After all the speculation about the future of the Batman franchise, Chris Nolan has finally spoken up on the subject.
Somewhat understandably, Nolan has been on a long holiday after making a film that is now on its way to $1 billion at the box office. And, as always, he’s been taking his time pondering his next move.
But that doesn’t help the rest of us - tortured with visions of Brett Ratner’s Batman – feel better. All we want to know is, will he make the third film? Nolan won’t commit. Yet.
“It’s all about the story”
“There are two things to be said. One is the emphasis on story. What’s the story?” he tells the LA Times ’ Hero Complex blog. “Is there a story that’s going to keep me emotionally invested for the couple of years that it will take to make another one? That’s the overriding question.
”On a more superficial level, I have to ask the question: How many good third movies in a franchise can people name? It’s all about the story really. If the story is there, everything is possible.”
Yeah, thanks Chris. We feel sooo much better now. Hopefully the Warners executives will beg, plead and bribe him into finding that story he needs to get him going.
So if he’s not segueing straight into another Bat-outing, what is he planning next? “I only deal with one film at a time. I find myself sort of protesting this issue a lot. We’ve never attempted to save anything for a sequel or set up anything for a sequel.
“One of the things I got such a thrill from on The Dark Knight was shooting on Imax and creating that massive scale and achieving that larger-than-life quality. So that’s a lot of fun.
“I’m drawn in both directions now. So maybe what I need to do next is a very intimate, small story that happens to be photographed on a ridiculously large scale. Or vice versa.”
Coming summer 2010: Chris Nolan presents Following II: Stalker On The Moon.
