In the years since The Dark Knight, a whole lot of something has been made from a whole lot of nothing concerning the third installment of Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Most of these rumors have concerned the villain(s) that would be involved, and the casting thereof. Most of them have been very stupid. This hasn’t stopped douche-bags and the uninformed from parroting these made-up announcements like they were solidified fact.
We are quickly approach the actual development of Batman 3 however, which means there is (or soon will be) an actual script on which to base speculation. Actual casting. Actual designing. That said, it’s still very early and the freshest rumor that The Riddler will be a villain and that Joseph-Gordon Levitt is “interested” in playing him is as thin as it is obvious. The word comes from *achem* First Showing, and its origin is a source that supposedly has eyes on an available roles/casting interest breakdown.
Do with that what you will.
The second bit of news –were it an actual statement of anything– would be slightly more interesting. Nolan’s brilliant cinematographer Wlly Pfister spoke with MTV and stated what he’s probably stated a dozen times before: all things being equal, given the chance, he’d shoot all of Batman 3 on IMAX 70mm. Specifically…
“I can’t say until I read the script, but it would certainly be my preferred, amazing goal to shoot the whole movie in IMAX.”
This is exciting until you realize they would have done the same for Inception (and The Dark Knight for that matter), but the cameras are just too fucking big. Describing the decision made for Inception…
“…I had to tell Chris that the way he was describing the film, so much of it wanted to be with a handheld camera and kind of running around… That’s just not physically possible with the IMAX camera. We ruled out shooting in IMAX.”
There’s always the chance that the guys at IMAX have been developing a smaller, quieter camera just for Batman 3, but if the current tech is what’s available after manufacturing cameras to be sent into space, I wouldn’t place any significant bets on it.
What I would hope, and feel is far more likely, is that Batman 3 will shoot in 65mm like Inception* (perhaps with full 70mm IMAX for some sections) and that the IMAX prints will be from a direct transfer (instead of blown up from 35mm, like Inception).
Nolan’s latest is doing well at the box office and has had strong IMAX returns, so we can hold on to the hope that Nolan and Pfister will avoid the 3D mandate, and get to keep playing around in those big ole fun, photochemical formats.
*Actually a combo of 35mm/65mm/VistaVision