The Dark Knight Rises

[Vanilla Shake]

 

The Dark Knight Rises Official Website

Official poster. ^

 

Trailer 4. ^

 

Trailer 3. ^

 

Trailer 2. ^

 

Trailer 1. ^

 

Release date: July 20th, 2012

 

Taglines:

"A Fire Will Rise."

"The Legend Ends."

 

Main Cast:

Bruce Wayne/Batman - Christian Bale

Alfred Pennyworth - Michael Caine

Commissioner Jim Gordon - Gary Oldman

Selina Kyle - Anne Hathaway

Bane - Tom Hardy

Miranda Tate - Marion Cotillard

John Blake - Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Lucius Fox - Morgan Freeman

 

Supporting cast:

Deputy Commissioner Foley - Matthew Modine

Ra's al Ghul - Liam Neeson

Young Ra's al Ghul - Josh Pence

John Daggett - Ben Mendelsohn

Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow - Cillian Murphy

Mayor Anthony Garcia - Nestor Carbonell

Dr. Leonid Pavel - Alon Aboutboul

Father Reilly - Chris Ellis

Barsad - Josh Stewart

Jen - Juno Temple

Congressman Gillies - Brett Cullen

CIA op - Aidan Gillen

Prisoner - Tom Conti

Stryver - Burn Gorman

Fredericks - John Nolan

 

Music by Hans Zimmer

Story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer

Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan & Christoper Nolan

Produced by Emma Thomas, Charles Roven & Christopher Nolan

Directed by Christopher Nolan

 

 

Yes, it's a bit early, but seeing as how there are many Batman nerds gracing this forum (including myself), I thought I'd create a topic devoted to discussing the next and final film in the trilogy.

 

So, what do we currently know about the film so far? Well, Christopher Nolan will be writing/directing once again, and the principal cast of the past two films will be returning to play their respective roles, along with a new addition to the cast, Tom Hardy (Star Trek: Nemesis, Inception). Right now, the main speculation surrounding the film is which of Batman's villains will be featured in the film. The most rumored villain following The Dark Knight's release back in 2008 was The Riddler. Nolan first stated that Mr. Freeze would definitely not be the villain, so that's one we can thankfully rule out. Other rumors flying around are villains including The Penguin, Catwoman, Talia al Ghul and Killer Croc. Just a few months ago, Nolan stated that the main villain would not be The Riddler, much to the disappointment of many fans, and that Harvey Dent/Two-Face and The Joker would not be returning.

 

Recently, Nolan announced the casting of Tom Hardy, whom he had worked with in his most recent film, Inception. After the release of the new trailer to the upcoming video game Batman: Arkham City, many have begun speculating that Hardy will possibly play the part of Hugo Strange, a psychotic scientist who knows Batman's true identity; Bruce Wayne.

 

It has also been reported that they are looking for two female leads. One no doubt would be a love interest for Bruce Wayne, and rumors have run rampant that they are also casting for either Talia al Ghul (the daughter of Ra's al Ghul, who was one of the antagonists of Batman Begins) or Catwoman.

 

So, what do all of you fellow Batnerds feel about the next film?

 

EDIT (January 19th, 2011): It has officially been confirmed that Anne Hathaway will portray Selina Kyle/Catwoman and that Tom Hardy will portray Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.

 

Juno Temple has been cast as a "street-wise Gotham girl". Josh Pence has been cast as a young Ra's al Ghul, with his scenes taking place 30 years before the events of Batman Begins.

 

Many sites are also reporting that Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard (both of whom appeared in Inception) will be in the film, most of these reports claiming that JGL will be playing Alberto Falcone (son of Carmine Falcone, the mob boss from Batman Begins), and Cotillard portraying Talia al Ghul. These should be proven as true or false soon, as filming begins in May.

 

EDIT (April 19th, 2011): Joseph Gordon-Levitt will be playing John Blake, "a Gotham City beat cop assigned to special duty under the command of Commissioner Gordon", and Marion Cotillard will be playing Miranda Tate, "a Wayne Enterprises board member eager to help a still-grieving Bruce Wayne resume his father’s philanthropic endeavors for Gotham".

 

Read more: http://batman-news.com/2011/04/19/joseph-g.../#ixzz1JzvSXh00

 

EDIT (April 28th, 2011): Filming will officially begin May 6th in India.

http://batman-news.com/2011/04/28/the-dark...ort-on-may-6th/

 

EDIT (May 19th, 2011): Filming in India is finished, shooting in London started on May 16th, and there are a bunch of set photos, mostly just GCPD patrol cars and SWAT vans.

http://batman-news.com/2011/05/17/the-dark...-shoot-updates/

 

 

Filming will take place on three continents, with an all-star cast working under the direction of Christopher Nolan

 

BURBANK, CA, May 19, 2011 – Principal photography has begun on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ “The Dark Knight Rises,” the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.

