'The Dark Knight Rises': Will there be a director's cut?
Fans of Chris Nolan鈥檚 Dark Knight Trilogy have been listening intently to talk about extra material that was cut from the听 鈥� for example, an extended sequence of Bane鈥檚 origin story 鈥� and naturally there sprung a small hope that the DVD/Blu-ray home video release of听罢顿碍搁听would feature all the extra bits audiences didn鈥檛 get with the theatrical release.
Last week, in answer to fans鈥� hopes, a rumor surfaced that听.听Today, we get contrarian confirmation that this is NOT in fact the case.
听spoke with the Nolan camp, who (in no uncertain terms) crushed the initial report from听Nuke The Fridge听that the extended director鈥檚 cut of听罢顿碍搁听was coming next summer ahead of the Nolan-produced听Superman reboot,听.
This really should come as little surprise, since anyone who鈥檚 spent time reading Christopher Nolan interviews (we admit, we鈥檝e stalked him a bit ourselves) will know that the director believes in meticulous planning, efficiency and cost-saving when it comes to his films (despite their now-standard $150 million+ price tags). That鈥檚 all to say: Nolan usually plans what to cut and what to save at the pre-production stage 鈥� i.e., revising things in the script and storyboarding phases 鈥� and what he leaves on the cutting room floor in terms of footage (presumably less than a lot of directors), he wholeheartedly wants to听leave on the floor.
On the other hand, Oscar-winning 罢顿碍搁听costume designer Lindy Hemming spoke at length about the in the context of them filming it 鈥� including mention of the early-version costume and mask Bane wore in that sequence. So we know that there are definitely 鈥渄eleted scenes鈥� from the film that exist 鈥� we鈥檙e just not going to get to see them.
Chris Nolan, as stated, is very meticulous (controlling?) about the craftsmanship of his films. While his singular driving vision has often resulted in some great films, this is a case where I鈥檓 genuinely wondering if he isn鈥檛 adhering a bit听too strictly to his own rules. Throughout the run of The Dark Knight Trilogy Nolan has amassed legions of fans who have translated their adoration into (literally) billions of dollars for Warner Bros. 鈥� and a nice paycheck for the filmmaker himself. Not to mention, the same fans and their dollars fosters new career opportunities for Nolan to make his own original films like听.
Even if the Bane origin sequence or other cut scenes like it aren鈥檛 perfect, Nolan and his team of collaborators could almost certainly put together something that would let fans further enjoy his Batman movie universe. If not just deleted scenes from one film 鈥� which Nolan has pointed out are too scant to really excite 鈥� then a featurette of deleted scenes from all three films. The point is: it鈥檚 possible to do this, it鈥檚 just not being done.
Kofi Outlaw blogs at .
