Empire Magazine just released their latest issue, which (as we showed you this past weekend) features Bane and Batman on the front covers. Inside the issue are new exclusive photos, as well as a wealth of new information about The Dark Knight Rises gleaned from interviews with Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, and Tom Hardy. Points of discussion include where, or rather, when the story picks up, Bane and his mask, and the details surrounding the 6-minute prologue that is coming December 16th in front of select IMAX showings of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Considering these details are being discussed by and with the approval of Christopher Nolan, I’d say their spoiler level is fairly light. But if you happen to be a person who wants to go in as fresh as possible, or you’re someone who wants to avoid set pictures of any kind, perhaps the rest of this article isn’t for you. For the everyone else, welcome.
Since the start of production back in May, fans across the internet have been speculating as much as possible about the particulars of the story and film. For the first time since then, Christopher Nolan sheds some light as to the set up of the story:
It’s really all about finishing Batman and Bruce Wayne’s story. We left him in a very precarious place. Perhaps surprisingly for some people, our story picks up quite a bit later, eight years after The Dark Knight. So he’s an older Bruce Wayne; he’s not in a great state.
Nolan goes on to state that the prologue will be “the first six, seven minutes” of the film, and it will be an introduction to Bane and a “taste” of the rest of the film. Speaking of Bane, Tom Hardy talks a bit about his character, stating that he’s “brutal” and “incredibly clinical.” Obviously Bane is quite a big character, literally, and poses a serious physical threat to Batman. But what’s the deal his mask in this story? Many have wondered how similar to the comics Nolan would make his version of the character. Well, costume designer Lindy Hemming has revealed some details that answer some of those questions:
He was injured early in his story. He’s suffering from pain and he needs gas to survive. He cannot survive the pain without the mask. The pipes from the mask go back along his jaw line and feed into the thing at the back where there are two canisters of what ever it is…the anesthetic.
All interesting revelations that should be enough to wet anyone’s appetite. But nothing gets more exciting, for some, than production photos and set pictures. Below are some scans courtesy of AICN from the January issue of Empire, which has already begun arriving at the homes of subscribers, and hits stands later this week. Enjoy.
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