Last summer, Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub from
Collider was on the set of Christopher Nolan's
The Dark Knight Rises, and spoke with special effects supervisor Chris Corbould. Here are some of the interesting tidbits of his interview. For the full interview, click the link below.
Was there another vehicle that you would like to create besides the Batpod and of course the Tumbler and you said that you had, you wouldn’t tell me what it was, but you had an idea, and I’m not going to ask you what it was, I know how Chris [Nolan] is, but did you get to create that vehicle for this one?
Corbould: Not the one, no, but we have another stunning vehicle.
Are you breaking new ground in technology, I mean with the Batpod you, it was just a new technology a new way of vehicle motion, I mean, did you find yourself breaking new ground again in technology with this one?
Corbould: The vehicle we’ve got in this one, we are trying to do some extraordinary things, which, probably, normally would be done a lot more with CGI. Chris being Chris wants to try and do everything he possibly can for real, so the new vehicle, we’ll be doing some ground-breaking stuff which is probably not a great phrase but there’s some exciting, different, different effects.
We’ve seen photos of the Tumbler being back, in their sort of, original desert camouflage colour.
Corbould: You probably don’t know this but we’ve got three different versions of the Tumbler, each one of them is different which will become apparent as I’m sure, you’ve already seen the one on the steps, with it’s funky little cannon on the top, the other and it is another one which has a different device on it. Sorry what was your question again?
Basically I know you’d said that you can’t really talk about this specifically, the specifics of the new vehicle but I’m assuming that that means you didn’t design a new Batmobile, we’re still gonna have the Tumbler?
Corbould: Yeah, you’ve still got the Tumblers, you’ve still got the Batpod and multiples, obviously, multiple Tumblers on this one. It’s, which is quite interesting. It’s quite great just seeing the other day, there was a shot with all three of them trundling down the road and the growl of those engines certainly gets the adrenaline going a little bit but the new vehicle is going to be really good.
These Tumblers are, they weren’t used in the previous films?
Corbould: They’re the same Tumblers, which we’ve modified and adapted and Chris has changed the look of some of them, changed the armaments on some of them and, you know, they’re all part of a very exciting action sequence and the climax of the film.
It seem like you’re shooting more daytime scenes, at least in some of the pictures we saw, does that provide more challenges, going into a shoot like that?
Corbould: Not really, I’m a great big fan of working days, I’m not nocturnal personally and I was really pleased to see that Batman actually got out during the day. And to me, actually adds a great look, seeing batman out in the daylight, it’s a total different look, you know, there are scenes at night, but, you know, I think the end sequence is all Batman during the day and it adds a whole new element to it.
Emma [Thomas] mentioned that the film takes place mostly in the winter and one thing we didn’t really get chance to ask her, is there a lot of fake snow? Is it snow in Gotham City at all?
Corbould: Yes there is, yeah, it’s lots and lots of it.
But have you shot scenes with it?
Corbould: We shot some scenes at the Carnegie Mellon Institute the other day where we put a lot of falling snow in the air, put dress snow around the set and that was sort of a lightweight dusting, a bit later on, we have an extensive snow scenes, where we snow it up a lot more specifically in Pittsburgh, it’s quite tricky, you know, hundred degrees or something, trying to, you know, I feel sorry for the poor actors who’ve got to have great big coats on, they’re sweltering, we have to use every cheat in the book, you know, we’re putting steam out that’s on the streets, you know, to give that cold feel and I’m sure Wally Pfister will play around with the lighting to make it look that cold light, it’s all part of the job really.
You’re not gonna give Batman skates like he had in Batman & Robin are you?
Corbould: Oh no, no, skis? Batskis? No, I’m joking, I’m joking.
Bane, in the comics, he’s very larger than life and all that, clearly, Tom Hardy is regular-sized guy, is there gonna be any sort of augmentation of his size, or height or anything?
Corbould: I’m not really party to that. Chris shoots these things, these sequences, and when you see the final, in the film, he always does something to them. I’ve heard no conversations about any changes of things like that but who knows? When he gets in the editing suite then it all starts happening again.
It has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive. Assuming the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent, the Dark Knight sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good. For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act. But everything will change with the arrival of a cunning cat burglar with a mysterious agenda. Far more dangerous, however, is the emergence of Bane, a masked terrorist whose ruthless plans for Gotham drive Bruce out of his self-imposed exile. But even if he dons the cape and cowl again, Batman may be no match for Bane.
Studio: Warner Bros Pictures
Release Date: July 20th, 2012
Cast: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Michael Caine, Anne Hathaway and Gary Oldman
Director: Christopher Nolan