The Dark Knight Rises!
 

Aug 18, 2008


The First Step: Warners has an offer out to the director

The Dark Knight soared past the first Star Wars movie this weekend to become the second highest-grossing domestic release of all time just behind Titanic. With over $470 million now in their coffers, Warner Bros. is understandably eager to make sure that filmmaker Christopher Nolan, the director of TDK and Batman Begins, returns to helm the third installment in their revitalized Bat-franchise.

So far there had been little hard news about Batman 3 (but plenty of unfounded casting gossip about who might play the villains in the next sequel).

Until now.

According to Variety, "There's a deal for the director to helm a third pic, but he has yet to decide on whether to tackle it yet." Warner Bros. studio boss Alan Horn told the trade, "We have no idea where Chris is going with this. ... We haven't had any conversations with him about it."

Although the paper doesn't say, it should probably be expected that Nolan's next directing effort will likely be a non-Batman project (assuming he even wants to do Batman 3), much like how he followed the success of Batman Begins with The Prestige.

Please God let Nolan accept...

I do like the idea of seeing him do something else first though - as much as he's perfect for Batman, I'd love to see what else is brewing in that mind. All of his movies so far have been masterpieces - except for Insomnia, IMO - and I'm pumped for his next project.

August 27, 2008


Given the phenomenal success of The Dark Knight, fans -- as well as studio Warner Bros. and production company Legendary Pictures -- are all eager for a third installment in the revitalized Batman franchise.

But there is one key player -- director Christopher Nolan -- who has yet to commit to making another sequel.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, both Warner Bros. and Legendary want a Batman 3 but concede that "it will be up to Nolan to come to them with a story and a plan."

As Batman Begins and Dark Knight producer Charles Roven put it, "There are a lot of us who emotionally would love to do it. ... But it's really Chris' call. Chris is the kind of filmmaker who just doesn't think about the next movie before he has completely finished the movie he is working on."

Warners recently made an offer to Nolan, but THR says Nolan is currently away on vacation. "When he comes back, we will see how he feels," Roven said.

The studio revealed this week that it wants to release four DC Comics movie adaptations by 2011, with a third Batman film being one of them.

Okay, there have been no end to rumors (do you blame the mongers, after what TDK did at the BO?), but this one is pretty much direct from a source who has pretty close ties with both Nolan AND Goyer :-

"The other day, they (Chris & David) were discussing the follow-up, before Chris Nolan had to leave for his vacation. And Chris was very pleased with the way TDK shaped up, and was very animated in describing the character traits of three characters for pt.3, if he gets a chance to get on the director's chair again.

They are - The Huntress, Catwoman & Hugo Strange.

Considering that Chris likes his Batman dark, grim-faced and faithful to his roots, I am willing to place a very safe bet on a storyline involving these 3, with a hint at a bigger villain for a possible follow-up trilogy."


Excited? I am!

Let's wait for the confirmation and official news, when and if they come.

I'd like to see Hush in a Nolan Batman film - the characters dark enough to throw in without much change, a good counter character to Batman.

If you are talking about the crocodile that is Killer Croc. I think Mr.Freeze would be tragic enough and have plenty of story, and with the thoughts brewing in nolan's head he could easily make us forget the "terminator".

A fanmade poster!
 

I just saw this poster at a Bangla community forum and like to share with you here:

http://www.firstshowing.net/img/dark...fan-poster.jpg

Good poster. I'd be worried with the riddler being in it. Great character but it can be easy to make him similar to the joker without them realize they're doing it.

I totally thought of the big question mark idea even before Dark Knight came out.

I think the Riddler is different enough from the Joker, we haven't seen any good death traps yet and (hopefully) we'd see some more actual detective work from the bat.

September 8, 2008


Either Michael Caine believes all the Batman 3 casting gossip that he reads in the British tabloids, or he knows something we don't.

Well, now we know it, too, because he's blabbed about it.

