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Though the cameras stopped rolling on The Dark Knight Rises months ago, Christopher Nolan is still "working" on the movie to some extent, as he continues to travel the world to promote it. He recently said in an Empire podcast interview that he's "relieved" that the movie is done and in theaters, but he won't get the feeling that it's truly "finished" until it "has been out for a couple months" and moviegoers "have really had a chance to tell me what it is."
As far as saying his good-byes to Batman and the franchise he helped to revitalize for Warner Bros., Nolan has already done that. Nolan wrote the foreward to The Art and Making of the Dark Knight Trilogy book that serves as an eloquent, heartfelt and even somewhat humorous farewell letter to the characters that populated his trilogy and the actors who played them. Nolan writes, "I will miss the Batman. I like to think that he’ll miss me, but he’s never been particularly sentimental."
read Nolan's farewell letter >> Posted 07.27.12 by BrentJS -
Despite the overwhelming critical acclaim for The Dark Knight — a stunning 94% approval rating on aggregate review site RottenTomatoes — both the movie and director Christopher Nolan were snubbed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences when it came time to hand out Oscars and the furor over the omissions contributed, at least in part, to the expansion of nominees from five to ten. Nolan's third and final Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, is also rating very highly with — an 86% approval rating from critics, but a 93% rating from fans — though it appears to be a more polarizing movie, with some calling it a "masterpiece" and others using far less generous words to describe it. Still, The Dark Knight Rises is generating considerable Oscar buzz already, based on the merits of the movie itself and, as Oscar pundit Tom O'Neil puts it, because "Batman is holding a giant Oscar I.O.U. and academy members are obliged to pay it off."
We won't know for some time whether The Dark Knight Rises will receive any sort of recognition from the Academy, but Nolan has already made it clear that the movie owes a great deal to the performances of two of his principal actors. In a recent podcast interview with Empire, Nolan called Christian Bale's performance as Bruce Wayne/Batman "a pretty amazing achievement" and praised Anne Hathaway for her "very convincing take" on Selina Kyle/Catwoman, calling her an "incredibly precise actress" who can "captivate a thousand people and fill a room with her energy."
what did nolan say about bale & hathaway? >> Posted 07.26.12 by BrentJS -
Academy Award-winning actor Christian Bale needed some time to collect himself after he took off the Bat-suit for the very last time. At a recent press conference to promote The Dark Knight Rises, Bale said that he "just went down and sat in a room and realized this is it." Though "real proud" of his contribution to director Christopher Nolan's revitalization of the Batman franchise following the disastrous fourth movie, Batman & Robin, Bale doesn't feel any ownership of the character. In fact, Bale told MTV that he is "immensely" interested in seeing what happens to the franchise after The Dark Knight Rises and "intrigued" to see how another actor will interpret the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman. He also gave props to one of the actors who preceeded him in playing the "Caped Crusader" and you'll probably be as surpised as we were by his selection.
what did Bale say? >> Posted 07.25.12 by BrentJS -
The impact of the tragic shooting incident in Aurora, Colo., was still being felt Monday as moviegoers and the country try to comprehend the horrible incident. The cast of The Dark Knight Rises expressed their condolences via released statements. Over the weekend director Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, and Gary Oldman released statements about the shootings. Anne Hathaway is the latest Dark Knight Rises castmember to comment on the massacre.
My heart aches and breaks for the lives taken and altered by this unfathomably senseless act. I am at a loss for words how to express my sorrow. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.
Despite the incident, moviegoers packed theaters all over the country over the weekend. The Dark Knight Rises movie made an expected $161M over the weekend, the third-best opening weekend ever for a movie and the best opening for a 2-D only movie. Reelz talked to audiences if the incident affected their moviegoing experience and talked to analyst Paul Dergarabedian about the potential box office impact.
watch the latest news from Hollywood Dailies about the Colorado shooting>> Posted 07.23.12 by Chris -
Up until now, the tone of The Dark Knight Rises' promotional campaign has been serious and gritty. There's been little to crack a smile at in the movie's first three trailers and TV spots (here and here) besides the playful Batman-Catwoman exchange in the third trailer — "My mother warned me about getting into cars with strange men." "This isn't a car."
