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In a 6.23 Wired piece, Scott Brown has portrayed -- emphasized -- director Chris Nolan's commitment to keeping the hard-drive special effects down to a minimum in The Dark Knight. "For Nolan, reality beats the hell out of gee-whiz special effects," Brown writes. And to this goal, Nolan has "a cogent Theory of Applied Batmatics," which means an "insist[ance] on reality -- no effects, no tricks -- up to the point where insisting on reality becomes unrealistic.

"Then, in post-production, make what is necessarily unreal as real as possible. 'Anything you notice as technology reminds you that you're in a movie theater,' Nolan explains. 'Even if you're trying to portray something fantastical and otherworldly, it's always about trying to achieve invisible manipulation.' Especially, he adds, with Batman, 'the most real of all the superheroes, who has no superpowers.'

"How 'real' are we talking here? When Nolan unveiled a six-minute Knight prologue on Imax screens last December (a twisty bank heist with a jarring Joker reveal), it was clear that his cinematic vision owes more to director Sidney Lumet than golden-age DC comics. You can feel the tension of Lumet's 1975 Dog Day Afternoon and Michael Mann's 1995 drama, Heat."

Inevitably Ledger's?<< previous | next >>Two Sides of the Fence

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on June 27, 2008 at 10:42 AM

comment #1

Richardson says ...

This, in a nutshell, was a big part of why I preferred 'The Prestige' to 'The Illusionist'. The CGI magic tricks in 'Illusionist' (even tricks which had been done at the time) took me right out of it.

Oh, wait, I'm supposed to be the buzzkill, right?

Posted by Richardson at June 27, 2008 11:02 AM

comment #2

Mgmax says ...

So I guess it's now official that everyone has to namecheck Heat as well as Dog Day Afternoon, when making a summer superhero blockbuster that's totally antithetical to those movies.

Posted by Mgmax at June 27, 2008 11:04 AM

comment #3

Richardson says ...

Max - I assume "Heat" is in the press packet; possibly "The Godfather, Part II' as well, since that one comes up a whole lot.

Posted by Richardson at June 27, 2008 11:14 AM

comment #4

corey3rd says ...

Heat had tension? Really? The Wild Bunch had tension.

Posted by corey3rd at June 27, 2008 11:19 AM

comment #5

Mark says ...

Off tangent, if Heat were made today, any doubt that Legder, if alive, would have played Chris? In fact he probably would have become Val Kilmer, with Jake becoming Cruise, and Brokeback being considered the decade's Top Gun in retrospect.

Posted by Mark at June 27, 2008 11:20 AM

comment #6

Jason says ...

Apologies for the YouTube-caliber comment, but WTF.

Off tangent, but if the Godfather Part II were made today, Bruno Kirby would smell really bad.

Posted by Jason at June 27, 2008 11:33 AM

comment #7

corey3rd says ...

didn't we get sold this "I hate CGI" spew from the director of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of CGI?

Posted by corey3rd at June 27, 2008 11:36 AM

comment #8

Jay T. says ...

Totally agree with The Prestige vs. The Illusionist.

Posted by Jay T. at June 27, 2008 11:46 AM

comment #9

p.Vice says ...

Wow... what an apt comparison between Nolan and Lumet, considering the latter is one of the most overpraised, visually retarded filmmakers in the history of the medium.

Michael Mann... not so much.

Posted by p.Vice at June 27, 2008 11:57 AM

comment #10

LFF says ...

Heat and Dog Day are both Warner titles. He's just givin a shout out to the company.

Posted by LFF at June 27, 2008 12:17 PM

comment #11

hollyman says ...

Comparing Nolan to Lumet, not so fast. When Nolan makes movies that we will talk about in 50 years like 12 Angry Men, Network, etc. I'll be the first one yelling that out. (not to say that Nolan can't do it) He has handled the Batman Material better than any other director could)

I saw the movie last night at the Bridge.

It's a great movie! Like I said in an earlier post IMAX is the way to go to see it! Amazing! The only thing the movie is a bit long

Posted by hollyman at June 27, 2008 12:49 PM

comment #12

Edward says ...

hollyman: I thought IMAX films could only be 2 hours, has this changed?

Posted by Edward at June 27, 2008 1:53 PM

comment #13

hollyman says ...

Edward:

Yeah it changed I think its been like that for about 2 years ago.... Amazing what they can do with IMAX now....

Posted by hollyman at June 27, 2008 2:14 PM

comment #14

Rich S. says ...

See these films now before IMAX converts completely to digital. (I personally don't see how they're going to do it, but they say it's in the works.)

http://www.newsoxy.com/imax/to_convert_amc_to_digital_systems/article11058.htm

Posted by Rich S. at June 27, 2008 2:17 PM

comment #15

Josh Massey says ...

There's been a misunderstanding.

The inspiration for The Dark Knight was actually 1987's Heat, with Burt Reynolds and Howard Hesseman. So temper your expectations.

Posted by Josh Massey at June 27, 2008 5:33 PM

comment #16

Roman says ...

As much as I liked "The Prestige" I enjoyed "The Illusionist" quite a bit more. Not to mention it was a much more handsome movie with an unbelivable score.

Posted by Roman at June 27, 2008 7:21 PM

comment #17

JckNapier2 says ...

I liked both magic movies quite a bit, but I did prefer The Prestige. It's slightly smarter, far more complicated story was truly about the craft of magic, rather than just using magic as a backdrop for a (very good) romantic thriller. My wife much prefers The Illusionist and I imagine this will be a Coke or Pepsi contest for years to come. All I know, is that when she's old enough (in about ten years), my daughter better like The Prestige better!

Posted by JckNapier2 at June 28, 2008 9:10 AM