Christopher Nolan Says He Is Not Attached to Direct Batman 3 (Yet)
Posted 06.04.10 by BrentJS
Comic book movie fans were overjoyed when it was announced that the director of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (TDK), Christopher Nolan, was chosen by Warner Bros. to "godfather" the reboot of the Superman franchise. But, as great as that news was, fans really wanted to know whether Nolan would be returning as director of Batman 3, something he has been elusive about since before TDK was even in theaters.
Unfortunately, Nolan is still playing coy, saying in the most recent issue of Empire Magazine (via ComicBookMovie) that he still has not signed a deal to direct Batman 3.
No, I haven't. There is a point where you're just being precious about it and people get annoyed, but the God's honest truth is I work on one movie at a time [Inception], I'm only capable of doing that, so my head will continue to be firmly in this movie for the next few months.
However, considering Nolan's brother, Jonathan Nolan, is writing the screenplay for Batman 3, it's almost a foregone conclusion that he will be returning to direct.
My brother, Jonathan, is working on the screenplay. We came up with a story that we are very exited about. We particularly like where we are taking the characters and what the ending is. There are things for me to be very exited about in addressing the characters again, but ultimately it always comes down to the script, and can we make a great film from this? Thats something I will firmly be turning my attention to figuring out fairly soon. [This film will be] the ending of a story rather than infinitely blowing up the balloon and expanding the story.
Marvel Studios has set up their superhero movies as part of a shared "Marvel Cinematic Universe," where characters and concepts freely cross over from movie to movie. This strategy has been embraced by the fans, but based on Nolan's statements, it's unlikely that we will be seeing Superman and Batman crossing over with one another, even given Nolan's involvement with both franchises.
Marvel are doing what they are doing and people will either respond to that really well or they won't. Its not something I ever applied a blanket rule to, but Marvel characters are very different to DC characters.... You've got to go back to that element of 'What do I see when I close my eyes and think of Batman/Superman?' And for me a big part of that is their individuality. They are extraordinary beings in an ordinary world. ...they are two very different characters but there's an elemental feeling of power in the iconography of those characters. To me that's originally because they stood alone, I need to hang onto that in my imagining of them.
Another hotly-discussed Batman 3 topic in the fan community is what villain or villains will be squaring off against Batman in the new movie. Obviously, Nolan wouldn't divulge this information, but he did say that Mr. Freeze, the character portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger in Batman & Robin would definitely not be appearing in Batman 3. Some have speculated that the Joker might return, either via CGI technology or with another actor — many have noted the resemblance between the late Heath Ledger and Joseph Gordon-Levitt — in the role, but Nolan denied this and said that he didn't "feel comfortable talking about it."
Next Showing: Batman is scheduled for release July 20, 2012