In a chat with MTV, the actor who portrays Alfred the butler in Christopher Nolan's Batman films said, "They've already got (the villains) in mind. ... It's Johnny Depp as The Riddler. And The Penguin is Philip Seymour Hoffman. I read it in the paper."

But before you completely dismiss this comment as a glib throwaway line, Caine revealed, ""I was with [a Warner Bros.] executive and I said, 'Are we going to make another one?' They said yeah. I said, 'How the hell are we going to top Heath [Ledger as The Joker]? And he says 'I'll tell you how you top Heath — Johnny Depp as The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin.' I said, '(Expletive), they've done it again!'"

The Comic Book Cynic recently pointed out that Depp addressed the Riddler rumors during a radio interview, saying, "I heard about that. Not that I know of. ... It seems like it'd be a fun gig for a while, yeah."

And when asked about the Penguin rumors at the Toronto International Film Festival, Hoffman advised The Stone Report, "I don't think so." But then Hoffman admitted that he was a comic book fan growing up and added, "I think what they're doing with that whole Batman story is really true to what that whole Batman thing has always been. It's one of the darkest origins of a superhero, to get all nerdy and geeky on you. That character sees his parents gunned down as a young child: I remember when I was a kid reading that story, so seeing it now come to life as the dark tale that it really is as an intense, really dark, very visceral, adult tale that they're doing now, all the great work people are doing on it, of course I wouldn't say, 'Well, no, no no.' But I don't know the reality of it, so I wouldn't say 'yes' to you."

Good casting for the penguin. I'm not sure about depp. Great actor but at the moment I just can't picture him being right for it.

I'm looking forward for that too.

I don't know why but I have doubt that they'll put both the Riddler & Penguin in a same story.

Why not?
They're friends...PSH as the Penguin would seem a decent choice. Depp I'm kind've over practically playing very similar characters all the time, his "quieter" roles serve him a lot better I think. Wouldn't mind seeing someoe like Greg Kinnear take on the Riddler.

Like I said before, I'd love to see HUSH, just wiki him if you don't know who it is - wasn't introduced all that long ago but the character has a long history with Wayne, he's pretty much like the twisted version of Wayne. I mean seriously, this character is practically Nolan-ish already.

Will Ferrell as Maxie Zeus with John C. Reilly as Manbat.

I would love to see Johnny Depp as the riddler. After what he did with Willie Wonka, I can see him playing any goofball role.


Mix Wonka with Sweeny Todd (Maybe a little Jack Sparrow), and you would have a seriously messed up villain. I have a hard time thinking anyone could pull of the the feeling of being threatened that Ledger did, but if anyone alive could do it, i would put money on Johnny Depp.

Christopher Walken

He already had his time as a batman villain.:D

and as a james bond villian - named Max Zorin

Maxie Zeu - Max Zorin .. hmmm

Depp would make a good riddler if he had no likeness to any previous role, i think he could do a good job being himself, he seems eerie like that

Max Zorin. from one of the most reviled james bond movies of all times. Pity too, i awlys loved a view to a kill




and i dont think depp would play the riddler anything like jim carey. there is no way.

Nolan unsure about the sequel of TDK!?!

It's frustrating...:(

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/chri...olan_blog.html

Well, you KNOW that there'll be another one - whether Nolan comes back or not.

Hopefully he'll return so the studios don't ass-rape the franchise again (remember when Burton left?), but I also dont want him to be pressured into it and do a rushed job.

If he doesn't really want to do another one, there shouldn't be another one. One of the main reasons that Begins and TDK were so phenomenal is because they were a labor of love for him. If he can't give the same passion to part 3...what's the point?

He'll do it. Just dont expect it very soon.

If you ask me, 2011-12 is where I ll put my money at. Till then, let's watch some Nolan works which would be different. Like say, a suburban comedy? :D

As I've said before, I'd like to see Clayface or/ and Ventriloquist with Scarface. I think they're realistic, which is what Nolan seems to be going for, and they can easily be made quite creepy, especially ventriloquist and scarface. I mean, think how many people are scared of those puppets!

