"The Dark Knight Rises is a war film."
Cine Web Radio had an interview with Tully Summers, a classically trained illustrator that is best known for his creature designs. He was inspired by one of the most celebrated cinematic wizards, Ray Harryhausen, and his visual style draws a lot from nature as a reference.
In the comic book movie community we may not recognize his name, but we sure as hell recognize his art. He has worked on
Men in Black 3, Thor,,
Avatar, and
Green Lantern..
But, it's his work on
The Dark Knight Rises that is most intriguing about this interview. When asked about the differences of creating fantasy based designs for films like
Men in Black 3 and then going to Nolan's more realistic Batman style, he said:
"The difference for me was Christopher Nolan’s visual style. One of the things that makes his Batman movies so compelling is their tone of plausibility. He will often prefer a raw, grittier design over one that is very sleek and product design pretty. It’s sort of a practical military aesthetic. This stuff is made to work, not impress shoppers. The Dark Knight Rises is a war film."
Tully did character designs for Bane and Catwoman, and was asked to share his thoughts of the set photos that leaked and spoiled the official reveal of those two characters.
"Films like Batman are meticulously planned. Every shot is storyboarded, framed, lighted and choreographed to camera. Any photos taken that are not from the intended camera are out of context. In a sense it’s like judging Sesame Street or the Muppets from a set photo: “That’s ridiculous! There’s a whole guy hanging out that character!” Christopher Nolan is a consummate filmmaker. Consider his body of work and his first 2 Batman movies. I don’t think fans will be disappointed."
When asked about working on Will Smith's third
Men in Black film, Tully said he wasn't nervous about delving into an established universe that many other artist had already contributed too.
"Most film today is adapted from something else, weather it be a fairytale, novel, comic book, or an even older movie. It’s often my job to translate a concept from one medium to one that works and is appealing on film. In the case of a sequel like MIB3, I need to try and stay true to the tone of the original while making something new and different enough to keep people interested."
Thank you for the heads up CARTMAN
The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters July 20th 2012 and stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, Garly Oldman as Jim Gordon, Tom Hardy as Bane, Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake and Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate.