Now I have never claimed to be one to report on "news" but today I want to take a look at everything we know about The Dark Knight Rises. Like any Nolan film this is shrouded in secrecy and Nolan is only going to let information get loose at his own pace. Of course this means that any little comment here or there will get blown out of proportion. Here I provide you with facts about the film and talk about what they possibly mean.
1. Tom Hardy is FRAKKING Bane
This picture released earlier today provides concrete evidence that Tom Hardy is Bane. That is it. We do not if he will be the calculating Bane from the comics, the more brutish Bane from the cartoon series or something completely different. I don't know about you but my money is on the last one. One thing for sure...the guy looks terrifying and easily capable of breaking Batman's back in two.
2. Anne Hathaway is Selina Kyle
Anne Hathaway has confirmed she is playing Selina Kyle, and Nolan has done the same. Some other people involved in the project have said the word "catwoman" to the press but neither of these two have. Is it safe to assume that Anne Hathaway will be donning the leathers and taking her spot with Michelle Pfeiffer and Julie Newmar? Probably, but with Nolan you never know this could be the biggest red herring of them all as we see Selina throughout the whole movie. Again I doubt Nolan is that sadistic to give the public Anne Hathaway without showing her in the costume sparring verbally and sexually with Batman.
Yah I'll give it a shot.3. Josh Pence is a a young Ra's Al Ghul
Confirmed to be playing the role originated by Liam Neeson, Pence will play Ghul 30 years prior to Batman Begins. This is one of the more interesting bits of information and one that has led to much speculation on the interwebs as to what importance this role will play in the larger picture.
Talia...?Long rumored to be playing Talia Al Ghul, Cotillard was confirmed to be Miranda Tate a Wayne Enterprise board member and likely love interest for Bruce. My personal opinion is this will turn out to be some sort of cover. Cotillard is PERFECT for Talia. Although Cotillard recently said that her role is quite small and perfect for her since she is currently pregnant. So I don't know. Either way her place in this film is welcome whatever it is.
belongs in Gotham for sureThis is perfect for Levitt. John Blake is a Gotham City cop under the tutelage of Gary Oldman's Commissioner Gordon hired to help find Batman. I love this idea and hope his role with Gordon is more than just a minor supporting character.
6. TDKR will be shooting in India and Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh is the new Gotham....recent set photos from India "appear" to show a lazarus pit. That's all well and good but I struggle to see how a lazarus pit would fit into Nolan's realistic Batman universe. Who knows maybe it's just an outdoor bath scene.
probably not.7. Alon Aboutboul, Matthew Modine, Tom Conti, and Juno Temple all have unnamed roles.
Juno Temple has received "street smart Gotham girl"...this has led to speculation that she will be Batgirl. Absolutely not. Alon Aboutboul is said to be playing a doctor which has led to speculation that Hugo Strange WILL appear in this film. Possible, but if this is the case I imagine it will be a character much like Zsasz was in Batman Begins. As for the other two who knows...Nolan likes to pepper his films with actors...maybe they'll be integral...maybe not. Look at Rutger Hauer in Begins or Anthony Michael Hall in The Dark Knight.
8. Two Face is DEAD
Constantly confirmed by both Eckhart and Nolan. If he ends up in this I will be greatly surprised. The way this story is developing I can't imagine Two-Face fitting in at all.
9. Cillian Murphy not signed.
With many of the other cast members returning Alfred, Lucius, Gordon, of course Bruce....I would love to see Professor Crane appear one more time even if it is just Batman walking the halls of Arkham and we see Cillian hanging out in his cell. Cillian had an awesome two minute scene at the opening of The Dark Knight and his presence would be more than welcome in this next film. Nolan seems to love him as we saw him in Inception. I'm really hoping this one changes and we hear that Cillian is indeed appearing again if only for a few moments.
Perfection.10. No Joker
Not happening. RIP ledger....you went out with the role of a lifetime.
So looking back it's still pretty early and we don't know a whole lot for certain. What we do have our pieces of a puzzle that hopefully begin to be connected soon. I love hypothesizing and talking about theories with my coworkers here at PORTEmaus, but ultimately I just can't wait to see what Nolan has in store for us. I went in with high expectation for TDK and he BLEW those away. I really hope he can do it again, and if anyone can it is definitely Nolan.
Bence
One last thought - This and the Avengers come out in the same summer. I don't think I am going to be able to contain myself.
I heard that Nolan has unused footage of ledger as Joker and there was speculation that a small bit of it might be used. I'm sure if you ask Nolan he would shoot it down though. I remember reading ultimately it would be up to Ledger's family.
ReplyDeleteI gotta say I'm really excited for this though..and more importantly how it will all end.
And also the fact that this and the avengers come out next summer only further concerns me that 12/12/12 (or is it 12/21/12) will truly be the end..lol
so stoked...
ReplyDeletethe "unused footage of Joker" is a bit of an exaggeration, he has a couple small things like crane-track footage of Ledger dressed as Joker skateboarding down the middle of a Gotham street and more footage of Joker driving the police car, not enough to add him in any relevant way. The plan was always for him to come back, B3 was originally supposed to be, at least in the first act, about the trial of the Joker. Sadly we'll never see it, but it won't stop the movie from being awesome.
and Nolan has shot down, multiple times, re-casting or bringing back Joker. In fact it's said Ledger's death was almost enough for him not to come back at all...also, while Nolan and Eckhart have both said Two-Face is dead (as did the TDK script, if you read it) he reportedly had a somewhat-secret sit-down with Nolan a few weeks back, who knows.
Also, the first shots done were a few months ago, they did some helicopter background plate shots when NY had snow on the ground, so it'll be interesting to see what those are used for.
DP Pfister has said Hathaway looked great in costume, so I guess we have to take that with a grain of salt as exactly what "in costume" means...I'm also super glad he said him and Nolan have no interest in 3D, because it actually kills the true depth of field of the image. Thank goodness.
Thanks for the assisst hawk...I originally wanted to mention the 3d and yes I am very happy pfister and nolan decided against it....anne apparently mentioned she would be in full catwoman attire onOprah....really cant wait to see this thing...especially if he does include a lazarus pit I just cant imagine that fitting with this world...also with darren aronofsky off of wolvie he should adapt morrisons Return of Bruce Wayne...he'd be perfect
ReplyDeletethere's so much to mention on this film (despite us knowing so little about it) you couldn't fit it all in one post. Yeah, I'm so glad they went the more Imax route than 3D. Those 70mm shots in TDK were amazing.. super excited though...
ReplyDeletethe lazarus pit, if he did it, he'd have to put some kind of real world twist that I just haven't figured out yet, but who knows. There's the young Ra's rumors, and knowing his (and his brother Jonah's) penchant for non-linear storytelling, I could see it fitting in. Nolan hasn't let me down yet (I mean, when Insomnia is your worst film you know you've done something right) so I'm not worried about it at all. I remember when people were like "Ledger as the Joker, really?!" I told them not to worry about it, and look how that went.