Christopher Nolan hasn’t wasted any time in letting audiences know his role in the very recent (and very lucrative) Batman trilogy has concluded with The Dark Knight Rises. A recent article from TotalFilm.com has claimed the famed director’s story regarding Bruce Wayne and crime fighting has ultimately finished.
Christopher Nolan is the director of such hits as Memento, Inception, The Prestige, and of course, the trilogy comprised of Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. His work on the Batman series was meticulous and specific, taking what some would dismiss as mere comic book stories to create at least one Oscar worthy film. Fans had been hoping Nolan would stay on the project and direct a fourth film, but Nolan feels the story he’s created has come to a close.
“For me, The Dark Knight Rises is specifically and definitely the end of the Batman story as I wanted to tell it,” he said. “The open-ended nature of the film is simply a very important thematic idea that we wanted to get into the movie, which is that Batman is a symbol. He can be anybody, and that was very important to us.”
Christopher Nolan also said his interpretation of the Batman character has a lot to do with his decision. Whether or not people actually agree with his opinion is irrelevant, at least to the famed director.
“Not every Batman fan will necessarily agree with that interpretation of the philosophy of the character, but for me it all comes back to the scene between Bruce Wayne and Alfred in the private jet in Batman Begins, where the only way that I could find to make a credible characterization of a guy transforming himself into Batman is if it was as a necessary symbol, and he saw himself as a catalyst for change.”
Another main point that audiences tend to forget – from the same referenced scene – is how Bruce Wayne intended to help the people of Gotham take back their own city. This existed as a prevalent theme throughout all three films. In the end, Bruce Wayne was just a man on a mission.
“Therefore it was a temporary process, maybe a five-year plan that would be enforced for symbolically encouraging the good of Gotham to take back their city,” he continued to explain. “To me, for that mission to succeed, it has to end, so this is the ending for me, and as I say, the open-ended elements are all to do with the thematic idea that Batman was not important as a man, he’s more than that. He’s a symbol, and the symbol lives on.”
Rumors have been quite plenty surrounding Christopher Nolan’s potential role in the upcoming Justice League as well, even claiming the director may have a hand in its direction. While Nolan did have a hand in helping to write Man of Steel, these comments seem to suggest that he’s finished with the whole superhero thing (at least for a while). As a big Christopher Nolan fan, I can’t wait to see what else he can conjure up now that his Batman days are behind him.
