It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
The music used to score this trailer is really an Inception score mash up. Zimmer apparently loves “Time” so much, he decided to mash it up with the whole “RISE” chant. Really trippy stuff and here’s hoping JGL is playing Dick Grayson. Nightwing needs to be in this movie and if he is, that will make me forget about… EIGHT YEARS!
I doubt he’s literally Grayson, but I expect him to be a bit of an amalgamation between Grayson and possibly Jean-Paul Valley. Given that all the storylines they’re drawing from for this involve someone else taking up the Bat mantle at some point, Id be very surprised if Levitt doesn’t don the suit at some point in the film
I don’t think that’s “Time” i think that’s actually a track from the score. And as far as the footage that we have been getting over the last month, it really highlights what level Nolan is on versus the rest of the
“blockbuster” directors. Loved The Avengers but this looks like a really good vintage and might end up making everything else look like Boones Farms.
It’s a “Time” mash-up. I know that track well enough, that I can hear it in this. Also, seriously, EIGHT YEARS is a very goofy plot point, and until I see that resolved on-screen, making any prediction about how awesome this film is going to be feels a tad bit ridiculous.
It looks as if they’re setting up Gordon-Levitt to take over for Wayne, akin to Batman Beyond.
But now I’m wondering if that’s all trailer headfake, and JGL becomes Batman at some point in the film, and is killed by Bane.
Their has to be a moment, after Batman is defeated and Bane puts him in that prison, where JGL is on his own.
Also, I’m trying to get the chronology of the cane in place. The original trailer leads us to believe it’s from the aftermath of fighting Bane, but further scenes actually make it out to be something before he arrives, because how the hell does he climb out of that prison with a gimp leg? So, it’s either an injury he suffered at the end of TDK, before TDKR, or it’s a fakeout, ala Don Blake/Thor.
Either way, this is the best trailer since the first two. The TV spots aren’t that great.
…and you can see someone in the BG when Bane/Batman are fighting on the aqueduct. I’m wondering if that’s Neeson. I can’t tell if he’s holding a sword/cane or a rifle.
If Nolan wants to make these as ‘real’ as possible, then Kane breaks Batman’s back. the end. You want verisimilitude? there you go. I’d like to see anyone at WB with balls that big.
Well, if we assume that this is actually the last Nolan Batman…
Js isn’t it more likely that a Zimmer track sounds like a Zimmer track… We’ll find out in a few weeks…but I know the track pretty well too.
I’ve already seen enough to know I can’t wait to see this one, so I’m just gonna avoid anything else til I’m in the theater. I peeked at my Christmas presents ONE TIME when I was a kid, and I never wanted to do it again.
It feels like The Dark Knight Rises has already been released months ago.
I enjoyed this, but still found the last “final” trailer to be more effective with the operatic build-up it had. Hate to echo some of LexG’s rants, but I have to say that by judging by these trailers, this film just doesn’t look as cinematic as the previous ones did by virtue of the fact that they are no longer shooting in Chicago – sorry but that city was made for superhero (think about that climax for Spiderman 2 that they shot on the L) and/or crime epics and Pittsburgh just does not have the same feel.
And I’m not bashing Pittsburgh – Wonder Boys is one of my favorite movies of the past 15 years and I can’t see it being filmed anywhere else. But guys like Chris Nolan and Michael Mann should just film ALL of their films moving forward in Chicago – yeah, I know Heat was filmed around LA and is a definitive LA movie, but still..
Filming around Chicago just makes a movie better by virtue of its visuals. It’s probably what made Transfomers last year even watchable, even when they were using Chicago locations to substitute for DC which was just BIZARRE. Wow talk about one of the biggest visual gaffes I can rememmber in recent films: I lived in DC for ten years then Chicago, you can’t find two American cities that look more different. But for some reason, they filmed one of the chases early in Transformers in metro Chicago though claimed the scene was outside DC – the bad-bots (whatever the hell they’re called) are chasing Shia and his bumblee car down the highway and you see a sign saying “I-88 – Aurora”
For a movie that cost $250 million, they couldn’t just digitally alter that to display a suburban highway outside of DC??? Definitely the biggest location gaffe I can think of since Die Hard 2 – remember the “Pacific Bell” phone that McClane uses in Dulles Airport?
