Corona | Coming Attractions

Another viral jigsaw piece for The Dark Knight Rises appeared today on Empire's website. This is a one-page transcript between an unidentified individual and a "militia" talking about someone wanting to come to America. The name "Dr. Pavel" is mentioned. As was the case with the Wired document, it's supposed to be taken from the CIA's library.

Empire magazine's January issue sports two covers, both showcasing The Dark Knight Rises. Inside there's an on-set report as well as new photos showing Batman and his adversary Bane, as well as exclusive quotes from director Christopher Nolan that reveal previously not known facts about TDKR's storyline (like this one which we're covering with inviso-spoilers:)

More secrets can be learned inside the magazine, now on newsstands.

The first reveal of the full costume for Anne Hathaway's Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises has finally been scored by paparazzi. Five photos show Hathaway on the set of Rises wearing the skin-tight costume -- and it's got cat ears.

See the set here (contains potential spoiler imagery.)

Has the interior of a new Batcave been revealed to us?

Unconfirmed reports have surfaced that the interior of a redesigned Batcave will be seen in The Dark Knight Rises and that it will resemble the look of a salt mine in Romania.

The place in question is called the Turda Salt Mines, and as the photo on the left suggests, they look pretty spectacular. The mines use bright, unconventional lighting in one of the circular chambers. This is supposedly the spot being modeled after for the new Batcave, and the story is that some filming was done here recently. A replica of the Turda location was then built on a set in Los Angeles where additional filming will take place.

We checked with Batman on Film, our go-to source for insider Batman movie info. The site states that the Batcave will be seen in TDKR but they avoided mentioning whether it will resemble the look of the Turda mines. That's interesting.

The first trailer for The Dark Knight Rises has finally been released by the studio.

A very interesting discovery was made by HitFix and opens the door to an array of possibility for what kind of directions the storyline for The Dark Knight Rises could take. A source told the website that Liam Neeson was on the London set of the movie three days ago, on Monday, to film a scene.

Neeson played Ra's al Ghul in Nolan's first Batman picture, Batman Begins. Spoiler alert up!

The first image of a muscled Tom Hardy playing Bane in The Dark Knight Rises has been discovered as part of the movie's viral marketing campaign.

On the film's official website at www.thedarkknightrises.com, the background sound of people chanting could be heard. One curious fan decided to run the audio through a digital processor, and when they did, they discovered a Twitter hashtag: #thefirerises.

When people began adding this hashtag to their tweets, it began to uncover a picture on the website. Every time a new tweet was sent out by a Twitter user, a new pixel would emerge on the official website -- until the final picture of Tom Hardy as Bane appeared in full. [Full story]

The studio has announced that production has officially begun:

PRODUCTION BEGINS ON THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

BURBANK, CA, May 19, 2011 – Principal photography has begun on Warner Bros. Pictures' and Legendary Pictures' The Dark Knight Rises, the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy.

Leading an all-star international cast, Oscar® winner Christian Bale (The Fighter) again plays the dual role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.

The film also stars Anne Hathaway, as Selina Kyle; Tom Hardy, as Bane; Oscar® winner Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose), as Miranda Tate; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as John Blake.

Returning to the main cast, Oscar® winner Michael Caine (The Cider House Rules) plays Alfred; Gary Oldman is Commissioner Gordon; and Oscar® winner Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby) reprises the role of Lucius Fox.

In helming The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan is utilizing IMAX® cameras even more extensively than he did on The Dark Knight, which had marked the first time ever that a major feature film was partially shot with IMAX® cameras.  The results were so spectacular that the director wanted to expand the use of the large-format cameras for this film.

The screenplay for The Dark Knight Rises is written by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer.  The film is being produced by Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Charles Roven, who previously teamed on Batman Begins and the record-breaking blockbuster The Dark Knight.  The executive producers are Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan, Kevin De La Noy and Thomas Tull, with Jordan Goldberg serving as co-producer.  The Dark Knight is based upon characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics.  Batman was created by Bob Kane.

Behind the scenes, The Dark Knight Rises reunites the director with several of his longtime collaborators, all of whom worked together on the The Dark Knight.  The creative team includes director of photography Wally Pfister, who recently won an Oscar® for his work on Nolan's Inception; production designer Nathan Crowley; editor Lee Smith; and Oscar®-winning costume designer Lindy Hemming (Topsy-Turvy).  In addition, Paul Franklin and Chris Corbould, who both won Oscars® for the effects in Inception, will supervise the visual and special effects, respectively.  The music will be composed by Oscar® winner Hans Zimmer (The Lion King).

The locations for The Dark Knight Rises span three continents and include the American cities of Pittsburgh, New York and Los Angeles, as well as sites in India, England and Scotland.

The Dark Knight Rises is a presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures, in association with Legendary Pictures.  Slated for release on July 20, 2012, the film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
 

The studio has officially announced the casting of Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the movie. Better still, Warner Bros. has also provided the character names and descriptions for the two's characters...and they're kind of not what anyone expected.

Cotillard's character is named Miranda Tate and she's an employee of Wayne Industries. At her job she's been asked to "help a still-grieving Bruce Wayne resume his father's philanthropic endeavors for Gotham." Interesting that the official press statement referred to Bryce Wayne as still "grieving", doesn't it?

Gordon-Levitt's character is a Gothm City beat cop named John Blake. He's been assigned by Commissioner Gordon to provide some kind of "special duty". Maybe he's been ordered to lead the men that are hunting down Batman?

Nestor Carbonell is in talks to reprise his role as the Mayor of Gotham City, a character that we first saw in The Dark Knight. Also in discussions to join the growing cast are Burn Gorman (Torchwood) and Diego Klattenhoff (Mercy).

Batman is coming to Steel City.

The Dark Knight Rises production will shoot for four to six weeks in Pittsburgh this summer. The town will stand in for Gotham City, although some second unit photography is being done in Manhattan.

"Pittsburgh is a beautiful city.  We have been able to find everything we were looking for here, and I am excited to spend the summer in Pittsburgh with our final installment of Batman," said director Christopher Nolan to the local newspaper.

"We are thrilled to be welcoming the Batman film to Pittsburgh, and eager for the economic impact that our city will experience," commented Pittsburgh mayor Luke Ravenstahl. "This is another example of the growing film industry in our community, and we will be rolling out the red carpet for them."

21-year-old English actress Juno Temple has landed a role in The Dark Knight Rises. She'll play a character described as a street smart young woman but no further information was given on her character's name or role in the sequel's storyline.

The next movie she'll be seen in is The Three Muskateers 3D where she plays Queen Anne. Temple also starred in the two St. Trinian's films as well as Year One and The Other Boleyn Girl.

Much speculation has been offered as to what character Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play in The Dark Knight Rises. While talk has ranged from JGL playing a villain from Batman's rogues gallery like The Riddler or The Holiday Killer, Variety claims that they know the part is for Alberto Falcone, the son of crime boss Carmine Falcone. Tom Wilkinson played the elder Falcone in Batman Begins.

While appearing as a guest on British celeb Alan Carr's talk show, Tom Hardy talked a little about preparing for his role as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. Hardy commented that the look of Bane in the new film will be very different than the hulked-out, masked monster in 1997's Batman and Robin, and that he's currently trying to put on 30 pounds of muscle to fill up to Bane's size.

Here's the video clip from the show:

[Full story]

Movie news sites around the Internet are picking up on French paper Le Figaro's report that Marion Cotillard has been cast in The Dark Knight Rises. The outlet doesn't elaborate how they came by this information. Cotillard worked with director Christopher Nolan on his last movie, Inception.