THE DARK KNIGHT RISES Director Chris Nolan Talks Bane & 8 Year Time Jump

Reveals why he chose Bane as the villain of his last Batman movie!

By Matt Holmes /

Chris Nolan always gives Geoff Boucher at the L.A. Times the very best in-depth interviews for his movies and the latest piece posted online last night is no exception. Nolan talks a great deal about the vastly approaching The Dark Knight Rises prologue (in theatres from Friday along with the full-length trailer), shooting the film on IMAX, saying goodbye to the Batman franchise and much more. Here's two excerpts that I found the most interesting. The first, why Nolan decided to use Bane as the villain of his last Batman movie;
€œWith Bane, the physicality is the thing,€ Nolan said. €œWith a good villain you need an archetype, you know, you need the extreme of some type of villainy. The Joker is obviously a particular archetype of diabolical, chaotic anarchy and has a devilish sense of humor. Bane, to me, is something we haven€™t dealt with in the films. We wanted to do something very different in this film. He€™s a primarily physical villain, he€™s a classic movie monster in a way €” but with a terrific brain. I think he€™s a fascinating character. I think people are going to get a kick out of what we€™ve done with him.€
Nolan also spoke about the huge time-jump between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. As we already know, there is going to be an eight year gap between the events of the last movie and it's sequel and Nolan tells us where that idea came about;
"It will make a lot more sense to people when they see the film," Nolan explains. "But it's not a great mystery €” it's the jumping-off point for the film €” but it's hard for me to articulate it. I think the mood at the beginning of the film will make a lot of sense. If I had to express it thematically, I think what we're saying is that for Batman and Commissioner Gordon, there's a big sacrifice, a big compromise, at the end of the 'The Dark Knight' and for that to mean something, that sacrifice has to work and Gotham has to get better in a sense. They have to achieve something for the ending of that film €” and the feeling at the end of that film €” to have validity. Their sacrifice has to have meaning and it takes time to establish that and to show that, and that€™s the primary reason we did that. It's a time period that is not so far ahead that we would have to do crazy makeup or anything €” which I think would be distracting €” but it gave them something to get their teeth into, particularly Christian in terms of this guy who has been frozen in this moment in time with nowhere to go. He really has done an incredible job figuring out how to characterize that and express that."
Meanwhile, The Surrey Comment (via Batman on Film) are reporting that young actress Leliah De Meza turned down the role of 'Young Talia Al Ghul' in the film because it was a part that required her to shave her head. Joey King was instead cast in the part. What this means for The Dark Knight Rises... well, I think you guys know what I'm talking about by now. We've guessed it since the day she was cast. The Dark Knight Rises opens July 20th, 2012.