Anyways, this still looks really good – it’s hard to not get jazzed about the cast since Hardy and Gordon-Levitt seem to bring it to every movie, nowadays. And I’m really digging what we have heard so far of Hans Zimmer’s ambient score.
Im on the JGL takes the mantle of the bat train. It makes so much sense when you look at Batman Begins. Al Ghuls line about becoming something bigger, an idea etc.
Ras Al Ghul was a title. A mantle for someone to fill representing a larger idea.
It ties all theee films together well. Batman realizes that Gotham will always need a protector and the mantle will need to be passed on.
Since I live here I also have to mention that Milwaukee was used to substitute for DC. Haven’t seen the movie yet but I want to just to see the spectacular Milwaukee Art Museum’s Calatrava addition on the big screen. I think it’s Dempsey’s office or something.
Its not just the pacific bell phone, I was suprised the first time I flew out of Dulles because the airport is nothing close to whereever they filmed Die Hard 2. You have to take these giant people mover trollies between security and the gates (which would be fun to incorporate into an action movie), there are certainly no tree lined mountain passes to jump your snowmobile over and the actual airport seems a bit smaller than what is depicted in the movie.
Not saying it hurts the film at all, but its just funny how much you take for granted that movies have some semblance of reality to them.
It’s like 80 percent of films always show characters walking around The Grove.
Die Hard 2’s “Dulles” was Denver International.
Nolan’s BATMAN movies would be better without Batman.
He goes to such EPIC TROUBLE to make a Michael Mann movie or a vintage James Bond “On Her Majesty’s” type deal, and it’s ruling and epic and intense and dour… then this caped jerkoff shows up and you’re like, “Man, I wish it was Vincent Hanna instead.”
I’m always surprised the audiences LOVE his take on the franchise so much, since TDK is essentially the “Miami Vice” movie everybody hated plus Bale donning the costume every 45 minutes.
I like BB and love TDK, but just saying surprised SO many people are that into it. Because everybody rags on Michael Bay for essentially trying to make TRANSFORMERS into his usual fetishes and taking it away from the aw-shucks silliness of their childhoods. That Bay is doing his car-porn military-fetish shit with it.
But Nolan does the same deal, doesn’t he? Turns Batman into a Law and Order episode/Collateral mashup?
But…Vincent Hanna died 15 years ago. Northern Irish television viewers miss him dearly.
LexG, you make a great point and I’m surprised so few catch on to it: Nolan has a MAJOR Bond fetish. For Inception, half of the score, JGL & DiCaprio’s look, the opening sequence, pretty much the extended action sequence in the third act were ALL seriously aping Bond movies from the ’60’s….part of what I loved about the movie and I couldn’t understand how all of these critics were calling it so “cold” when it was clear how much fun Nolan was having.
Same thing with these Batman movies though moreso with ‘Begins….I mean, the whole plot basically builds towards a very Bond-like McGuffin device with that vaporizing weapon. These films are as much Bond-homages as Mann-type crime epics: Lucius Fox is pretty much Q, Alfred is kind of M, and Gordon is Felix Lighter….except with MUCH better dead-on casting than any Bond movie ever made! I mean, can you imagine if the Broccolis were ever willing to pony up to get Michael Caine in a Bond movie?? It almost makes too much sense…
Now Batman in his cape and cowl fit into the first movie much more organically than the second one. With TDK, seeing the DA and police commissioner “consulting” with a big dude dressed as a bat with a gravelly voice on rooftops to discuss the freakin’ RICO act….it IS a bizarre mashup, no doubt. It’s to Nolan’s credit that he probably makes it gel as about as well as any director could.
And if you’re gonna be pining for Vincent Hanna, honestly…..was Pacino’s performance in Heat any subtler than Bale’s in these movies? I dug Pacino but the dude was more sedate in Dick Tracy!
