The Dark Knight Rises

Production

Development

"The key thing that makes the third film a great possibility for us is that we want to finish our story [...] rather than infinitely blowing up the balloon and expanding the story [...] Unlike the comics, these things don't go on forever in film and viewing it as a story with an end is useful. Viewing it as an ending, that sets you very much on the right track about the appropriate conclusion."

Christopher Nolan, confirming his involvement in The Dark Knight Rises.[54]

In 2005, David S. Goyer confirmed that he wrote treatments for two Batman Begins sequels involving the Joker; the first would involve Batman, Harvey Dent and Commissioner Gordon hunting the Joker, while the second would have the Joker scarring Dent and turning him into Two-Face during his trial. The third treatment ended in the same way as the final version of The Dark Knight Rises.[55] Other aspects of the third treatment were incorporated into The Dark Knight.[56] However, Heath Ledger's family stated that he was planning on reprising his role as the Joker before his death,[57] a notion supported by Ledger's co-star Aaron Eckhart, who portrayed Two-Face in that film.[52] A deleted subplot from The Dark Knight involved Michael Jai White's Gambol surviving his encounter with the Joker to enable Jai White's character to return in a future film to try to take Gotham City over, but these plans were scrapped after Ledger's death and the film was edited to delete Gambol's subplot and have him killed off in the scene where the Joker originally simply mutilated him.[58] After Ledger's death, Christopher Nolan decided not to recast the role out of respect for his performance, and was initially hesitant to make a third film.[59]

Warner Bros. president of production Jeff Robinov had hoped a third film would be released in 2011 or 2012.[60] Nolan wanted the story for the third installment to keep him emotionally invested. "On a more superficial level, I have to ask the question," he reasoned, "how many good third movies in a franchise can people name?"[61] Nolan said that he never even thought a third film was possible in the foreword for his book The Art and Making of the Dark Knight Trilogy.[62] Nolan only agreed to a third film on the basis of finding a worthwhile story, fearing that he would become bored halfway through production if he discovered the film to be unnecessary.[63] By December 2008, Nolan completed a rough story outline, before he committed himself to Inception.[64] Later in December, Alan F. Horn confirmed that while discussions with Nolan about a third film were ongoing, no casting had been done, and Horn denied all such rumors.[65] Before Nolan confirmed his involvement, Gary Oldman had said he was confident Nolan would return.[66]

Following the success of the Joker in The Dark Knight, studio executives wished for the Riddler to be included as the primary villain as he was considered a similar character and encouraged the casting of Leonardo DiCaprio.[67] However, Nolan wanted the antagonist to be vastly different from the previous incarnations and committed to using Bane instead,[67] citing the need for a character with a physical presence within the film.[68] He was initially unfamiliar with the character's backstory,[22] but pointed out the appeal of an archetype, labeling it as "the extreme of some type of villainy". When comparing the choice of Bane with the Joker, Nolan highlighted the Joker as an example of "diabolical, chaotic anarchy and has a devilish sense of humor", juxtaposing him against Bane, whom he likened to "a classic movie monster [...] with a terrific brain."[68] Nolan has said that his draft of the script was inspired by Charles Dickens' 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities, which centers around the French Revolution.[69][70][71] This homage to Dickens was briefly illustrated by having Bane inconspicuously finger knit paracord in the film, symbolizing Madame Defarge, the villain of A Tale of Two Cities, and more overtly by Commissioner Gordon's eulogy for Bruce Wayne, which is taken directly from Dickens' novel.[69]

On February 9, 2010, it was announced that Nolan had "cracked" the story and was committed to returning to the project.[72] Shortly afterward, it was announced David S. Goyer and Jonathan Nolan were working on a screenplay.[73] Goyer would leave the project during pre-production to begin work on Man of Steel; Jonathan continued writing the script based on the story by his brother Chris and Goyer.[13] Nolan said that his brother's original draft was about 400 pages.[74] The film's storyline has been compared with the Batman comic book series' story arc "Knightfall" (1993), which showcases Bane; the miniseries The Dark Knight Returns (1986), in which Batman returns to Gotham City after a ten-year absence; and the story arc "No Man's Land" (1999), which depicts a Gotham cut off from the rest of the world and overrun by gangs.[75][76] The nickname "the Dark Knight" was first applied to Batman in Batman #1 (1940), in a story written by Bill Finger.[77][78]

Nolan confirmed the Joker would not return in the third film, and dismissed rumors that he considered using unused footage of Ledger from The Dark Knight.[79] The Dark Knight Rises reunited Nolan with many of his past collaborators, including cinematographer Wally Pfister, production designer Nathan Crowley, editor Lee Smith, costume designer Lindy Hemming, special effects supervisors Paul Franklin and Chris Corbould, and composer Hans Zimmer.[80]

