As we saw with the magazine covers over the weekend, Empire’s new issue includes a feature story about the upcoming “The Dark Knight Rises”. Now, several scans of the photos inside have gone online (via SHH) while a few potential spoiler facts given by director Chris Nolan himself in the article have emerged via Empire’s website.
—- SPOILERS AHEAD —-
The biggest surprise from the piece is the time setting of ‘Rises’. While a few months passed between “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight”, the gap between that second and this third film will be longer… a lot longer.
“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” says Nolan who adds that this film is “really all about finishing Batman and Bruce Wayne’s story”.
With Batman not fighting fit, Bane was to be used as the villain for the physical threat he presents – “With Bane, we’re looking to give Batman a challenge he hasn’t had before. With our choice of villain and with our choice of story we’re testing Batman both physically as well as mentally” says Nolan. He confirms the prologue in IMAX cinemas next month will serve as “an introduction to Bane, and a taste of the rest of the film”.
Costume designer Lindy Hemming gives a hint of that threat when asked to talk about his mask – “He was injured early in his story. He’s suffering from pain and needs gas to survive. He can’t survive the pain without the mask. The pipes from the mask go back along his jawline and feed into the thing at his back, where there are two cannisters.” So instead of Venom making him into a ridiculous mutated wrestler, we have a mercenary under the influence of a drug that makes him practically impervious to pain?
Don’t expect him to be a wimp though, actor Tom Hardy says this guy wouldn’t be above pulling some manuevers you’d expect to only see in horror films – “He’s brutal. Brutal. He’s a big dude who’s incredibly clinical, in the fact that he has a result-based and oriented fighting style. It’s not about fighting. It’s about carnage. The style is heavy-handed, heavy-footed, it’s nasty. Anything from small-joint manipulation to crushing skulls, crushing rib cages, stamping on shins and knees and necks and collarbones and snapping heads off and tearing his fists through chests, ripping out spinal columns. He is a terrorist in mentality as well as brutal action.”
For the new photos, click the photo below:
About The Critic