In its fourth TV spot, the movie showcases some lighthearted banter between Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman). The new 30-second spot starts with Wayne and Fox seemingly finishing up a conversation. "These conversations used to end with an unusual request," says Fox, referring to his role in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight as the Caped Crusader's go-to gadget guru. "I retired," Wayne replies. "Let me show you some new stuff anyways."
watch the new spot >> Posted 05.29.12 by Chris -
The marketing strategy for director Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises in the past month can be summed up with photos, posters, more posters, and more photos.
There's less than two months left before the sequel is released, and Warner Bros.' promotion has started making it into people's homes. Last week, two TV spots arrived online, and a third TV spot has followed, possibly signaling an endless stream of spots ahead in the coming weeks.
Even so, there's still plenty of mystery surrounding Nolan's third and final installment in his Batman trilogy. The latest spot won't exactly tell you what you may already know: that Batman (Christian Bale) will have his hands full with Bane (Tom Hardy) destroying Gotham and Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) being either an ally or yet another thorn in Batman's side. However, there is a special surprise for The Dark Knight junkies. As Comic Book Movie points out, the spot includes a brief look at Batman's cowl and and assorted utilities in a special cage from his underground lair, footage that was already used in an IMAX promo for the 2008 sequel but that didn't end up in the final product. See if you can spot it.
watch the TV spot >> Posted 05.29.12 by Ryan -
Talk about upping the ante! We couldn't have been any less impressed with the new poster for The Dark Knight Rises that was released earlier this week, but it appears it was only a forerunner of the good things to come. Almost immediately after the "fiery redux" poster hit the 'net, three visually striking (and wet) new character posters popped up online. Now, four epic banner posters/billboards have also been released and they depict no less than all-out war between Batman (Christian Bale), the Gotham City Police Department, and Bane's (Tom Hardy) army, with Catwoman's (Anne Hathaway) allegiance — She's riding Batman's Bat-pod, but is it a loner or did the infamous cat burglar swipe it? — still in question.
check out the new posters >> Posted 05.25.12 by BrentJS -
OK, we're not going to lie; we were a tad disappointed with yesterday's "new" poster for The Dark Knight Rises, which more or less was a knockoff of the movie's first poster (this clever GIF shows how little work went into creating the new poster).
But today the movie released something via Yahoo! that really has us panting — three new character posters featuring Catwoman (Anne Hathaway), Bane (Tom Hardy), and Batman (Christian Bale). Each gorgeous poster shows the character walking through pelting black rain with the word "RISE" above them.
check out the full-size posters and learn more about Bane's mask >> Posted 05.22.12 by Chris -
Looks like things are heating up for The Batman.
As if it needed any more publicity, Christopher Nolan's final Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, got a new poster that shows Batman (Christian Bale) in front of a blazing bat symbol with the tagline "A Fire Will Rise." The poster was revealed today on the movie's official Facebook page.
While the poster doesn't actually show us anything new (it's more or less a revamp of the first poster), it doesn't make us any less excited for Nolan's final return to Gotham.
check out the full-size poster >> Posted 05.21.12 by Chris -
By all accounts, this summer's The Dark Knight Rises will conclude director Christopher Nolan's Batman saga that began with 2005's Batman Begins. With expectations high for Nolan's Dark Knight swan song, the director spoke with the L.A. Times's Hero Complex about how, unlike comic books, movies must end.
Without getting into specifics, the key thing that makes the third film a great possibility for us is that we want to finish our story. And in viewing it as the finishing of a story rather than infinitely blowing up the balloon and expanding the story … unlike the comics, these things don’t go on forever in film and viewing it as a story with an end is useful.
Christian Bale talks about the movie's secrecy Posted 04.28.12 by Chris