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Gary Oldman Talks Cryptically About 'The Dark Knight Rises' Script
by Alex Billington
March 28, 2011
Source: AICN
I know its still a bit early to be hyping up a script for a project that hasn't even started shooting, but it's The Dark Knight Rises, so the hell with it. AICN found a video recorded by AbsoluteRadio in the UK talking with actor Gary Oldman on the red carpet of the Jameson Empire Awards. As we all know, Oldman plays Commissioner Gordon in Christopher Nolan's Batman franchise and is going to be reprising his role in TDKR. Oldman wouldn't reveal much, as he's obviously being watched closely by WB, but did talk about how "fantastic" the script is, how it "brings it back around" to the first movie (what could that mean?), and more.
You can watch the full video with Gary Oldman embedded below, as it's funny to watch him dodge as many TDKR questions as possible or answer as ambiguously as he can, but it's still great to hear from one of the best actors in the series about how Nolan has apparently topped The Dark Knight. "Batman begins [shooting] in May… and all I can say is it's a great, really great story. [Chris Nolan] has out done himself, from The Dark Knight. It's fantastic." As for a hint at who he might be spending a lot of time with, Oldman drops this: "I have quite a bit to do with Tom in this one… He's going to be… He's going to be fantastic."
Yep, he's referring to Tom Hardy playing the villain Bane in the movie, which isn't the most popular comic book villain, but it sounds like he'll be quite a menace and will definitely be messing with Gotham's finest. As for all the secrecy involved with the script and how hard it is to even read it, here's the story Oldman told:
"To get in the production office, you have someone meet you and then there's keys in various doors that lock. The script you [must] read in the production office, and there's no ending to the script either, because [Chris] tells you the ending, so it doesn't leak and get out and people spoil it on the internet. It's very tight security. Yea, that's how he [keeps it all a secret]."
Sounds about right. Honestly, I don't want to know the ending to The Dark Knight Rises until I've sat through the first two hours of it and can finally experience the truly epic ending in all its glory as its meant to be seen. Oldman added that "[Chris] sort of brings it… back around" to the first one. Now, you can make what you will of that statement, because I think it could mean many things, but I think he's referring to Batman avenging his parents' death by truly saving Gotham and/or having something to do with League of Assassins and/or Ra's al Ghul (let your mind whirl with possibilities). But beyond that, it is indeed way too early to speculate on the entire plot, as we still have a long ways to go until July 20, 2012. Excited yet?
62 Comments
1
Of course there's something to do with Ra's Al Ghul..... His Daughter, Talia!
ultim8 on Mar 28, 2011
2
3
If The story has 'any' connection to 'any' of the comics (Batman: Year One, Etc.) then Talia Al Ghul takes control of the League of Assassins after he fathers 'Demise'.... And that would link in with Diggy381's comment below, too. Bane could be the second phase of an operation in which The Joker was the first, in which he had to destabilize Gotham to such an extent that the Batman was pushed beyond his limits. Bane steps in, 'Breaks' The Batman, Hoorah! The League wins... (But wait...Who's That? Azrael?......ohshit.) Of course, this is just conjecture on my part. My off-kilter imagination going off on a tangent. But it 'could' be good!
Ultim8 on Mar 28, 2011
4
Actually, I'll let Nolan decide how many characters he wants to put into this one. If you pay attention closely, TDK had a lot of people into it: it had The Joker, Batman, Harvey Two-Face, Lau, Commissioner Gordon, Rachel, Salvador Maronie, Scarecrow, the Italian drug dealer, Reese, Gamble, and so many others, and most of them were villains, and Nolan put them together quite nicely so yeah, let him choose what he wants for his franchise, it'll be great.
Mac-306 on Mar 28, 2011
5
Ra's al ghul will steal the remains of Batman's parents!
jeppe on Mar 28, 2011
6
I know how genuinely excited every Nolan fan is for this film, cause I'm one of them, but I seriously (Alex) that you don't give any spoilers away in the future. I might be tempted to read them... all I need to hear from this project is that it's going to be amazing, that is all. Updates don't count though, obviously!
Cruzer on Mar 28, 2011
7
ahh Alex can you fix that I meant "seriously hope"
Cruzer on Mar 28, 2011
8
Still more than a year to wait... I'm dying for a trailer!
