Christian Bale
In The Dark Knight Rises: A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo as a rich idiot. Also, Batman.
Next Project: Appropriately enough, Christian is currently collaborating with Terrence Malick, a man Chris Nolan credited as being a huge influence on his own films.
The project is currently operating under the title Lawless (2013), but that may well have to change, as Wettest County – starring Tom Hardy – recently changed its name to Lawless (2012).
Bloody Bane strikes again!
Whatever it ends up being called, it’s been described as the story of "two intersecting love triangles, sexual obsession and betrayal, set against the music scene in Austin, Texas."
Apparently, during the shoot, Christian Bale got on stage and played bongos with Fleet Foxes. If the mental image of that event doesn’t make you smile even a little bit, then congratulations, you’re steely enough to be trained as a ninja.
Liam Neeson
In The Dark Knight Rises: Jedi Knight Ra’s al Ghul, who uses the force to transcend the after-life, returning to give advice to his young Padawan Bruce Wayne, who he first trained on the ice planet Hoth. We may have been confused during this scene.
Next Project: Bryan Mills is back to kick kidnapper ass and chew bubble-gum (he forgot to buy bubblegum) in Taken 2 , a sequel so surprising even Neeson was baffled when it was announced.
"The first one for me was just a one-off. It was a huge hit, but I thought, 'That's it.' Then Luc Besson came back and said, 'We want to do a sequel.' I said, 'Come on, how can you possibly do a sequel? What, she gets taken again? It's crazy!' "
We're pretty sure it's going to be brilliant.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
In The Dark Knight Rises: John Blake, the most likable sidekick Batman’s had since… well, ever.
Next Project: JGL will shortly be back on the big screen with the reportedly stunning time travel crime caper Looper .
If it’s a success, expect Levitt to be catapulted straight into the a-list. It would be extremely well-deserved.
Morgan Freeman
In The Dark Knight Rises: Reprising his typically wry turn as Batman’s Q Lucius Fox.
Next Project: Morgan will be narrating a fairly serious sounding documentary about the history of America, called We The People .
That’ll be out in 2012. But we’re probably more excited about Now You See Me , due in 2013, which is about the FBI’s attempts to catch a bunch of magicians who rob banks so they can give the money to their audiences. Yes please.
Michael Caine
In The Dark Knight Rises: Delivering one of the performances of his career, in a handful of brief scenes as Bruce Wayne's faithful butler, Alfred.
Next Project: We'll next see Michael as the titular Mr. Morgan in Mr. Morgan In Love . Caine's playing an American philosophy professor, whose life changes when he forms a connection with a young Parisian woman.
And after that? He'll reunite with his old pal Morgan Freeman in the aforementioned Now You See Me . The one about the bank robbing magicians.
Gary Oldman
In The Dark Knight Rises: A continuation of his magnificent work as Commissioner Gordon. Oldman famously turned down the opportunity to play Ra’s al Ghul because he wanted to play the good guy for a change. Smart man.
Next Project: Oldman will appear in corporate espionage thriller Paranoia , alongside Chris Hemsworth, Amber Heard and Harrison Ford.
He’s also signed on to appear in the intriguing RoboCop reboot, as Robo’s creator Norton.
Apparently, Norton will be torn between helping RoboCop reconnect with his humanity and serving the interests of his corporate bosses.
Sounds like another good guy role to us.
Marion Cotillard
In The Dark Knight Rises: Kind and caring philanthropist Miranda Tate. Oh, she’s lovely. Exactly the sort of woman you’d want to take home to your parents. Seriously, we can't stress enough how nice she is.
Next Project: A James Gray ( Two Lovers ) movie that’s yet to have a title.
But, boy, does it have a plot. “An innocent immigrant woman is tricked into a life of burlesque and vaudeville until a dazzling magician tries to save her and reunite her with her sister who is being held in the confines of Ellis Island,” according to IMDB.
Sounds like a tale worthy of the Nolan brothers.
Hans Zimmer
In The Dark Knight Rises: Composing the beautiful and briilliant score. Take a bow Mr Zimmer, it was stunning.
Next Project: It was recently announced that Zimmer would be providing the score to Man Of Steel , despite originally saying he didn’t want to do it: “No – and I’m not thinking of rewriting Beethoven’s ninth either. It just sounds like a thankless task, you know?”
But Zimmer later clarified that he was just trying to quash rumours before he’d had a chance to meet Zack Snyder and that, to him, John Williams is essentially superman, so it’ll be a tough task to follow his iconic score.
Basically, what we’re saying is Hans Zimmer is a living legend. We can’t wait to hear what he does with Man Of Steel .
Jonathan Nolan
In The Dark Knight Rises: Co-writer. Apparently, Jonah turned in a 400-page first draft of The Dark Knight Rises . We’d sell our comic-book collection to read it.
Next Project: Jonathan has had a few projects on the go for a while now.
He’s the showrunner on Person Of Interest – as executive producer, writer and creator – a telly show about an ex-CIA hitman and scientist who team up to prevent crimes before they happen.
But film-wise, he’s currently in pre-production on two projects.