Geoff – LexG, you make a great point and I’m surprised so few catch on to it: Nolan has a MAJOR Bond fetish.
Late to the dance. We broke down Nolan/Bond/Batman when TDK was in development. I’d even argue that meme started on these boards.
The only problem I really have with Nolan’s Batman, is the Gotham fixation. I get that it creates an easy plotline, but how is Wayne not aware he’s the target that draws the heatseekers to the city? I’m hoping they deal with that in TDKR, because it would serve as a good out.
…and when Nolan said he’d like to take on Bond when the timing is right, is he talking about Bale? I don’t know if it would be irony or vindication that the two guys who lost out on Casino Royale were now capable of a hostile takeover.
From 24 years ago:
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Justice_League_International_Vol_1_16
Need I say more?
(Though I will mention a very separate cartoon from the same time period where the Caped Crusader is playing cards. When asked his name he replies “Man, Bat Man.”)
“Well, if we assume that this is actually the last Nolan Batman…”
He’s been pretty adamant about this being his last one. He’s spent eight of the last ten years on the trilogy, clearly wants to move on to other, more challenging projects, plus he already has plenty of dough, so throwing more money at him is not likely to change his mind. I take him at his word.
I like the eight years thing. I like the grey hairs at the temple. I like the “I’m not scared. I’m angry”. The stupid lame money shot of a collapsing football field I don’t like, not really sure about catwoman, the batjet is very nightowlish, but I’m ready for Batman to to drop down on a punk and deliver a truckload of hurt.
Yeah the only thing that I dig from all of these trailers, is Catwoman. Anne Hathaway is that awesome, but everyone in that movie is saddled with EIGHT YEARS!
“Catwoman”…right. Looks like Batgirl to me.
Yeah, I went there.
Sam, I think you are dead right about that. I doubt it’s true, but the way everything I’ve seen so far looks, SHE is the Robin.
I agree the most surprising thing to me is not only is he adapting No Man’s Land and Knightfall but he’s going for the home run and taking in The Dark Knight Returns. That had a female Robin and Catwoman is the substitute. I really like Gordon-Levitt as actor but if his character wears the suit or they pass along the “Batman” torch then that will be an EPIC failure. It would such a big mistake and all the more shocking since Nolan has been very careful not to make those with these movies. His decision to film Batman in the daylight is an example of a mistake he has not made before.
Also pretty sure Bruce with a cane is before the beating from Bane. From the trailers we pretty much know the beats of the film. This is all info from the trailers so i don’t think it is a spoiler. Wayne is broken down from a decade of being Batman, he and Gordon have pacified the city (“it’s peace time”), Bane comes along and starts wrecking shit, Catwoman (villain) is working with Bane and betrays Batman, Batman is defeated and imprisoned, he escapes (the shot of him climbing out in the first teaser is a visual reference to Bruce falling into the cave as a child in BB), Bane controls the city (here’s where No Man’s land comes in), hope is lost (Gordon in hospital begging for Batma’s return….”wonder if he doesn’t exist anymore” “he must”), the Dark Knight Rises/Returns to confront Bane with Robin/Catwoman. Should be an epic conclusion with that outline for a movie. Nolan has set himself up for greatness. Please don’t let them fuck it up by having another character be Batman.
I thought resorting to multiple villains in a Batman movie was a sign of creative desperation, but shoehorning in fragments of different storylines is no better. And even if they do reference Frank Miller’s work, without the Joker, Two-Face, and Superman, all they can do is the fight with the Mutant leader (replaced here by Bane), and copy the look and feel of the miniseries: Alfred dies, Wayne Manor implodes, Batman dies…sorta…and a female Robin leads a group of former gang members who defend Gotham in Batman’s stead. What a way to end a franchise.
(You’ve had 26 years to read the damn thing, so don’t whine about spoilers now.)
I’d still like to see a movie exposing Superman as the spearhead of American power (Miller beat Alan Moore by a mere 7 months).