Filming

A Tumbler on the set of The Dark Knight Rises in Pittsburgh

During location scouting in December 2010, Nolan began searching for locations such as India, Romania, and Michigan.[81][82][83] According to the Romania Insider, Nolan was interested in Bucharest's historical centers, Edgar Quinet Street, the Palace of the Parliament, and the Turda salt mine.[81] The film had an estimated budget of $250–300 million, coming down to about $230 million after tax credits.[3] Nolan elected not to film in 3-D, but instead stated that he intended to focus on improving image quality and scale using the IMAX format.[84] The Dark Knight Rises featured over an hour of footage shot in IMAX (by comparison, The Dark Knight contained 28 minutes).[85][86] Nolan had several meetings with IMAX Vice-president David Keighley to work on the logistics of projecting films in digital IMAX venues.[86]

Wally Pfister had expressed interest in shooting the film entirely in IMAX,[87] but because of the considerable noise made by IMAX cameras, 35 mm and 70 mm cameras had to be used for shooting the film's dialogue scenes,[86][88] as dialogue had to be dubbed when shot with IMAX cameras.[89] Chairman and president of the IMAX Corporation Greg Foster stated that IMAX planned to run the film in its theatres for two months, despite only being contractually committed to run the film for two weeks.[90] Nolan also bypassed the use of a digital intermediate for the film, resulting in less manipulation of the filmed image and higher film resolution.[91]

Filming was scheduled to start in May and conclude in November 2011.[92] Principal photography commenced on May 6, 2011, in Jodhpur, India, at the Mehrangarh Fort[93][94][95] before moving to Pittsburgh, where it operated under the working title Magnus Rex to reduce the visibility of the production.[96][97] Shooting locations within the city included Heinz Field, the site of an American football game,[98] with members of the Pittsburgh Steelers playing the Gotham Rogues football team. More than 11,000 extras were used to depict the shot sequence.[8][48][49] Filming in Pittsburgh also took place at the Mellon Institute and Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.[97] A letter sent out to residents and business owners detailing road closures revealed that the streets of the city would be featured "as the start of [the] film".[99] 9-1-1 operators were told to expect an increase in calls related to gunshots and explosions in the film's production.[100]

The Pittsburgh leg of production wrapped after three weeks on August 21, 2011.[101] The next portion of the filming began in Los Angeles in late August and finished up on October 23 after nine weeks of filming. New York and New Jersey were the next places of filming. The Trump Tower replaced the Richard J. Daley Center as the location for the headquarters of Wayne Enterprises.[102] In November 2011, shooting shifted to Newark, New Jersey.[103][104] Newark City Hall and Military Park were among the locations used for filming.[105] Other shooting locations include London and Glasgow, the latter of which was used for "additional exterior filming".[106] Principal photography concluded on November 14, 2011.[107] The external waterfall scene at the end of the film was shot at Sgwd Henrhyd falls, on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales.[108]

Production photos from filming in Pittsburgh showed a second Tumbler chassis after the first was destroyed, indicating that a new Batmobile would be in the film, following the destruction of the first in The Dark Knight.[109] Further set photos revealed a "new vehicle" being transported to Wabash Tunnel, prompting speculation as to its nature.[110] In June 2011, Autoblog confirmed the presence of the new Lamborghini Aventador on the film set.[111]

Wollaton Hall in Nottingham was used as Wayne Manor, Bruce Wayne's residence.

Several accidents occurred during the production of the film. While filming at Wollaton Hall, Nottingham, a tractor-trailer crashed into the main entrance, though no one was injured.[112] A stuntman parachutist later crashed through the roof of a home in Cairngorm Gliding Club, Feshiebridge in Scotland, and became wedged there after a failed landing during a skydiving stunt; he was not seriously injured.[113] While filming scenes in Pittsburgh, Hathaway's stunt double crashed into an IMAX camera while filming a sequence that required her to ride a Batpod down a flight of stairs during a riot. There were no injuries, but the camera was destroyed.[114] A second accident took place in Pittsburgh when the truck carrying the then-unidentified vehicle later termed "the Bat" went off-course and crashed into a lighting array, damaging the model of the aircraft. Production was delayed while the model was repaired.[115]

