20 Things You Didn't Know About The Dark Knight Rises
Celebrating Christopher Nolan's epic threequel.
Between Christopher Nolan's new movie Tenet aiming to be one of the first films to release when cinemas re-open, the surge of people buying Bane masks right now, and the fact that Robert Pattinson's The Batman is currently mid-production, it's quite the time to reflect upon one of Nolan's most epic undertakings to date - The Dark Knight Rises.
Released in July 2012 to incredible fan anticipation, the superhero threequel had the tough task of following up the most acclaimed superhero movie of all time, The Dark Knight, and despite some criticisms directed towards its scattershot narrative, the trilogy-capper was largely praised by fans and critics.
Eight years on, it remains a thunderously entertaining, technically splendid offering, albeit one which has perhaps never quite escaped the shadow of its endlessly dissected, impossibly iconic predecessor.
And so, poring over a ton of behind-the-scenes tidbits from its massive production, from actors almost cast in the movie to a certain honour the film shares with Batman & Robin, these are the 20 factoids you absolutely need to know...
20. Christopher Nolan Was Extremely Reluctant To Return For A Third Movie
After the astronomical success of The Dark Knight, Warner Bros. were eager for director Christopher Nolan to return with a sequel as soon as possible, though he was initially intensely reluctant to helm a third film in the series - hence the four-year wait.
Nolan famously said in an interview, "On a more superficial level, I have to ask the question, how many good third movies in a franchise can people name?"
Worried that he would agree to a third film only to become bored during production, Nolan only accepted the gig after first coming up with a story he considered worthwhile.
The basic plot outline was set by 2009 before Nolan went off to shoot Inception, but wasn't actually translated into a completed script until much later.