Firstly, Interstellar – which follows a bunch of scientists who fall into a wormhole and end up in another dimension. It’s set to be directed by Steven Spielberg as soon as he’s done with the 23,000 other films he’s currently working on.
Also in the pipeline is Hell & Gone , which is a “a Titanic -like historical tragedy and love story revolving around the Great Chicago Fire."
Nolan’s also described it as a revenge story. So it’ll be interesting to see how that all fits together, in his first period piece since The Prestige .
Both would be Jonathan’s first scripts filmed by someone other than his brother. But, unfortunately, both have been in development for a few years, so don’t expect to see them any time soon.
Anne Hathaway
In The Dark Knight Rises: Kicking criminals and critics in the face (literally and metaphorically) with a stand-out performance as Selina Kyle.
Next Project: Another huge epic with an impressive cast – Les Miserables .
And Anne is reportedly more intimidated by making Les Mis than she was TDKR . Mainly because she’s had to have a haircut for it.
"It was terrifying. I didn't expect it, because in The Dark Knight Rises , I do backflips out of windows, I jump off of buildings, I do all sorts of scary things but nothing was as scary as cutting my hair off," she said.
"I was really surprised by that. I don't know why - it was a big dramatic change that could have gone very, very badly," she explained.
"I didn't realise how much my identity was tied to hair. But it was good to take that up."
Matthew Modine & Joey King
In The Dark Knight Rises: Cowardly (then brave) Deputy Commissioner Foley (Modine) and a – spoiler alert – young Bane (then Talia) rising from a prison pit (King).
Next Project: Modine and King are set to appear in Queen Freak together, which is due for a 2012 release.
The plot involves a family being kidnapped by their own teenage daughter, who is making a bid for attention. We hope that Matthew and Joey spent the entirety of the shoot reminiscing about Batman.
Tom Hardy
In The Dark Knight Rises: Mouth-masked maniac Bane, who was definitely paying attention during theatricality lessons at The League Of Shadows’ School For Boys.
Next Project: Hardy will be playing the titular Max in Mad Max: Fury Road , which is currently in production and scheduled for a 2013 release.
The plot involves Max’s mission to guide a group of women - Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Zoe Kravitz, Riley Keough and Adelaide Clemens – across a post-apocalyptic landscape. It’s a tough job, etc.
Cillian Murphy
In The Dark Knight Rises: A – spoiler alert – magnificent cameo as Judge Scarecrow, the self-appointed executioner of Gotham’s social elite.
Next Project: Murphy is set to star in an adaptation of Irish metafictional novel At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien.
He’ll appear alongside countrymen Colin Farrell, Michael Fassbender, Gabriel Byrne and Brendan Gleeson. Gleeson will also be making his directorial debut. We can’t ruddy wait.
Wally Pfister
In The Dark Knight Rises: Pfister was the DOP on The Dark Knight Rises , which means he was in charge of making Bane and Batman’s snowfall fight look just right.
Next Project: Details are currently vague, but we do know that Pfister will be making his directorial debut on an as yet untitled thriller. Chris Nolan and his wife Emma Thomas will be there to help out though, they’re on executive-producer duties.
One thing’s for sure, Pfister is enjoying the break away from his day-job. “All I care about right now is screenplay and performance. The look is not my focus. I don’t want to be micromanaging how someone lights the film.
“I’m looking for a cinematographer whose style I like and understand. And they’ve got to be fast. I’m going to do to that cinematographer what [Christopher] Nolan has done to me for the last 13 years.”
Christopher Nolan
In The Dark Knight Rises: Writer, director, God. If you need us to tell you what Chris Nolan did on The Dark Knight Rises , then we’d like you to share your hard-earned cave survival skills with us, just in case we’re the ones who get trapped under a rock slide next time around.
Next Project: Nolan will be helping Zach Snyder bring an edgy and realistic vision of Superman to the big screen. It’ll be a gritty and down to earth retelling of a classic superhero story. If only he had some kind of experience with that sort of thing.
After that, your guess is as good as ours – Nolan’s notorious for shrouding his projects in a veil of secrecy so solid even Batman couldn’t punch his way through it.
Our money’s on Mr Hughes , Nolan’s long-gestating Howard Hughes project.
“It’s the best thing I ever wrote,” Nolan said of the script. “It's going to be a very, very unusual script and a very unusual movie."
"We’ll meet the Howard Hughes who spent much of 1948 sitting naked in a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel with only a pink dinner napkin covering his genitals as he screened movies from his studio, RKO Pictures, and ran up an $11 million tab.
“The Hughes who — obsessed with food safety — once bought every franchise restaurant chain in his home state of Texas, and who was similarly so concerned about air quality that he installed an aircraft filtration system in his 1954 Chrysler New Yorker, taking up its entire trunk.
“The Howard Hughes who had his hair cut and nails trimmed only once a year, and who was seemingly as addicted to Baskin Robbins Banana Ripple ice cream as he was to regular codeine injections; the Hughes who at the end of his life considered only Mormons trustworthy enough to be let into his inner circle."
In 2014 it’ll have been ten years since Scorsese’s take on Hughes’ story. We’d say that feels like a good release date.
