Concept artist says ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is a war film

Cine Web Radio interviewed The Dark Knight Rises concept artist Tully Summers about his experience working on the movie. The interview is in French, but I’ve got a translated version below thanks to Comic Book Movie.

Summers did concept art for Men in Black III and was asked about going from that, to a more realistic movie like The Dark Knight Rises:

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.

Summers worked on concept art for Catwoman and Bane, and was asked about all the fan photos that were posted online last summer:

Films like Batman are meticulously planned. Every shot is storyboarded, framed, lighted and choreographed to camera. Any photos taken that are not from the intended camera are out of context. In a sense it’s like judging Sesame Street or the Muppets from a set photo: “That’s ridiculous! There’s a whole guy hanging out that character!” Christopher Nolan is a consummate filmmaker. Consider his body of work and his first 2 Batman movies. I don’t think fans will be disappointed.

We’ve seen evidence of a possible “war” between Gotham inmates and the police in The Dark Knight Rises trailer #2. Just how much havoc will Bane bring to Gotham City? We’ll find out this summer!

SOURCE: Cine Web Radio [via Comic Book Movie]

‘The Dark Knight Rises’ miniatures revealed, but why does Catwoman have a gun?

Jakks Pacific revealed their line of The Dark Knight Rises miniatures this week at the NYC Toy Fair. The miniatures will be available this summer, and Jakks has plans for larger figures too.

However, the main purpose of this article was to focus on Catwoman. We’ve yet to see any photos of Catwoman with her iconic whip, but it looks like she will have a weapon after all… a gun. It’s unclear if this is a deadly pistol, or just some type of stun gun, but it looks like Catwoman will be packing heat in The Dark Knight Rises. Check out one more photo of the gun-toting Catwoman miniature after the break, and leave your thoughts about Catwoman’s weapon in the comments below.

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Producer Emma Thomas on ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, Bane, and Catwoman

The Dark Knight Rises producer Emma Thomas talked with Total Film recently about Christopher Nolan’s final Batman movie. Thomas commented on Tom Hardy as Bane, and Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. Here are some excerpts from the interview:

Tom [Hardy] made a massive physical transformation for the role… It really is an intense performance. He finally feels like a match for Batman – both physically and mentally.

Christian Bale and Tom Hardy are both such fiercely committed actors that pitching them as adversaries works incredibly well – they have such a great chemistry on camera.

[Anne Hathaway's Catwoman] is completely new and it’s a really interesting role. You never quite know where you are with her.

You can catch more of Total Film’s interview with Emma Thomas when the magazine goes on sale tomorrow. Anyone else interested to see what Nolan has in store for us with his “completely new” version of Catwoman?

SOURCE: Total Film

‘The Dark Knight Rises’ food truck shows off cool promo art

The New York Toy Fair is this week, and Warner Bros. has a The Dark Knight Rises food truck in NYC as part of its promotion. The truck is wrapped with awesome promo art that shows off Batman and “The Bat” over looking Gotham City. Superhero Hype reports that the truck is serving free breakfast and lunch to Toy Fair attendees…so if you happen to be in NYC with a Toy Fair pass, check out The Dark Knight Rises’ food truck! I’ve uploaded a high resolution version in the gallery below.

VIEW MORE PHOTOS IN THE GALLERY

SOURCE: Superhero Hype

Tom Hardy on ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, working with Christian Bale (video)

Tom Hardy was on The Jonathan Ross Show this past weekend and talked about his experience working on The Dark Knight Rises. Ross asked Hardy to explain why Bane needs to wear the mask, but of course, Hardy refused to answer. Hardy went on to explain the first time he met Christian Bale, and how intimidating he looked in the Batsuit. It’s a fun interview, check it out!

Closer look at “The Bat” from Mattel’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ toy line (video)

Last week we got a good look at upcoming toys from The Dark Knight Rises, including some by Mattel. Time to Play caught up with Mattel at the Toy Fair and showed off “The Bat”, Batman’s new hovercraft vehicle in The Dark Knight Rises. The toy includes an ejection seat in case Batman needs to make a quick exit. I wonder if we’ll see Batman flying out of “The Bat” in the actual movie?

Gary Oldman describes emotional scene from ‘The Dark Knight Rises’

Collider caught up with Gary Oldman at his 3-day, 7-film retrospective at New York’s Landmark Sunshine Cinema. During the Q&A portion, Oldman talked about The Dark Knight Rises, and described one of his favorite scenes. Don’t worry, he doesn’t give away any major details.

He gave up details on a key scene in The Dark Knight Rises: “There’s an emotional scene coming up in the next Batman, which I am obviously, absolutely sworn to secrecy about… They would kill me.  Well, I’d do the press junket and then they’d kill me.”  He said, “Watching Michael Caine work, as Alfred, was a great lesson for me.  Just focus, concentration.  He has this emotional scene.  I’m kidding you not.  It was tears and the whole thing.  And it’s ‘Take 1.’  (Oldman snaps his fingers) He got it.  ‘Take 2′ (snaps his fingers again), Got it.  Take 3 (snaps his fingers) Got it.  He’s just on the money.  Every single time.

Could this be the scene from The Dark Knight Rises that we saw in trailer #2? “You are as precious to me as you were to your own mother and father. I swore to them that I would protect you…and I haven’t.” It seems like that will definitely be an emotional scene between Alfred and Bruce. If you’re a Gary Oldman fan, check out the full Q&A at the source link below.

SOURCE: Collider