I think you're referring to the original Clayface, but I don't see how a serial killer in a mask and a guy with a puppet could be a movie-worthy Batman villain on the scale of the villains from Begins and Dark Knight.

They should do Hush, or a version of Bane that's far closer to the comic.
Again, I think Greg Kinnear would be a great Riddler too.

As for Nolan not working on another Bat-film straight away, I'm good with that - I love his batman stuff, don't get me wrong, but I like his other stuff more.

Definitely. Bane was badass in Knightfall. To balance this out, everybody else was written very poorly, but comic Bane is awesome. If you basically did the plot of Knightfall without the backbreaking aspect and added the social stigma of fleeing from the cops that would be awesome. Batman off the streets would cause a freak buildup, lending power to crime bosses like the Ventriloquist (William H. Macy would rock for this) and Scarface, Black Mask, Penguin and a more realistic Killer Croc. These guys and a newly freed Scarecrow and Mad Hatter (requires very little backstory and can be explained using somewhat real science) could have Batman working past his breaking point to try and shut down a more sadistic Bane (Danny Trejo).

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'm still pushing for Black Mask. He's perfect for this franchise, plus he's never been done on film before.

His backstory is somewhat of a mirror to Bruce's - not quite so much as Hush I suppose, but they still contrast each other. And, as I've said oh-so-many times, the beauty of Hush was in the manipulation: the best part of that character/plotline was how him and Riddler had everyone wrapped around their fingers. I love Hush, but I think they could only do him justice either in an animated movie set in the Timm-verse, or much later in this series once alot more characters have been introduced - especially Riddler.

The knightfall story sounds awesome. I have an old comic from it (Just one, the one where Jean-Paul Valley makes the new suit) but I really liked it. I looked it up on the internet and it sounded great. I think catwoman would be pretty good in a film.

October 29, 2008


Warner Bros. intends on producing four DC Comics movies by 2011, including Batman 3. One project that the studio has long kicked around doing -- and almost did this year until it fell apart -- is Justice League of America.

The question was whether Batman, as currently realized by director Christopher Nolan and actor Christian Bale, would fit in the more comic booky realm of JLA. Nolan thinks there is a place for Batman in such a movie -- but not his Dark Knight.

"I don't think our Batman, our Gotham [Nolan's emphases], lends itself to that kind of cross-fertilization. It goes back to one of the first things we wrangled with when we first started putting the story together: Is this a world in which comic books already exist? Is this a world in which superheroes already exist?," Nolan told the Los Angeles Times.

He continued, "If you think of Batman Begins and you think of the philosophy of this character trying to reinvent himself as a symbol, we took the position -- we didn't address it directly in the film, but we did take the position philosophically -- that superheroes simply don't exist. If they did, if Bruce [Wayne] knew of Superman or even of comic books, then that's a completely different decision that he's making when he puts on a costume in an attempt to become a symbol. It's a paradox and a conundrum, but what we did is go back to the very original concept and idea of the character. In his first appearances, he invents himself as a totally original creation."

And when asked whether the studio is pressuring him to make a third Bat-film sooner rather than later, Nolan replied, "They're being extremely gracious. I have a very good relationship with the studio. They know that I really needed to go on holiday and take some time to figure what I want to do next. They've been very respectful of that, which is terrific and one of the reasons I enjoy working with Warner Bros."


Christopher Nolan gave a very diplomatic answer when asked recently whether he could see himself NOT directing another Batman film.

"Well ... let me think how to put this. There are two things to be said," Nolan told the Los Angeles Times. "One is the emphasis on story. What's the story? Is there a story that's going to keep me emotionally invested for the couple of years that it will take to make another one? That's the overriding question. On a more superficial level, I have to ask the question: How many good third movies in a franchise can people name? [Laughs.]"

He continued, "At the same time, in taking on the second one, we had the challenge of trying to make a great second movie, and there haven't been too many of those either. It's all about the story really. If the story is there, everything is possible. I hope that was a suitably slippery answer."

