Aug 24 2009 'Inception' Trailer: Your MIND is the Scene of the Crime

There's this now: the trailer for Inception If this were a straight-to-video production, I would still be scoffing at the film's "your mind is the scene of the crime" tagline, but since this is a Christopher Nolan-directed sci-fi movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, I guess I'm going to have to assume the mind being the scene of the crime isn't as laughable as it sounds in this case. Just so long as the mind being the scene of the crime doesn't mean some Fantastic Voyage scenario where Leonardo DiCaprio is shrinking himself down to the side of a brain cell to literally enter a criminal's head and find the clues to solve a murder.

Ah, who am I kidding? I would love that movie.

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Feb 12 2009 Nolan's Next Not One of Those Batmen

Variety reports Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan will begin production on a new film this summer, but, strangely, the announcement comes without any mention of a Batman character:

In a whopping seven-figure buy, Warner Bros. has nabbed "Inception," a script written by Christopher Nolan as his next directing vehicle.

Deal allows WB to keep the director of its 2008 top-grosser "The Dark Knight" in the studio fold and gives WB a big film for summer 2010.

Nolan will begin production this summer on the project that Warner describes as a contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind.

What? I don't understand. Like Nolan would rather work on a personal project than a franchise that's been built up so beyond his reach that he'll probably never be able to make an entirely satisfactory sequel? Fair enough, Chris, we've all wanted to explore the architecture of the mind, but don't be surprised when you read that you've replaced Christian Bale with a trained dog. Given enough time to invent rumors, the internet will say everything.

Dec 18 2008 Fact: Eddie Murphy, Shia LaBeouf in Next Batman

Tabloid magazine The Sun broke this huge story about Batman that, strangely, no one more respectable has heard about:

FUNNYMAN EDDIE MURPHY will play The Riddler in the next Batman movie, The Sun can reveal.

The Beverly Hills Cop star, 47, has been signed up by British director CHRISTOPHER NOLAN to reprise the role played by JIM CARREY in 1995’s Batman Forever.

Execs have also signed up rising Transformers star SHIA LABEOUF, 22, to play Robin.

CHRISTIAN BALE will return as Bruce Wayne, while MICHAEL CAINE will again play Bruce’s assistant Alfred.

Meanwhile, Brit RACHEL WEISZ is said to be up for the Catwoman role.

I used to think these British tabloids were making these things up, but lately I'm wondering if it's possible they're just real fools. They get a phone call:

"Hello? Yes, speaking. You're an insider!? Go on. Eddie Murphy? Wow, that seems like it would completely go against everything Christopher Nolan has been doing with the series, but continue. Shia LaBeouf, you say? Spell that. OK, and just to confirm, you said you're definitely a film insider, right? You are? Wait, you sound a lot like the guy who told me last month that Angelina Jolie was going to be Catwoman. Oh, that was a different guy? OK then, sounds good. Thanks!"

I find that idea more believable than the notion that someone would legitimately think anyone would believe Eddie Murphy is playing The Riddler with Shia LaBeouf as Robin. Maybe Chris Tucker and the kid who played Anakin in The Phantom Menace, but not those two.

UPDATE: I didn't think I had to say it, but just to be clear, this is definitely not true.

Nov 11 2008 'Dark Knight' Script Now Downloadable

As pointed out by /Film, Warner Bros. has made Jonathan and Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight screenplay available as a free download. You can read The Dark Knight! Where was this a week-and-a-half ago, when I had to remember all the Joker's lines to recite verbatim at Halloween parties?

Have it.

Oct 27 2008 Nolan (Vaguely) Answers if He'll Direct Third Batman

Hey, grandchildren, do you still follow that cape man you liked so much? That... Batmin character? Oh, good, because Christopher Nolan has finally spoken on if he's doing a third Batmin movie! His answer: maybe. More specifically:

Well ... let me think how to put this. There are two things to be said. One is the emphasis on story. What’s the story? Is there a story that’s going to keep me emotionally invested for the couple of years that it will take to make another one? That’s the overriding question. On a more superficial level, I have to ask the question: How many good third movies in a franchise can people name? [Laughs.] At the same time, in taking on the second one, we had the challenge of trying to make a great second movie, and there haven't been too many of those either. It’s all about the story really. If the story is there, everything is possible. I hope that was a suitably slippery answer.

Maybe he's right. You can't always maintain the kind of third-chapter quality of an Austin Powers in Goldmember.

You can read the full interview here, thanks to illfigure.

