Christopher Nolan and gang have been making the rounds lately, doing various interviews and press in preparation for the DVD/Blu-ray release of their blockbuster film, Inception. A lot of the focus has been on the much discussed film of summer, which is gaining a lot of buzz here in Awards season, but there have also been inevitable queries into the upcoming projects lined up for Chris and team, including The Dark Knight Rises and the next Superman.
To start it all off, Christopher recently spoke to Wired at length about Inception and the difficulties and ambiguities of such an ambitious project. The folks at Wired really poked and prodded, trying to get Chris to reveal what the ending of the movie really means; what actually happened. But to not much surprise, Chris declined to give such specific answers. “I don’t think I can talk about that,” he laughed. “The ambiguity is very much a part of the substance of the film—I’ll put it that way. The film does not specify one way or the other.”
The writer-director was then asked if he had read some of the online discussions and theories about the film, to which he responded, “I’ve seen some of it, yeah.” He continues, “People seem to be noticing the things they’re meant to notice, the things that are meant to either create ambiguities or push you in one direction or another. But I’ve also read plenty of very off-the-wall interpretations.” Is it wishful thinking to wonder if he read these discussions on NolanFans.com? Hmmm… maybe.
Christopher was recently featured in the Entertainers of the Year issue of Entertainment Weekly, of which he is listed in the Top 5! Getting a sizable layout in the magazine, Chris delved into the world of Inception and what the future might hold for the property. He also shed some light on the rather information-less realm that I like to call The Dark Knight Rises. But first things first, let’s talk Inception and what we can expect from it in the future – besides the DVD and Blu-ray release on December 7th. While Chris doesn’t seem too definitive on sequel prospects, he does have an idea of how the world of Inception can be further explored.
“I always imagined Inception to be a world where a lot of other stories could take place,” said Chris. “At the moment, the only direction we’re channeling that is by developing a videogame set in the world.” He wont say when we can expect the game, but that he is developing the game with a team of collaborators, and that it is “a longer-term proposition.”
Moving on to the nearer future with The Dark Knight Rises, Chris makes claims that this will be his last installment in the Batman franchise. Despite all of that, the film seems to be a source of great excitement for the director. “I must say that I’m glad — I’m very, very glad — to be embarking on the last chapter of our Batman saga without any sense of obligation or duty to the studio. They did very well with Inception. So I’m able to go into finishing our story in a very enthusiastic way.”
Someone not as enthusiastic about The Dark Knight Rises might be Aaron Eckhart, who recently confirmed to MTV that he won’t be in the picture. “Chris and I had a meeting, on the beach, just the two of us,” Aaron said. At this meeting, Aaron asked Chris, “‘A lot of people are asking me if I’m in the next Batman.’ And Chris said, ‘Yes?’ I said, ‘Am I?’ He looked at me and he said, ‘No.’” Eckhart felt the stormy weather that day was reflective, and that the news left him heartbroken. However, he went on to praise the work they did on the previous movie and noted his excitement for the next film claiming, “I know Chris has got something in store that is going to blow everybody away.”
Also being questioned about upcoming projects this week was producer Emma Thomas, who was interviewed by HitFix, where the conversation was most interesting when talking about the upcoming Superman film. Emma, Chris and Batman producer Charles Roven are said to be producing the film, but her following statements make me question how much producing they will be doing. She began by stating that “Nolan is so single minded when making a picture it’s hard to get him to work on anything else.” She continues by clarifying that Nolan and David S. Goyer had an idea for the franchise that they couldn’t believe wasn’t being developed by Warner Bros. They wanted get the screenplay to an appropriate level and then hand it off. And with Zack Snyder now on board as director, it is in his hands – it’s his picture.
Speaking of Superman, indiewire is reporting that Hans Zimmer will be scoring the upcoming superhero film for director Zack Snyder. This has been rumored for the past month or so, ever since Zimmer gave a vague but ear-raising interview to a local NBC station in which he talked about a hypothetical score to the comic book film, and how he would handle dealing with a franchise that has one of the most iconic themes of all time.
UPDATE 12.6.10: The folks over at indiewire quite poorly jumped to the conclusion that Hans Zimmer will be scoring the next Superman film. It’s hard to blame them because before they even posted their ill-advised article, many other “mainstream” websites incompetently dissected and spewed that NBC interview across the internet first. I always pondered the reading comprehension skills of my comrades on those sites, for it was quite clear to me Zimmer was being hypothetical. And indeed he was. Zimmer recently clarified things with The Hollywood Reporter, stating the rumor was “some dirty quote taken out of context.” He went on to likening attempting to improve John Williams’ original theme to “rewriting Beethoven’s ninth.”
And with that, I end writing this massive article. But be sure to head over to Wired, EW Online, MTV, HitFix, and indiewire to catch all of the interviews in their entirety. I assure you I didn’t do most of them justice in taking out only a sentence or two to show to you here.
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