Here's what Scene got out of Ravi Mehta, SVP of Production at Warner Bros. --he's responsible for bringing both Jonah Hex to the big easy. Here are his comments:
Scene: Are we going to get to interview Christopher Nolan in a couple of months?
RM: [Laughs] Someone took that story and ran wild with it. I know they are going to the U.K., L.A. and there will be a third city.
Scene: Is New Orleans at least in the running?
RM: Well, I’m sure! Why not, right? You’ve guys have got great incentives and [we've had] positive experiences in Louisiana.
Mehta also emphasized that things were still very early, indicating that the script for The Dark Knight Rises had only been turned in a few weeks before. For those who are unaware how powerfully a script determines location, consider that a script rewrite made shooting The Lucky One in Louisiana a reality. A script rewrite also forced Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides to abandon plans to shoot at Raleigh Studios in Baton Rouge in favor of the United Kingdom.
The Dark Knight Rises is currently expected to begin filming in May 2011. Look for more from our interview with Ravi Mehta in the January/February edition of Scene Magazine, where he details why The Lucky One, originally set in North Carolina, was rewritten to be both set and shot in Louisiana.