Home > Blogs > Sir Critic on Cinema > Archives > 2008 > June > 25
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Can ‘The Dark Knight’ come out NOW, please?
Now that I’ve seen WALL-E, a new film has to take its place as the movie I’m most looking forward to seeing this year.
That would be The Dark Knight.
I was already primed to see the movie, but this interview director Christopher Nolan gave to Wired magazine made me feel like a starving animal.
The interview emphasizes how Nolan eschews digital effects for practical ones, and how he shot parts of it with IMAX cameras. Most feature that play on IMAX screens are digital blow-ups of a 35-millimeter negative, but since Nolan used actual IMAX cameras, those scenes will have extra kick.
Key quotes:
“Anything you notice as technology reminds you that you’re in a movie theater,” Nolan explains. “Even if you’re trying to portray something fantastical and otherworldly, it’s always about trying to achieve invisible manipulation.” Especially, he adds, with Batman, “the most real of all the superheroes, who has no superpowers.”
(Christian) Bale definitely caught Nolan’s naturalism bug: When he heard that his stunt double, Buster Reeves, was prepping for an aerial shot atop the Sears Tower, he pulled rank. “I said to Buster, ‘No you’re not. You get to do a lot of fantastic stunts. You’re not taking that one away from me.’”
“So we got an Imax shot of Christian Bale as Batman standing on top of the Sears Tower,” (cinematographer Wally) Pfister says. “Here we are with our principal actor standing on the edge of one of the tallest buildings in the world. I think a lot of people will assume that’s CGI.”
“I don’t know what this thing is, exactly,” [Nolan] says, “but I know it’s what I wanted.” He pauses. “Be careful what you wish for!”
OK, Chris, but I’m still wishing for July 18 to get here really fast.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Coming Attractions
