Emma Thomas on The Dark Knight Rises
The producer of Christopher Nollan's Batman movies, Emma Thomas, chats about The Dark Knight Rises...
The Dark Knight Rises is less than a month away and it's safe to say anticipation is pretty much sky high. The publicity campaign seems to have been underway since shortly after production began, but things are ramping up now that the release date draws closer.
In a recent interview, producer of the trilogy Emma Thomas (who's also married to Christopher Nolan) all but ruled out the chances of the same team coming back for a fourth movie. This is a familiar message, although the closer we get to the release of The Dark Knight Rises, the more adamant everyone seems to be come. "At a certain point it’s fun to go off and do something different, you know", Thomas said. "We’ve spent almost ten years of our lives making Batman films. He was very excited about this film, and the story that he’d come up with, but I just cannot imagine that he would get that excited about another version of the same thing".
She added that "The great thing about a trilogy is that it feels like you’ve got a beginning, a middle and an end. It’s like an extended version of a regular film. Once you get into a fourth film then it’s just episodic, and I just can’t see him getting excited about making another film where basically you’re just wheeling in different villains".
Whoever follows Christopher Nolan into the batchair may well heed that, and opt for a new trilogy, rather than standalone stories. But that's for the future. For (almost) now, The Dark Knight Rises hits UK cinemas on 20th July.
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In other words, Nolan has lost interest in Batman, right?? I mean, if you are full of creativity and ideas, it will never feel like 'episodic'. There are so many villains who would've fitted perfectly within Nolan's universe - the Riddler, for example (Nolan likes to his audience to use their brains, doesn't he?). Or even put in Poison Ivy, who could've been portrayed as an accomplice of Scarecrow (the fear toxin extracted from the blue flowers as depicted in 'Batman Begins'). So much more can actually be done within the Nolanverse.
If Nolan's had enough with Batman, let him say so frankly.
Perhaps you should be the director when WB reboot Batman, Pixie. Nolan is quite right ending with a trilogy.
I say give Paul Dini a crack at directing a live action Batman after Nolan moves on. It could never be any worse than Schumacer's Batman And Robin, surely?
That's quite harsh, I'd imagine most people would be a bit bored of any character after 10 years of being involved with it.
Of the two ideas you have there the Riddler would be possible in this Batman set up, but the PI idea, as you basically admit, is already copying a previous character.
I'm not sure I can take another film after this of Bale's voice sounding like he needs a packet of Fisherman's Friends and a week in bed.
As George Lucas shows, sometimes less is more and a trilogy of films works perfectly to tell an extended tale. After three you start stretching yourself.
As it is, we're already seeing diminishing returns with the franchise, TDK wasn't quite as good as BB in terms of the whole film. The fantastic Ledger performance blinds the viewer to the flaws inherent in its story.
I rewatched TDK this week and it's one set piece too long (the tunnel scene, although well done is the most superfluous perhaps). Also the logic at the end which turns Batman into the villain is, at best, flawed and exists only to set up this next film.
I really hope TDKR is good, but even if it's not the best, Nolan's done a great job of revitalising comic book films as a genre and should be applauded.
I can't wait to see what he does next, if it's anything half as good as The Prestige I'll be happy.
If that's the criteria for being the next director then I'm applying!
As much as I would enjoy seeing more Batman films from Nolan, I think I would enjoy seeing something new from him more.
That photo looks like Batman's just been caught playing with his iPad...
I'm suprised there is someone else that believes Batman Begins is better than The Dark Knight. I agree that people are blinded by Ledger's performance and perhaps also the qoutable dialogue. I loved it the first time but after repeated viewings, you get the sense that Nolan is attempting to spin way to many plates. I feel that Dent's transformation into Two Face felt sort of rushed.
What I love about Batman Begins is the fluidity of the story feels natural. Neeson's Al Ghul/ Ducard has an interesting complexity as he comes across as being wise like Yoda, that you have to remind yourself that he is the villian. Also Batman Begins is the only film to date, that focuses on Batman rather than a villian.
I have to agree that as a whole, BB is better than TDK. If it had not been for Heath Ledger's performance, we could probably call TDK decent at best. What frustrates me about the Joker's involvement in the film is that transformation to chaos was too fast. There wasn't enough development in the chaos theory. Not enough escalation to warrant for a chaotic response from Gotham. In other words, I feel like Bane's probable terrorism in TDKR is what would warrant the chaos and pandemonium that the Joker was looking to achieve. The Jokers terrorism wasn't widespread enough. Also, I agree that Dent's transformation into Two Face was indeed too rushed (kind of like rushing Venom into Spiderman 3).
On a loosely associated note, I have heard down the grapevine from TDKR screenings that this movie is indeed a masterpiece and a film for the ages. Just what I need, more anxiety....
Nolan's take on Batman is like poetry however it is what it always should have been which is a Batman movie which taken seriously and treated with proper care in terms of the elements of realism without skipping a beat minus a few bumps here and there. I find that watching Batman Begins is almost like watching The Lion King where young Bruce is comparable to the loving lion cub Simba. His character gets so in depth throughout Batman Begins because it really does answer the most important question in reference to any logic which is(What would you do in this situation if this happened to you) I love seeing Christian Bale training with
Liam Neeson it has and brings undeniable weight to the character Bruce Wayne making this movie very real and believable. The only thing I really couldn't get past as easy was Christian Bale in the Batsuit he looks so uncomfortable to at one point his Bat-suit appears to be suffocating him with no nostril holes or even an opening for his nose to inhale air his will to act keeps me invested in this kind of story because he can barely talk before running out of air and that extra grungy voice added is quite irreverent and at times pointless in terms of trying to instill fear to the Criminals of Gotham. I truly believe that less is more here because it does not scare people it takes away from the mysterious, and unpredictable element of The Batman.
I also believe that Batman the character is the only person who suffers in the Chris Nolans universe because everything and everyone in or around Batman (including the astounding looks of Gotham) looks great but Batman's suit looks almost like George Clooney's what with all those irrelevant designs in it and that neon silver color takes away from the dark black shadowy elements of Batman making him look less dark and more like a grown man who takes his Halloween trick or treating a little too serious.
I meant to type (astonish looking Gotham)