned “six-pack” abdomen was probably now “just a two-pack” and added that he believed co-star Hardy would win in a real-life fight between the actors, who play brothers in the film.

“He just has this incredible unbreakable will,” Edgerton said. “But Tom reckons I would win because I’ve got more skill. It would be an interesting battle but we are never going to fight each other.”

New photo shoot shot from Charlidos.

♦ Harvey Weinstein on why The Wettest County in the World was pushed back to August 31, 2012:

“We have a star in Tom Hardy who’s completely anonymous right now. If you go to a line at the ArcLight nobody would know who he is,” Weinstein told 24 Frames. But the film executive said that would change with the release of Hardy’s Batman picture (Hardy plays the villain, Bane) in July. “He’s going to be a huge movie star by August,” Weinstein said.

♦ MovieWeb thinks the third trailer for The Dark Knight Rises will be attached to Dark Shadows, which is out in theaters on May 11th.

♦ The Mad Max cars have been shipped to Africa.  Photos at the link.

Related posts:

1. Chris Pine: “Tom is super charismatic and handsome as all hell”
2. New Tom Hardy Interview in Empire Magazine
3. Tom at the ‘Iron Lady’ London premiere
4. New Bane poster!
5. Tom Hardy at the ‘This Means War’ UK premiere