 

Leading an all-star international cast, Oscar® winner Christian Bale (“The Fighter”) again plays the dual role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.

 

The film also stars Anne Hathaway, as Selina Kyle; Tom Hardy, as Bane; Oscar® winner Marion Cotillard (“La Vie en Rose”), as Miranda Tate; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as John Blake.

 

Returning to the main cast, Oscar® winner Michael Caine (“The Cider House Rules”) plays Alfred; Gary Oldman is Commissioner Gordon; and Oscar® winner Morgan Freeman (“Million Dollar Baby”) reprises the role of Lucius Fox.

 

In helming “The Dark Knight Rises,” Christopher Nolan is utilizing IMAX® cameras even more extensively than he did on “The Dark Knight,” which had marked the first time ever that a major feature film was partially shot with IMAX® cameras. The results were so spectacular that the director wanted to expand the use of the large-format cameras for this film.

 

The screenplay for “The Dark Knight Rises” is written by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer. The film is being produced by Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Charles Roven, who previously teamed on “Batman Begins” and the record-breaking blockbuster “The Dark Knight.” The executive producers are Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan, Kevin De La Noy and Thomas Tull, with Jordan Goldberg serving as co-producer. “The Dark Knight” is based upon characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by Bob Kane.

 

Behind the scenes, “The Dark Knight Rises” reunites the director with several of his longtime collaborators, all of whom worked together on the “The Dark Knight.” The creative team includes director of photography Wally Pfister, who recently won an Oscar® for his work on Nolan’s “Inception”; production designer Nathan Crowley; editor Lee Smith; and Oscar®-winning costume designer Lindy Hemming (“Topsy-Turvy”). In addition, Paul Franklin and Chris Corbould, who both won Oscars® for the effects in “Inception,” will supervise the visual and special effects, respectively. The music will be composed by Oscar® winner Hans Zimmer (“The Lion King”).

 

The locations for “The Dark Knight Rises” span three continents and include the American cities of Pittsburgh, New York and Los Angeles, as well as sites in India, England and Scotland.

 

“The Dark Knight Rises” is a presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures, in association with Legendary Pictures. Slated for release on July 20, 2012, the film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

http://batman-news.com/2011/05/19/warner-b.../#ixzz1Mp25bsq5

 

EDIT (May 20th, 2011): Warner Bros. has launched the official website for the film and the first official image from the film, an image of Tom Hardy as Bane.

http://www.thedarkknightrises.com/

They've also begun the viral marketing campaign, which will no doubt be similar to the viral marketing used to promote The Dark Knight.

 

EDIT: (May 21st, 2011): "Yesterday, after the big reveal of Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, Variety broke some casting news. According to the site, Matthew Modine, Joey King and Tom Conti have all joined the cast of The Dark Knight Rises. Matthew Modine will be playing a character named “Nixon”, but no other details were given. Joey King confirmed her involvement on Twitter, but didn’t comment on exactly what her role would be. Tom Conti’s role is also undetermined."

http://batman-news.com/2011/05/21/matthew-.../#ixzz1MzGTHWk4

 

EDIT: (July 9th, 2011): Teaser trailer and first official poster for The Dark Knight Rises to be released next week.

 

"We’ve been hearing this rumor for a while, but now Superhero Hype has received word from a reliable source that The Dark Knight Rises’ teaser trailer will debut next Friday, July 15th, with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. According to the source, the teaser trailer has a runtime of 1 minute and 33 seconds and a poster will be on display as well. If this is all true, Warner Bros. will likely release the teaser trailer online sometime next week in all it’s HD glory."

 

http://batman-news.com/2011/07/08/the-dark.../#ixzz1RbdHaeYG

 

Batman Begins teaser trailer:

 

The Dark Knight teaser trailer:

 

The Dark Knight Rises teaser trailer:

 

 

EDIT (August 5th, 2011): First image of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman released on official website.

 

 

Confirmed filming locations:

London, England (filmed)

Glasgow, Scotland (filmed)

Inverness Airport, Scotland (filmed)

Wollaton Hall, England [Wayne Manor exterior] (filmed)

Osterley Park House, England [Wayne Manor interior] (filmed)

Pittsburgh, PA (filmed)

Los Angeles, CA (filmed)

The People's Palace in Bucharest, Romania (filmed)

Jodhpur, India (filmed)

Newark City Hall - Newark, NJ (filmed)

New York City, NY (filmed)

 

Principal photography has finished and the film has shifted to post-production.

