(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Tom Hardy ate an "entire village of chickens" to prepare for his role in the new Batman movie.

The British actor plays Bane in the hotly-anticipated movie The Dark Knight Rises. The villainous character sports an intimidating physique, so Tom had to embark on a rigorous diet and exercise regime to bulk up.

"Eating entire villages of chickens," he joked to Total Film when asked how he got in shape. "When I started I was about 160-something pounds. When I was done I was 190. You lift weights. You eat. You lift some more weights. You don't run anywhere because if you do cardio, you drop weight. So it's really good for heart attacks!"

Bane also wears a menacing mask in the film.

Much has been made of Tom's apparently muffled speech following the release of clips from the movie. While Tom has brushed off claims that moviegoers won't understand what he is saying, he did admit there were other drawbacks to wearing the facial apparatus such as dealing with his saliva.

"It's not as bad as you might think. You just put it on. Work out where your drool goes," he told Total Film. "That's it. Mask work is good fun. This one wasn't painful; there was the stunt mask and there was the up-close one for the sexy glam shots."

Christian Bale reprises his role as Batman, while Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard have joined the cast.

The Dark Knight Rises, directed by Christopher Nolan, opens in cinemas worldwide from July. (C) Cover Media