Oct 8 2008 All Those Batman Rumors MIGHT Not Be Accurate

Dark Knight screenwriter David Goyer recently spoke to MTV about all the rumors of casting, story, and the involvement of Christopher Nolan circling the next Batman movie. Basically (literally) he says it's all bullshit:

Whether it’s that Chris Nolan has signed on, and will start pre-production early next year, or that Johnny Depp and Philip Seymour Hoffman will play the villains, or that Cher (Cher!) is lining up to wear Catwoman’s claws, there’s one thing that each and every supposed scoop has in common, “Batman Begins” and “Dark Knight” storyman David Goyer told MTV News:

“It’s all B.S.,” he said. “ALL of it.”

That means, no, Nolan has not signed on (yet). No, there is no casting, let alone TALK, of villains, and, no, nobody is certain to return.

“Chris and I haven’t even talked about it. He quite understandably is taking a long, long vacation and wants to purge himself,” Goyer said.

His choice of words is interesting: "long, long"... " "purge"...

Sounds to me like someone is hinting that they're adapting the Batman comic The Long Halloween into a film with America's Funniest Home Videos' and Dancing with the Stars' Tom Bergeron (berge sounds sort of like purge) as the Riddler. For some reason no other blogs seem to have caught that, but I'm picking up what you're laying down, David Goyer.

Aug 27 2008 Christopher Nolan Might Not Have Actually Thought Much About Third Batman Yet

Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, The Dark Knight producer Chuck Roven has implied that, despite the inevitability of Cher's casting as Catwoman, director Christopher Nolan may not actually be signed on for a third Batman:

Warners and Legendary are both interested in doing a third in the series, but all involved say it will be up to Nolan to come to them with a story and a plan.

"There are a lot of us who emotionally would love to do it," Roven says. "But it's really Chris' call. Chris is the kind of filmmaker who just doesn't think about the next movie before he has completely finished the movie he is working on."

For now, Nolan is taking a well-earned vacation.

Says Roven, "When he comes back, we will see how he feels."

Does this mean Cher herself will be directing in Nolan's absence? I'm pretty sure that's what they're saying. So there it is: Nolan is leaving, Cher is stepping in, and this guy is the new Batman, making Ledger's Joker suddenly seem far less disturbing.

Aug 25 2008 More Baseless Batman Casting Rumors: How About Cher as Something?

Christopher Nolan has figured out how to win back the super-gay stereotype demographic that he lost when he took the nipples off the Batsuit: cast Cher as Catwoman. That sounds real. From the ever-reputable Telegraph celebrity news column, compliments of Dano:

The 62-year-old singer and actress is reported to be in talks to play Catwoman opposite Christian Bale in the third Batman film from British director Christopher Nolan.

The Oscar-winner will join a cast that includes Johnny Depp as The Riddler as she plays the whip-carrying burglar. The character has also been played by Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Berry.

A studio executive said: "Cher is Nolan's first choice to play Catwoman. He wants to her to portray her like a vamp in her twilight years.

Filming of the new Batman instalment, provisionally entitled The Caped Crusader, is due to begin in Vancouver early next year.

So there you have it. Cher is definitely Catwoman, joining Johnny Depp, who is without-a-doubt Riddler, in the new Batman, which surely has the working title of The Caped Crusader. Those are new facts to add to the part of your brain that stores absolute truth.

Jun 6 2008 'The Dark Knight' Chooses Cable Over Satellite (in Featurettes!)

Comcast has hit some dire straits. How can they compete against the powerhouse of advertising that is the IO Digital Cable Reggaeton Commercial, an ad that continues to resonate even now that it's been usurped by a far less catchy replacement? With Batman shit, of course! The cable giant has set up a Flash-heavy Dark Knight page with two featurettes that contain some new footage. You'll learn how the Joker gang masks were made, why sections of the film were shot in IMAX, and why you should definitely switch to Comcast. Because Comcast will probably eventually show Dark Knight on one of its numerous cable stations?

The Dark Knight [Comcast]

Dec 17 2007 'The Dark Knight' Trailer is All We Hoped For

As much as I hate lavishing affection on anything that won't later reject me, I have to say, the finally-released trailed to The Dark Knight looks pretty impressive. Heath Ledger appears to be giving us the psychotic Batman antagonist we all prayed for as Arnold Schwartzenegger assaulted us with one-line puns about freezing. Even as Nolan took a lot of liberties with the look, this feels more like the Joker than anything I've seen on screen. It's kind of chilling, really. If I didn't know it was Ledger, I don't know if I could've figured it out, which should hopefully dissuade crafty editors from making an inevitable Brokeback Mountain parody trailer.

My only confusion comes from the line that Joker's clothes are all custom. Since when are home-made clothes sinister? I remember a kid in elementary school having home-made clothes, and it seems like the sentiment was more along the lines of extremely lame. Though I guess I could see how that kid might be a psychotic clown at this point, after all the merciless playground beatings.

'The Dark Knight' Trailer [official site]