The Dark Knight Rises website posts fifty pages of production notes chock full of behind the scenes goodness

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

In what may be the single most detailed release of information regarding THE DARK KNIGHT RISES aside from the release of the movie itself, the film’s official website has revealed a fifty page PDF of production notes for the movie. Think of it as one of those cool behind the scenes books that accompanies many movie releases, but one you can print at home weeks before the movie hits theaters.

While you are welcome to read the full document, here are some very interesting tidbits about the film. Caution, some may consider these spoilers, but they are fairly tame. Proceed at your own risk.

Batman versus Bane: Nolan affirms, “This was very much a toe-to-toe, blow-to-blow physical clash, and Christian and Tom put an incredible amount of work into it. Just the demands of the costumes—one character has the lower half of his face obscured, the other the upper half—posed problems. They had trouble hearing each other because they were wearing those masks and working in very noisy environments while performing these feats.”

“It required very intense preparation,” the director continues. “And when it came time to shoot, Christian and Tom worked extremely well together. It was frighteningly real, and quite intimidating to see these iconic, larger-than-life characters really go at it. There are plenty of other large-scale action scenes in the film, but that face-to-face confrontation between these two adversaries was something I really felt was the centerpiece of the film.”

Catwoman: Anne Hathaway admits: “It’s hard to reveal anything about Selina Kyle because she is intensely private and very mysterious. She has her own code of ethics, which sometimes involves doing things that other people might consider questionable.”

“I think Selina does what is necessary to survive,” relates Hathaway, “and that includes crossing a few lines that others might find unforgivable. Even if she wants to change, it’s hard to escape your past…and she does have a past. That makes her vulnerable, especially these days when anyone with a computer or smartphone can look up almost anything about you. Everybody has moments in life when they think, ‘If I knew then what I know now…’ Selina might like the opportunity not to have to live by the choices she was forced to make up to this point.”

Screenwriter Jonathan Nolan on Selina Kyle: “Something about her morally ambiguous philosophy finally gives Batman someone he can relate to. In a weird way, she’s the yin to his yang. The dynamic between them is so fresh—the playful way she kind of pokes fun at him—it sparks a connection between them and takes some of the somberness away from his character.”

Christopher Nolan on the setting of the film: “Our story picks up eight years later, when it seems that Batman and Commissioner Gordon have succeeded—the Dark Knight is no longer needed in Gotham. In that regard, Bruce Wayne has won the battle, but he is traumatized by what happened and doesn’t know how to move on from being the figure of Batman. ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ very much deals with the consequences of his and other characters’ actions in the previous films.”

Christian Bale discusses Bruce Wayne’s journey: “In ‘Batman Begins,’ you see the tragedy and the pain that motivates this angry young man, who feels useless and is searching for a path—who wants to find out who he is and what he can become. Then in ‘The Dark Knight,’ he’s discovered that path. He is useful; he is doing what he imagines is the best thing for him to be doing in his life. Now, we are eight years on and he has lost the one thing that gave him a purpose…until he is forced to deal with a new threat to the city and to himself.”

Pretty cool stuff and there is a ton more in the full notes. Click here to check it out.

There is also a new Hong Kong version of the trailer that features some quick shots we have not seen before.

July 20th cannot come soon enough. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is going to kick all sorts of ass.