To promote the arrival of The Dark Knight Rises on Blu-ray and DVD earlier this week, The Playlist sat down with Christopher Nolan to discuss his acclaimed Batman trilogy. As well as reiterating once more that TDKR wraps up his Dark Knight saga – “I’ll say definitively again, I am done with the Batman films, the trilogy is completed. It ended in the manner we had envisioned” – the conversation shifted towards DC Comics’ other iconic superhero, with Nolan taking a moment to comment on director Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman reboot, Man of Steel.
“I wouldn’t want people to think we’re doing for Superman what we did for Batman… [Man of Steel] is very much Zack’s film and I think people are going to love what he’s done. I think it’s really remarkable to take on that character. Superman is a completely different character than Batman. So you can’t in anyway use the same template. But David Goyer had this, I thought, brilliant way to make Superman relatable and relevant for his audience. Zack has built on that and I think it’s incredible what he’s putting together. He’s got a lot of finishing to do on that. Superman is the biggest comic book character of them all and he needs the biggest possible movie version which is what Zack’s doing. It’s really something.”
Man of Steel sees Nolan serving as producer alongside Batman veterans Emma Thomas and Charles Roven, while the cast includes Henry Cavill (Immortals) as Clark Kent / Superman, Amy Adams (The Fighter) as Lois Lane, Russell Crowe (Les Miserables) as Jor-El, Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire) as General Zod, Kevin Costner (Hatfields & McCoys) as Jonathan Kent, Diane Lane (Secretariat) as Martha Kent, Laurence Fishburne (Contagion) as Perry White, Ayelet Zurer (Angels & Demons) as Lara Lor-Van, Antje Traue (Pandorum) as Faora, Christopher Meloni (True Blood) as Colonel Hardy and Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica) as Henry Ackerdson.
Man of Steel is set for release on June 14th, 2013, while a new trailer will arrive in cinemas next week with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen – Available now via Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com
Originally published December 5, 2012. Updated November 6, 2019.