 

Edited July 25, 2012 by Vanilla Shake

[Fnorg]

I'm not a huge fan of either movie, and find the latter one to be incredibly over-hyped and yet the title pisses me off.

[visionist]

Worst title ever. No im not exaggerating. ACTUALLY IS the worst title they coulda pulled outta their lazy asses. So from now on whenever anybody mentions TDK people will have to ask "is that the one with or without the joker?". Anybody who dares to defend this insipid, inelegant and completely uninspired title is a grade A Fa*got who hates the franchise.

 

Instead of 3 movies with seperate titles and villains we now have two movies and "That other one". The title is clumsy, overlong and absolutely unoriginal. And to all the Assclowns saying "get over it" I suggest you grow a pair and realise what a crap forgetable title does for a movie; imagine a Beautiful Girl with a Gorgeous face, Awesome tits, Killer legs, a Fantastic ass and Incredible hair. Hell, throw in a lovely voice and a warm charm just to make it a little less realistic. Sounds Great right? Well, imagine shes called GERTRUDE! Or MILDRED! If that doesn't put you off, you probably thought the new title was a good one.

 

In which case, Go To Hell and Die. No Returns.

[Adam Jensen]

Seriously what's with the dorky title? Sounds like something from 80's B movie. I really hope they change it.

[SIKKS66]

It's a bit unimaginative sure, but not the worst possible. The Dark Knight 2 would have been worse!

 

Not a massive nerd of Batman lore but from what I've read, Black Mask would be an awesome villain. Could also give us another window into Wayne's youth and his parents. I'd also like to see one more battle with the best Nolan villain, Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow. Catwoman could end up being pretty lame but with no Rachel Dawes I guess there needs to be atleast one new woman.

 

Storyline guess: Gordon is leading a task-force that is attempting to capture the Dent-murdering Batman. Black Mask attempts to eliminate Batman too with the help of Scarecrow and maybe another villain linked with Nolan's lore (Talia al Ghul?). Meanwhile Catwoman is unleashing a crime-wave of her own while Batman is sat whining at Michael Caine in his newly built mansion, debating whether Gotham needs a hero. He decides to "Rise" from the shadows and eliminate the threat once and for all and face the consequences of his actions. The trilogy ends with Superman flying Batman to the moon.

 

[Finn 7 five 11]

I hope its not the penguin, or catwoman, as for the title that really is cheesy.

I have however been looking forward to this, i knew a while back like many batfans did that it would be out in 2012, simply by checking morgan freemans film schedule, but now we have an exact release date, i must say though its a long way out.

[Don Garcia]

Yeah, don't like that they're reusing Dark Knight in the title. But whatever.

 

Definitely wanna see Talia, and a Nolan-done Catwoman would be cool I guess. Won't have much to think about till I see a trailer and that's a ways away.

[Andy...]

...does it really matter what it's called? Isn't there more important things to worry about with this film, like is there going to be a gripping story with a bunch of actors giving great performances and then gives the Nolan Batman trilogy a satisfying ending? f*cking idiots.

 

PS. Nice fan poster.

[Moonshield]

I'd prefer The Dark Knight Rides Again! tbh.

[makeshyft]

Yeah, this title sh*tted me from the get-go.

 

Since this is going to be Nolan's last, and will therefore be a finale, as such, why not simply...

 

Batman

 

?

 

[Rucke]

Batman Begins was really good, The Dark Knight even better. This time though I have a feeling they will f*ck up.

[Xo4]

Yeah, this title sh*tted me from the get-go.

 

Since this is going to be Nolan's last, and will therefore be a finale, as such, why not simply...

 

Batman

 

?

Because the last thing we need is ANOTHER movie called Batman, so it can be confused with the 1989 and 1966 ones.

[makeshyft]

Does it really matter? Tack 'The' onto the front if you find it that confusing.

 

I just think the name is terrible. A title is needed which provides a sense of finality.

[Tyler]

Yeah, The Dark Knight Rises sounds like the beginning of a nine-part series starring Adam West as he fights the escaped mental patients.

[RARusk]

Or a bad porno movie.....

[Girish]

I agree with makeshyft. A simple 'Batman' title would have been more apt than 'The Dark Knight Rises'. I'm glad this is the last of the series so that we don't have to endure a 'The Dark Knight Rises Again'.

 

Anyways, title aside, what interests me the most at this point is finding out who the Batman's nemesis is going to be, this time around. Too bad it's not The Riddler. He's been one of my favourite Batman antagonists.

