In the interview with Empire's Dan Jolin, Nolan remained fairly tight lipped about his involvement with both Batman 3 and the Superman reboot he is Godfathering, (apparently sub-titled The Man Of Steel). But he did reveal a few things. It turns out that even though Warner Bros have announced that the third Batman will go ahead and even have a release date, Nolan still hasn't signed on or committed to direct!...
" No, I haven't. There is a point where your 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."
Of course, its most likely academic that Nolan will direct. He goes on to say..
"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"
Which brings us to the big question, cross-over. Fans have wanted to see a Batman/Superman team up/fight for a long time, and many(me included) thought that with Nolan being involved now with both characters next big screen appearances, that it would eventually lead to such a glorious event, much like Marvel's upcoming
Avengers. Well, don't hold your breath! It seems as if Nolan is still adamant that both characters should remain in their own worlds, for now...
"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 theres an elemental feeling of power in the iconography of those characters. To me thats originally because they stood alone, I need to hang onto that in my imagining of them" Yes Chris, thats very true, but wouldn't that also make for an excellent dynamic if both characters crossed paths? Grrrrr! So it seems as if, for now at least, no cross-over. Although I can't help feeling that DC and Warner Bros may have a slightly different idea than Nolan does in where these films should eventually lead.
Thats almost it, except for the all important villain(s)! ..Its The Clock King! Only joking. Nolan obviously doesn't spill on who it is, he only says who it isn't..
"It won't be Mr Freeze"
Well, no big surprise their. But when questioned over the possibility of the returning, recast Joker after Heath Ledger's tragic death last year..
"No" says Nolan, emphatically and unhesitatingly. "I just don't feel comfortable talking about it" So there you have it, no Joker. Since Nolan has already dismissed The Penguin, the smart money really is on The Riddler or(and) Catwoman, unless he decides to bring a less well known villain like Deadshot into the proceedings. Anyway, he doesn't give anything else away in the interview. All we do have from the previous films is Lucius Fox's(Morgan Freeman) little quip about Wayne's armor doing alright "Against cats". A foreshadowing of things to come? I certainly hope so.
Be sure to check out the latest issue of Empire for the full interview and lost of great stuff on Nolan's latest sci-fi thriller,
Inception.
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