Story key to Nolan's return for BATMAN 3

In the first part of a three arc interview with the Los Angeles Times, Brit director Christopher Nolan begs the question, "How many good third movies in a franchise can people name?". It's a solid question and his perfect legacy so far with the character is something he wants to keep in tact, whether that means stopping now with the franchise or making sure if he was to do another movie... it's a story that will keep him interested for over two years to tell. You can certainly see why history is against him. THE DARK KNIGHT was compared to THE GODFATHER PART II or THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Neither of those franchises recovered from how good those movies were and when you watch THE DARK KNIGHT... they threw all the eggs into that basket right there. How can anyone top or improve that, can it be done? Nolan clearly wasn't thinking about the future. He was out to make the best film possible and that's probably why he succeeded where so many have failed. on the second throw of the dice. He thought big and delivered big. One of the biggest films of all time. Nolan, who has been quite quiet since it's July release, said of the future...

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. That seems improbable to some people because, particularly with "Batman Begins," the film ended with a particular hook . But for me that was just about the excitement of people leaving the theater with the sense that now we have the character up and running. I wanted people to walk away with that sense in their head. You know, that he€™s become the Batman in the movie. That€™s why we had the title come up at the end, because it was "Batman Begins," and it was all very specific to that.

Then I got excited about seeing where that character would go. It was planned in advance, but it followed in that way. But we tried our hardest to really do everything in this movie that we would want to see the Joker do and to get that in the fabric of the story as much as possible. We wanted the Joker€™s final taunt to Batman to be that they are locked in an ongoing struggle because of Batman€™s rules. There€™s a paradox there. Batman won€™t kill. And the Joker is not interested in completely defeating Batman because he€™s fascinated by him and he enjoys sparring with him. It€™s trapped both of them. That was really the meaning of it. Of course what happened is Heath created the most extraordinary character that you would love to see 10 movies about. That€™s the bittersweet thing. It was incredible characterization. It is a bittersweet thing for all of us.

Nolan continues, saying he loved shooting on IMax...

After "Batman Begins," I certainly felt like taking on something smaller, but 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

Then the quote you have been waiting for. Will Nolan direct BATMAN 3...

There are two things to be said. One is the emphasis on story. What€™s the story? 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? At the same time, in taking on the second one, we had the challenge of trying to make a great second movie, and there haven't been too many of those either. It€™s all about the story really. If the story is there, everything is possible. I hope that was a suitably slippery answer.

Story is the key then. I'm not sure how much Chris, David Goyer and Jonathan Nolan had planned for a third movie because clearly after THE DARK KNIGHT, sequels weren't the highest priority for how they left things. However from what I understand, Jonathan Nolan is the real Batman fan of the family and he is itching to get to work on another movie with these characters. I'm convinced he could come up with a story and situation that would get his brother interested in finishing off his version of the franchise in spectacular style. Look out for the rest of the interview in the L.A. Times as it gets posted. It should be pretty interesting.