Indelibly great film rag Empire cozied up with Chris Nolan to talk about his impending blockbuster puzzle flick Inception, and managed to get some bits and pieces of information about the 3rd Batman film and the Goyer-scripted Superman reboot.
While there’s nothing particularly revelatory, the nugget that should hopefully bring an end to a great deal of silly prognosticating is a definitive, unqualified declaration that the Joker will not be recast. Nolan makes it clear he’s uncomfortable with the subject and doesn’t elaborate, but he’s much more detailed when explaining his vision for the two biggest icons of the DC stable.
“It’s not something I ever really applied a blanket rule to, but Marvel characters are very different from DC characters, and the key DC characters are very different from the minor DC characters. You’ve got to go back to that element of, “What do I see when I close my eyes and think of Batman? What do I see when I close my eyes and think of Superman?” And for me a big part of that is their individuality. They are extraordinary beings in an ordinary world. And the reason I think the two are fascinating is because Superman is very specifically superpowered and obviously otherworldly; Batman is very human and flawed. They’re two very different characters, but there’s an elemental feeling of power in the iconography of those characters. To me that’s originally because they stood alone. I need to hang on to that in my imagining of them.”
It was announced in February that Nolan would be taking on an advisory/producer/Godfather role as DC attempts to bring the Man of Steel back to the big screen, backed by a concept from David Goyer (which Nolan pitched to them).
“…We were just sitting there idly chatting and he said ”…by the way, I think know how you approach Superman,”… and he told me his take on it. I thought it was really tremendous. It was the first time I’ve been able to conceive of how you’d address Superman in a modern context. I thought it was a really exciting idea…”
Of course there is much more in the actual issue of Empire (which I would encourage you to pick up in whatever various paper or pad formats you desire) as well as discussion about 3D, Stanley Kubrick, and of course, Inception. Check it out.
Source | Empire (via Cinematical, NolanFans.com)