Anonymous on Mar 28, 2011
10
i dont know about anyone else but for me..i have NEVER been so excited about a movie !!i REALLY cant wait for this one! i TRUST christopher nolan i i truly believe he will ROCK the world!!!
Karateka_nick on Mar 28, 2011
11
Is he talking about Tom Wilkinsons character from BB,he'd not dead yet,just in Arkham.
tir na nog on Mar 28, 2011
12
he is talking about tom hardy
Roc on Mar 28, 2011
13
Oh,I couldn't watch video till now,cant wait for teaser trailer! now who's JGL playing....
tir na nog on Mar 28, 2011
14
Holiday Falcon's son
Aaronrios on Mar 28, 2011
15
That's not definite,but I kind of hope he is. http://www.imdb.com/news/ni8802975/
tir na nog on Mar 29, 2011
16
Man. . . wouldn't it be cool if Ra's al Ghul comes back in the end of TDKR and it is revealed that he has been behind all of the chaos that has occured in Gotham? I think that would be awesome to discover that he was responsible for unleashing the Joker on the city in an effort to adhere to his plans from Begins with "cleansing" Gotham.
Diggy381 on Mar 28, 2011
17
The League and Talia will definitely be in this. I guess Bane is some kind of zealous detective on the force, and he gets recruited by The League of shadows.
Vito on Mar 28, 2011
18
Ra's Al Ghul died. lmao.
Ryanb4521 on Mar 28, 2011
19
There is still Talia and the League.
ash on Mar 28, 2011
20
UNCONFIRMED. Face it guys chickens with our heads cut off. Until the trailer...WE NEED A VIRAL TO KEEP UP BUSY THOUGH...
Aaron Ray on Mar 28, 2011
21
I think bane will be an officer who works with Gordon,he is secretely working for falcone,who works for ras al ghul(secretly). Jfg will kill Barbara Gordon as holiday killer ,bringing Batman back from being in hiding, mariah cottilard will be the brains behind the mafia ,maybe selina Kyle finds out about the league. of assasins work with mafia,and joins forces with Batman to kick everyones ass
Jackshellis1 on Mar 28, 2011
22
fail. Nolan already said Bane is the main villain. and Tom is confirmed as a lead actor in the film. What you wrote sounds like you demoted him to a minor supporting role.
Vito on Mar 28, 2011
23
The Dark Knight sucks!
John on Mar 28, 2011
24
I'm not going to argue, it's your opinion... but be careful! There are dangerous "sharks" in these waters. ;))
Anonymous on Mar 28, 2011
25
Some people are just haters and will always be; there is nothing you can do about it. In this century,I'm surprised by people saying they didn't like TDK . They hate everything; including themselves and can't be bothered to appreciate so else's work
Gh on Mar 28, 2011
26
Haters will always be haters, but I sure do enjoy laughing at them :)) (not pointing out, just generally speaking)
Anonymous on Mar 28, 2011
27
I can handle it, most of them are just fat people, eating donuts in their mom's basement.
John on Mar 28, 2011
28
That is your opinion sir. But that was a great movie.
Dahigh31 on Apr 1, 2011
29
how can you be a film fan and not enjoy tdk ??? are you seriously saying tdk is poor ?
Ant 87 on Jul 18, 2011
30
for all the Nolan haters, go watch Batman and Robin ffs...
Boon on Mar 28, 2011
31
For all the Nolan gushers go watch a good movie, there's a lot out there!
John on Mar 28, 2011
32
This was constructive, in depth and well thought out post, John. Thank you for your contribution.
Anonymous on Mar 28, 2011
33
Well you should read the rest of my post below they will let you down they are less thought out! :p
John on Mar 28, 2011
34
Aww, man! You warned me and I checked anyways. Well, good to see you have a sense of humor. 😉 +1
Anonymous on Mar 28, 2011
35
Nolan haters, you mad 🙂
Boon on Mar 28, 2011
36
What I didn't like in The Dark Knight is that the Joker manipulated the viewer, as my dad said you were in on the Harvey Dent manipulation in the hospital scene, the movie fucked with your mind. Then after the movie was done you didn't feel good. No one cheered when the movie was over in the theater people walked out depressed or traumatized by the experience. There were so many script issues that didn't make sense. The last two Nolan films didn't make sense, they are loud and expensive but the scripts are incoherent. His other films made even more sense even Momento.