[SIKKS66]

I think The Dark Knight was a good title in that it let you know it was a Batman film but that the idea of a Dark Knight and a White Knight (Dent) was a key one in the film. The Dark Knight Rises seems like it's just cashing in on the popularity of the previous film's name.

 

makeshyft is right, Batman would have been good. Or something equally short with a sense of finality. Maybe Gotham or something with Gotham in the title.

 

But sh*t, who am I to question the Nolan? I'm sure he has a plan with that title. Let's not be cynical. Yet.

[TheJonesy]

To be honest, I find The Dark Knight Rises to be just as creative as Batman Begins. What's upsetting, though, is the fact that Nolan has chosen a title that appears to contradict what he had stated before; that is, he makes one film at a time.

 

What I find in Nolan's Batman films is that each sequel, while still canon with the story, will share it's own, independant approach: each film doesn't strain the same elements from the previous film, but instead utilizes different characters and perspectives to converge into one story, and that is the story of Bruce Wayne and Batman.

 

So although The Dark Knight wasn't necessarily made with a sequel in mind - which is what Nolan's statement implies - this title leads me to believe that this movie won't be as independant to TDK as TDK was to Batman Begins. With a title likes this, this film may try to focus too much on milking off of TDK rather than being its own film.

 

Edited January 2, 2011 by TheJonesy

[darthYENIK]

I'm saying it right now. I don't think they'll be able to top the Dark Knight, at least critically. Not because of the title, or because I think the movie will be poor. I just think they set the bar too high, and it's a hard act to follow, and any other random figures of speech that fit.

[MMFF]

I think it got this name just to make sure everyone knows it's a direct sequel to The Dark Knight. As much money as it made, they want to be damned sure nobody confuses this as anything else. Ask someone who isn't a Batman fan about Batman Begins and they probably wouldn't know anything other than that it's a Batman movie. Ask them about The Dark Knight and they have probably seen it.

[mrpain]

sh*tty title indeed but I dont blame them. Heck most of my friends who watched The Dark Knight at first didnt even know there was Batman Begins. Idiots...

[JasonAW]

Meh, still prefer Michael Keaton as Batman. Can't understand what Christian Bale says when he is in the Batman outfit. I literally have to turn on subtitles everytime he speaks.

[Don Garcia]

The movie will be shooting in Los Angeles and the U.K.

 

I wonder if the U.K. will actually be the U.K. or if it and LA will just serve as Gotham.

[Vanilla Shake]

The movie will be shooting in Los Angeles and the U.K.

 

I wonder if the U.K. will actually be the U.K. or if it and LA will just serve as Gotham.

Well, I think they shot scenes from TDK in the UK as well, so I'm presuming that both LA and the UK will just serve as parts of Gotham.

 

I'm interested in how they'd utilize New Orleans if they do end up shooting there. I thought they'd stick to Chicago.

 

And while it may not be the best title in the world, I've warmed up to it already, so I really don't care what it's called. "The Batman" would have been a cool name though, or "Shadow of the Bat". But as Pandazoot brought up, I'm more interested in the storyline being good and the casting at this point.

[makeshyft]

Batman Goes Bananas

[Knife]

The movie will be shooting in Los Angeles and the U.K.

 

I wonder if the U.K. will actually be the U.K. or if it and LA will just serve as Gotham.

Well, I think they shot scenes from TDK in the UK as well, so I'm presuming that both LA and the UK will just serve as parts of Gotham.

Wayne manor is in the UK so that may be rebuilt by this film. Then I think the batcave was there also.

[SIKKS66]

Yeah they used this place for Wayne Manor. But wasn't it utterly destroyed in Batman Begins? Would be mightily impressive if they managed to reconstruct it to look just like it did before the fire

 

Also, the insides of Arkham Asylum were shot in England. Bring back Scarecrow!

[Adam Jensen]

Batman Goes Bananas

I'd settle for that title. It says a lot.

[3minty3]

But wasn't it utterly destroyed in Batman Begins? Would be mightily impressive if they managed to reconstruct it to look just like it did before the fire

Bruce did say he was planning on rebuiding it brick for brick with a few improvements in the south-east corner.

[Finn 7 five 11]

 

 

What I find in Nolan's Batman films is that each sequel, while still canon with the story, will share it's own, independant approach: each film doesn't strain the same elements from the previous film, but instead utilizes different characters and perspectives to converge into one story, and that is the story of Bruce Wayne and Batman.

 

You are 100% correct, neither film has had really anything to do with each other, which makes it so much better, sequel don't always pan out so well, but the way nolan has made them they are individual films in fact i am certain the dark knight would be afine movie and would make sense even if batman begins was never made.