9. Michael Mann
Bringing Batman further into the real world...
Limited CV: Public Enemies, Miami Vice, Collateral, Ali, Heat, The Last of the Mohicans The Dark Knight was in some ways almost a comic book remake of Heat a classic actioner Michael Mann had made over ten years earlier, even down to the films structure and dialogue. The Veteran action filmmaker would bring a sense of a real world aspect to Gotham like Nolan did, and his recent films Collateral and Miami Vice have both attempted to bring the audience into the universe he is creating, as if the camera was a character to the action also. He proved with 2004s nail-biting Collateral, that hes comfortable within the urbane city-streets setting and with his gangster movie Public Enemies, his recent foray into 1930s crime, (which is itself a huge aesthetic influence on the Batman mythology) its not a huge leap to imagine him channeling his combined experience of the two combining into a position at the head of the Batman reboot. His use of Viper FilmStream High-Definition Camera brings a visceral sense to his recent movies, in some ways matching what Nolan has used with IMAX. Can you imagine how cool a Batman movie would look with those cameras? He has just come off working with Bale on Public Enemies, he has a body of work in the crime/thriller genre that would match up to anyone. He is a directing pro but has struggled to get several film projects off the ground lately... maybe its time he got the big gig? Mann's Batman: Fly-on-the-wall, kinetic, realistic documentary style with few black & white characters.