Shortly before Christmas of 2011, Christopher Nolan invited several prominent directors, including Edgar Wright, Michael Bay, Bryan Singer, Jon Favreau, Eli Roth, Duncan Jones and Stephen Daldry, to Universal CityWalk's IMAX theatre for a private screening of the first six minutes of The Dark Knight Rises, which had been shot on IMAX film and edited from the original camera negative. Nolan, feeling that the use of film stock in cinema was being phased out due to the introduction of digital cinematography and projection, used this screening to make a case for the continued use of film, which he asserts still offers superior image quality to any digital format, and warned the filmmakers that unless they continued to assert their choice to use film in their productions, they may eventually lose it as an option.[116][117] Nolan explained; "I wanted to give them a chance to see the potential, because I think IMAX is the best film format that was ever invented. It's the gold standard and what any other technology has to match up to, but none have, in my opinion. The message I wanted to put out there was that no one is taking anyone's digital cameras away. But if we want film to continue as an option, and someone is working on a big studio movie with the resources and the power to insist [on] film, they should say so. I felt as if I didn't say anything, and then we started to lose that option, it would be a shame. When I look at a digitally acquired and projected image, it looks inferior against an original negative anamorphic print or an IMAX one."[116]

Design

Costume design

A digitally mapped model of Tom Hardy's face and skull was used to design and construct Bane's mask.

Costume designer Lindy Hemming explained that Bane uses a mask to inhale an analgesic gas, which, in director Christopher Nolan's words, "keeps his pain just below the threshold so he can function." In designing Bane's costume, Hemming needed it to look "like an amalgam of all sorts of bits and pieces he cobbled together, as he passed through some very remote places. We made parts of his vest, for example, from fragments of an old military tent. His clothes are militaristic, but are not in any way a uniform." Hemming also designed Bane's mask to look "animalistic".[8][118][119] Costume effects supervisor Graham Churchyard created a three-dimensional model of actor Tom Hardy's face and skull to design the mask, allowing the mask to perfectly conform to the contours of Hardy's face.[8] Hemming personally designed Bane's coat, which took two years to complete. Taking inspiration from a Swedish army jacket and a frock coat from the French Revolution, it was designed to make Bane look equal parts dictatorial and revolutionary.[8] The design was difficult as Hemming struggled to find a tailor in Los Angeles who could work with shearling.[120]

The Batsuit consisted of 110 separate pieces, each of which had to be replicated dozens of times over the course of the production. The base layer was made of a polyester mesh that is utilized by the military and high-tech sports manufacturers because of its breathability and moisture-wicking properties. Molded pieces of flexible urethane were then attached to the mesh, to form the overall body armor plating. Carbon fiber panels were placed inside the sections on the legs, chest and abdomen. The cowl was sculpted from a cast of Bale's face and head to become a perfect fit for Christian Bale. The suit remained unchanged for the film since The Dark Knight.[8]

In creating Selina Kyle's catsuit, two layers of material were used, the outer layer being polyurethane-coated spandex embossed with a hexagonal pattern. The catsuit also consisted of elbow-length gloves, a utility belt, and thigh-high boots with spike heels.[8]

Production design

Concept artist Tully Summers commented on Nolan's style of cinematography when asked about the difference between his designs for this film and fantasy-based designs for Men in Black 3: "The difference for me was Christopher Nolan's visual style. One of the things that makes his Batman movies so compelling is their tone of plausibility. He will often prefer a raw, grittier design over one that is very sleek and product design pretty. It's sort of a practical military aesthetic. This stuff is made to work, not impress shoppers. The Dark Knight Rises is a war film." Producer Emma Thomas stated this Batman film has a different visual aesthetic from the first two Nolan-directed features, explaining that "it's meant to be winter in Gotham, so that right there is going to lend a whole different look to the film."[121]

The film introduces a vehicle that has been compared with the Batplane and the Batcopter, dubbed "the Bat". In designing the Bat, Nathan Crowley approached it as if it were an actual military project, emphasising the need for it to "fit into the same family" as the Tumbler and the Batpod. The final version of the Bat takes its design cues from the Harrier jump jet, Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey and the Boeing AH-64 Apache.[8] Chris Corbould described the Bat's size and shape as presenting a major challenge for filming given Christopher Nolan's emphasis on practical effects over computer-generated imagery. In order to make the Bat "fly", it was variously supported by wires, suspended from cranes and helicopters, and mounted on a purpose-built vehicle with hydraulic controls to simulate movement.[8][122][123]

When designing the Batcave set, Crowley and fellow production designer Kevin Kavanaugh hit upon the idea of flooding the Batcave and having Batman's equipment, the Batsuit and a supercomputer rise from the water.[8] Another set was designed at Cardington as an "underground prison", a rough-hewn labyrinth of stone cells in a vast abyss with a 120 foot (37 m) vertical shaft leading to the surface. Exteriors above the prison were filmed in Jodhpur, India, chosen because the "forbidding landscape added to the desolation".[8]


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