At
the end of last month I wrote what you could consider a love poem* to
the photochemically epic exploits of Wally Pfister and the rest of
Christopher Nolan’s camera department. This came with the news that the
next Batman film would remain two-dimensional, and was filled with hope for more filmic innovation.
According to Collider,
sources are saying that Nolan and Co. may finally tackle what has been
the 800-pound gorilla in the room since 2007- a feature film shot
entirely in the IMAX format.
“I’m
hearing that Nolan will try and shoot The Dark Knight Rises totally in
IMAX. I’ve heard that IMAX has been quietly
developing a smaller, less intrusive camera that will be able to handle
dialogue scenes. If the camera is finished in time, expect
Nolan to use it.”
Even Collider calls it a complete rumor, even if they’re getting it from a number of people.
Obviously
this makes sense. Nolan has clearly stated that it is only the
technical limitations of the monstrous (and monstrously loud) IMAX
cameras that prevent him from shooting exclusively in the 70mm format. I
can’t imagine the IMAX Corporation hasn’t been trying to develop
quieter and more mobile cameras, though what success they’ve managed is
obviously unclear. If they’ve made a breakthrough though, it would be
extremely natural for the trilogy to end with a film that pushes the
innovations of The Dark Knight
to their logical conclusion. With the crew’s enthusiasm for the format
evident from the first behind-the-scenes peeks, discussion of an entire
film being shot that way has been consistent.
There’s
not much more to say beyond “awesome.” If the crew pulls this off we’ll
be viewing greater quality images in every format the film hits (the
richness of the IMAX footage vs the 35mm footage is even clearly
noticeable on the Blu-Ray transfer). There have been few films in
history that have had the kind of resources and budgetary carte blanche that Nolan will enjoy for this film, so this decision is surely one of a purely technical nature.
“This
is not starting over, this is not rebooting. We’re finishing
something, and keeping a consistency
with what’s come before has real value.
We’re looking to do something technologically that’s
never been done before.”
That’s Nolan talking, and an announcement like this would live up to that statement with verve. Fingers crossed.
[You can click on that camera image for a high-res shot, by the way.]
*a big sloppy blowjob would be more accurate though