You have to hand it to Christopher Nolan. Where other directors of blockbuster films only have to open their mouths for the controversy to come spilling out, the Dark Knight director has kept shtoom about his upcoming projects. Amid a barrage of press speculation over when a follow-up to the fourth highest-grossing film of all time will finally hit cinemas, and who will be the main villain (more of that later), the British film-maker has said nothing. And the same has been true of the build-up to the movie he's currently working on, Inception.
When it was announced, all we knew was that Leonardo DiCaprio was the star and that it was being touted as a sci-fi action movie "set within the architecture of the mind". The first teaser-trailer hit the web this week, and unsurprisingly, it tells us little more. Given that the film doesn't arrive in cinemas until July next year, that's probably sensible, but still frustrating.
The trailer features DiCaprio blinking a great deal in apparent confusion, a healthy dose of hurtling torsos. Then there's the line: "Your mind is the scene of the crime". Put it all together and we can assume the film might have something to do with alternative inner-realities that DiCaprio's character can learn to control, but frankly, who knows? I'm delighted to hear that Nolan has brought back Dark Knight composer Hans Zimmer and the supporting cast includes: Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy and Tom Berenger.
The high-profile cast suggests this may not be a Memento-style brainteaser focused entirely on DiCaprio's character, although you wouldn't put it past Nolan to limit the supporting actors' screen time. Poor Murphy only appeared for about 30 seconds in The Dark Knight, after all, despite being one of the stand-outs of Batman Begins.
From the limited footage available, the film does have a slight Matrix feel to it. Let's hope that Nolan isn't embarking on a Darren Aronofsky-style grand folly, just when he's got all the Warner Bros suits in his pocket.
Elsewhere this week, Ain't It Cool News reports that Nolan is set to film Batman 3 with the IMAX camera system that was used in parts of The Dark Knight, including the opening bank robbery scene. Lead geek Harry Knowles breaks the news in whispered awe.
"I have to say upfront that the nature of this story is a rumour, not because I don't have solid sources, I do … but because it could simply NOT WORK OUT," he writes. "That happens sometimes. It is something that the production team are 'considering' - but it is an extremely costly process. Nolan blew us away with the IMAX sequences in that film - but it was a very tough process to work in."
Knowles suggests Nolan may have shot Inception first in order to bide his time until more IMAX cameras were available. So far, the expensive technology has been limited to key scenes on large-scale productions such as The Dark Knight and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and there has never been a film shot entirely using the system. The third part of Nolan's Batman saga, which would be sure to command enormous box office takings, may be the only movie for which studio executives would be willing to provide the necessary budget.
Finally this week, Gordon Smart at the Sun is at it again. Not content with suggesting the unlikely candidate of Eddie Murphy as the next Riddler in Batman 3, yesterday he reported that Megan Fox would be donning Selina Kyle's slinky PVC outfit to play Catwoman in Nolan's follow-up to The Dark Knight. This now means that, according to various tabloid sources, the candidates to play the character are: Cher, Miley Cyrus and Megan Fox.
If any of them makes it into the film, I hereby promise to attend the first screening of Batman 3 in my own, custom-made, catsuit.
Is Inception going to be a groundbreaking masterpiece, or The Fountain Part 2? Do you want to see Batman 3 in full IMAX? And is Megan Fox really going to be Nolan's Catwoman? Answers below.
