While Christopher Nolan's "Inception" picked up four Golden Globe nominations yesterday, the director was already out of the country and planing his next "Batman" film, which will apparently retain its international scope.
"Chris Nolan is under the weather and scouting locations in Asia for 'DK Rises' but excited about Globes noms," wrote the Los Angeles Times on its Hero Complex Twitter feed.
Nolan's previous "Batman" film "The Dark Knight" featured a memorable sequence set in Hong Kong in which Batman kidnapped a mob money launderer and brought him back to the Gotham City. Parts of "Batman Begins" also took place in Asia as Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) received training from Ra's Al Ghul (Liam Neeson).
"The Dark Knight Rises" was recently confirmed to be the title of Nolan's third and final "Batman" movie. And while Nolan has stated that the villain will not be the Riddler, he has previously dropped hints that may reveal which direction he's heading in.
“Without getting into specifics, the key thing that makes the third film a great possibility for us is that we want to finish our story,” said Nolan back in March. “And in viewing it as the finishing of a story rather than infinitely blowing up the balloon and expanding the story.”
“I’m very excited about the end of the film, the conclusion, and what we’ve done with the characters,” added Nolan.“My brother has come up with some pretty exciting stuff. Unlike the comics, these things don’t go on forever in film and viewing it as a story with an end is useful. Viewing it as an ending, that sets you very much on the right track about the appropriate conclusion and the essence of what tale we’re telling. And it harkens back to that priority of trying to find the reality in these fantastic stories. That’s what we do.”
To bring Nolan's "Batman" story full circle, Talia (the daughter of Ra's Al Ghul) seems like a plausible choice for the villain if Batman returns to Asia, which is also backed up by recent reports that Nolan has been auditioning actresses for two roles: one as Bruce Wayne's new love interest and the other as a new villain.
"The Dark Knight Rises" will dive into theaters on July 20, 2012.
