In an interview in yesterday’s L.A. Times, Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan hilariously suggests that he might not sign on to direct a third Batman movie: “Is there a story that’s going to keep me emotionally invested for the couple of years that it will take to make another one? That’s the overriding question,†he says, as if it’s really that difficult to borrow a plot from a comic book and, even if it actually were, that he could possibly turn down the hundreds of millions of dollars and gold-plated space mansions that Warner Bros. is surely offering him right now in increasing numbers. “On a more superficial level,†he continues, “I have to ask the question: How many good third movies in a franchise can people name?†Offhand we can only think of ten, but we bet there are even fewer directors who’ve walked away from a Batman 3–size paycheck.
Christopher Nolan on ‘Dark Knight’ and its box-office billion: ‘It’s mystifying to me’ [Hero Complex/LAT]