“We’re Finishing Something, And Keeping A Consistency With What’s Come Before Has Real Value”
Christopher Nolan‘s announcement yesterday regarding his third Batman film brought news both surprising — the yeast-y title “The Dark Knight Rises,” the revelation that the villain wouldn’t be The Riddler, who’s been rumored for years at this point — and unsurprising — the confirmation that Nolan, no fan of the 3D craze, wouldn’t shoot the new film in three dimensions.
Hero Complex have expanded on their interview, with further quotes from Nolan, and they’ve provided some additional insight into the director’s thinking behind the decision. Despite Nolan’s professed skepticism on the James Cameron-led craze that’s turned cinema upside down in the last year, it seems that the decision has come more from a desire for a consistent look with “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight” than from anything else.
Nolan tells the site that “We want the look and feel of the film to be faithful to what has come before in the films. There was a large canvas and operatic sweep to “The Dark Knight” and we want to make a film that will carry on with that look and feel.” Indeed, the epic, globe-spanning scale that Nolan’s brought to the films seems to be first and foremost in his mind: he feels that the “intimacy” of 3D that would mean losing some of this scale.
But the lack of 3D doesn’t mean it’s going to look like a mumblecore movie — Nolan’s keen to push the technical boundaries in his own way, promising to continue with the use of IMAX cameras pioneered on “The Dark Knight,” saying that “We’re looking to do something technologically that’s never been done before. Our ambitions are to make a great movie.” It sounds from this that we may see even more usage of the IMAX cameras, which were used on key action sequences and vistas in the last film, although due to the limitations of the enormous cameras, we’d be surprised if the whole film was shot in the format, although DP Wally Pfister is keen to do so.
Nolan doesn’t rule out ever shooting in 3D, claiming that “It’s horses for courses,” but reiterates that his priority is finishing the trilogy that he started “our ambition for the third movie is to complete a story that has begun. This is not starting over, this is not rebooting. We’re finishing something, and keeping a consistency with what’s come before has real value.”
Nolan will begin filming on “The Dark Knight Rises,” which will see Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman joined by Tom Hardy, in an unknown role, next spring, and the film will hit theaters July 20th 2012.