With the breathless “Dark Knight” hype reaching a near hysterical pitch, it’s unsurprising that chatter about a third Batman installment has already commenced – especially for those that have seen the film and have already moved on.
The actors of the “Dark Knight” have already started the junket rounds and some of them are talking, and seemingly, speaking out of turn.
At least in the case of Gary Oldman (who plays Commissioner Gordon) who has either spoiled a teasing elements of this new Batman film or inadvertently revealed who the next villain could be for the third film – if it happens.
“Maybe we don’t need the Joker. Because we’ll have The Riddler,” Oldman said. The actor, who apparently tried to get out of his “Dark Knight” contract, but wasn’t allowed, spoke about the potential third film and said he was unsure if the director was onboard. “We don’t really know if [Christopher] Nolan is coming back. I guess I have to come back.” He then put his hand to the side of his mouth as if to hide the next line from everybody, “Nolan will come back for a third one. I think we all have to.”
Less convincing is Oldman’s assertion that the Joker could come back as played by another actor in place of the deceased Heath Ledger. You know the filmmaker and producers would never do that, but Oldman still posits that it could be possible, “I don’t see why not. I mean, they did it with Katie Holmes’ character. I understand that this is a different circumstance, but I think another actor could do the job. I think Heath would want another actor to do the job.”
This seems rather dubious. Asked if Nolan would come back for a third Batman film, Nolan sounded as undecided as he did when asked if he would follow-up “Batman Begins.”
“I don’t know. I take my projects one at a time, and I am not thinking about that right now. I don’t know if I want to come back.” When asked about possibly recasting the Joker, Nolan replied with the same ambiguous answer. “I don’t know. I honestly have not taken a moment away from what is going on with the film now to even think about that. I don’t know. I simply don’t know.”
Don’t get too distraught, as noted, Nolan was very on the fence about returning to this new Batman franchise after the first one wrapped – and indeed he went on to shoot “The Prestige” in the interim – but he did eventually return. It’s interesting to note that he’s not locked into a contract like many actors are in franchises, but then again, to studios, the man behind the camera is sometimes disposable. [MovieWeb]