John on Mar 28, 2011
37
what are you talking about? Every movie manipulates a viewer to some degree
Boon on Mar 28, 2011
38
so you were depressed and traumatized? sounds like a good movie to me. It made you feel something.
Vito on Mar 28, 2011
39
Sounds like a mind fuck to me!
John on Mar 28, 2011
40
I don't need movies to make me feel something.
John on Mar 28, 2011
42
So why watch any in the first place? Every one of Nolan's movies has been great. By the way, I would be worried if anyone did walk out of The Dark Knight cheering. That's a very detached person who can do that. It seems to me the movie was sort of meant to bring you down, make you feel like it was a hopeless situation. The Joker, even though he was caught in the end, ran circles around Batman killing off everyone essential in his plan to clean up Gotham for good.
JL on Mar 30, 2011
43
I took my hyper-sensitive wife to see this and she left sobbing. She said it was pure desperation. Since then I've kept movie night to the lighter stuff.
Matt on Mar 31, 2011
44
It sounds like you went into the movie with an expectation for the movie that didn't match the product. I do agree there were some plot issues but some of them could come from editing for time/content or will get tidied up in the third movie. With the movies being intended as a trilogy they may need to be viewed in sequence all at once like it were one big movie. The first drew in the viewer to anticipate the second, the second was to create to conflict to be resolved in the third. Empire Strikes Back left with Han frozen and Luke questioning himself. The Two Towers ended with Frodo and Sam being led to die and the others preparing a larger scale battle. In good trilogies the middle movie is needed to connect the first and last together but isn't as interesting as either. Watch the third, it might change how you view the second.
anonymous user guy on Apr 1, 2011
45
Don't get me wrong I love Batman Begins and The Prestige, but louder and more confusing doesn't make a movie better, I'm just wondering how much louder and more confusing and darker the next Batman will be, or his next couple of films, it seams to him that is what makes a movie better. I love Memento at least with that film you can figure out.
John on Mar 28, 2011
47
a lot of people were, arrogant one!
John on Mar 28, 2011
48
nope.
JL on Mar 30, 2011
49
oh johnny boy...i feel VERY mad about you right now...those things u just said are the most STUPID things i have heard about the dark knight...Go watch some steven seagal movies and take your dad along too
nick on Mar 28, 2011
50
I hate Steven Seagal they are some of the dumbest movies ever made, and insulting to all intelligent people!
John on Mar 28, 2011
51
Argh, I swore to myself not to read or watch any more news or footage on TDKR until the movie is out. It's impossible! >.<
Anonymous on Mar 28, 2011
53
I like TDK and almost all of Nolans films, But what I do hate is that now every comic movie has to be TDK, Batman is a dark gritty character, but spider man is not so that movie should not take TDK, Superman is not a dark gritty character so it should not be like TDK.
Anonymous on Mar 28, 2011
54
You think you're excited? Feel these nipples!
Anonymous on Mar 29, 2011
55
We never really saw any footage that Ra's actually died in BB, If batman can escape, so can Henri Ducard, I mean what if he managed to escape and set out Joker, now in 3rd part he sets others, bane or whoever, as movie ends, its revealed that Ra's is indeed alive and reason behind all these, can someone ask Superman to spin around the earth and bring the r release date closer, like say....this weekend
rambatman on Mar 29, 2011
56
No, dude, Batman just barely got out of that train with a cape that he can glide with before it crashed into the ground and exploded. Ra's al Ghul is dead.
JL on Mar 30, 2011
57
Gary Oldman additional interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgLtiFwYWdI
Dafadfh on Mar 29, 2011
58
I want harley queen in TDKR!
Sldja on Mar 31, 2011
59
wow better than the dark knight wow cant wait!
A5J4DX on Apr 3, 2011
60
i dont think bane will b an officer.i think the gpd are on a man hunt 4 the batman.gordon then hires bane to track down the bat.
Eddy989 on Apr 4, 2011
61
I'm so excited. But what happened to the reports of Johnny Depp and Pillip Seymour Hoffman as the Riddler and The Penguin respectively
Joey Hidalgo on Apr 9, 2011
62
If Gary Oldman who has been in each of Nolan's Batman movies says it tops "The Dark Knight", I'll take my chances believing him. Nolan pulled off what most comic book adaption movies fail at; multiple full fledged villians. I'll be in theaters when it comes out, it'll be a long wait until then.
Eximius on May 8, 2011
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