Nolan was also asked whether, given how The Dark Knight ended, if the plan was to bring The Joker back for the next installment. (That, obviously, would be difficult now in light of Heath Ledger's death.) "No, really and in truth, I only deal with one film at a time. I find myself sort of protesting this issue a lot. We've never attempted to save anything for a sequel or set up anything for a sequel. That seems improbable to some people because, particularly with Batman Begins, the film ended with a particular hook [with Jim Gordon showing Batman a Joker playing card announcing the arrival of a new villain in town]. But for me that was just about the excitement of people leaving the theater with the sense that now we have the character up and running."

He added, "Then I got excited about seeing where that character would go. It was planned in advance, but it followed in that way. But we tried our hardest to really do everything in this movie that we would want to see the Joker do and to get that in the fabric of the story as much as possible. We wanted the Joker's final taunt to Batman to be that they are locked in an ongoing struggle because of Batman's rules. There's a paradox there. Batman won't kill. And the Joker is not interested in completely defeating Batman because he's fascinated by him and he enjoys sparring with him. It's trapped both of them. That was really the meaning of it. Of course what happened is Heath created the most extraordinary character that you would love to see 10 movies about. That's the bittersweet thing. It was incredible characterization. It is a bittersweet thing for all of us."

December 16, 2008


There has been a lot of buzz lately that Batman 3 is further along than the powers-that-be have let on. Today's gossip claims the sequel is currently being scripted and that Warner Bros. has an Oscar winner in mind to play the villain.

According to E! Online columnist Ted Casablanca, "Warners sources are leaking to us that Rachel Weisz is being considered for the Catwoman role."

Weisz, 37, starred in the first two installments of The Mummy, as well as The Fountain, Constantine, About a Boy, and The Constant Gardener, for which she won an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress.

If Weisz is indeed cast as Catwoman then she would not be the first Oscar winner to play the feline fatale. Halle Berry, who the Best Actress nod for Monster's Ball, starred in the ill-fated Catwoman standalone film. Michelle Pfeiffer played the same in Tim Burton's Batman Returns.

E! also claims that Christopher Nolan will indeed return to direct the film, and that Christian Bale will be back to star. The site adds that "we're very pleased to report that he'll be playing a 'sexier' Bruce Wayne" in the next sequel.




Meanwhile, if any of you have read/ are reading the following article, take it with a huge pinch of salt :-

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...cle2048300.ece

Are you just ignoring the Eddie Murphy as The Riddler rumor in hopes that it's not true or that by not acknowledging it, it will never happen? ;)

The same guys who got laughed at when they leaked info about Daniel Craig being considered for Bond...

You could say that. If that happens I ll personally go over and shoot Chris Nolan.

batman movies
 

i hate batman , so i hate the batman movies:mad:

January 12, 2009


Remember a few months ago, when Aaron Eckhart was telling all and sundry that Harvey Dent/Two-Face, the villain he so memorably played in The Dark Knight, was definitely dead?

Well, he seems to have maybe changed his mind, having said the following to MTV News at the Golden Globes on Sunday: "I think Harvey - if he's not dead - is in a serious coma and I'm not sure he's coming out. They might pull the plug on him."

Whilst he still doesn't sound too optimistic about reprising his role as the villain in Nolan's second Batman sequel, the fact that Eckhart is now saying his character is alive is certainly more ambiguous than what he was saying back in September, when he told Coming Soon: "He is dead as a door nail. ... He ain't coming back baby!"

The fact that he reckons his character may well be alive will give hope to Bat-fans eager to see Two-Face in Batman 3.

Warner Brothers is starting to piss me off with their fake security breaches and cast members used to leak antinews.

I think its just a bit of pre-Oscar publicity gimmick, now that they are re-releasing TDK.

Where's all the brouhaha over Ledger's win at the Golden Globes? I expected all you Batman fans to be all over this.

I celebrated that.

Since nobody took any interest in the BFCA Awards I posted in General, I refrained from making a Golden Globe Winners thread, although I thought about it more than once.

Next stop, the Oscars. There will be a thread for that for sure, interest or no interest.