Stars step out for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ London premiere

The Dark Knight Rises had not one but two premieres in London for its mainly homegrown cast and director on Wednesday night.

Director Christopher Nolan who has dual U.K. and U.S. citizenship, Wales-born Christian Bale who plays the masked crusader and newcomer to the franchise Tom Hardy, who plays the menacing Bane, comes from west London.

Bale reprises his role of billionaire Bruce Wayne and his alter ego Batman, but a lot has changed since the second movie.

The third film takes place eight years after The Dark Knight, when Bruce Wayne lost his love interest Rachel Dawes and killed Harvey Dent, who turned into the villain Two-Face. Batman is held publicly accountable for the death of Dent.

Fast forward eight years and it’s the beginning of the plot of The Dark Knight Rises.

Arriving to the rain-soaked premiere, Bale said leaving behind the superhero would be difficult but the trilogy’s time had come.

“Yeah it makes it bittersweet but also we are very fortunate that we got to make three. People were sort of skeptical with the first one we were making. Chris said to me ‘Never expect to make more than one at a time and we should make them independent.’ So we got to do one, then two, then wow we got to do three so I’m really flattered that people have been interested in our incarnation of it and they’re excited still,” he said.

Gotham’s peace, achieved by the anti-crime Dent act is only short lived, and everything changes with the rise of the new super villain Bane, portrayed by Tom Hardy.

Bane, a little-known villain outside comic book circles, is the main antagonist of the film with superior strength and intelligence. His evil plot forces Bruce Wayne to take on the identity of the caped crusader once again.

Wearing a mask which allows him to breathe after years of beatings and suffering in a remote prison, Bane develops a voice that matches his formidable stature.

Hardy joked about the various humans, creatures and animals which helped develop his character.

“Vocally, looking at Richard Burton, and (King of the Gypsies bare knuckle fighter) Bartley Gorman, and a bit of Darth Vader, mixed a whole load of animals together and just daft stuff, anorak, sort of actors do with their directors,” he told Reuters on the red carpet.

For Nolan who started the revamped Batman franchise in 2003 with Batman Begins, he said he wasn’t ready to get emotional just yet.

“Not yet, I mean the film’s not really finished until the audience sees it, that’s this weekend all over the world. And I think at that point, it will be a little bittersweet. I’ve really enjoyed working with all these characters and it’ll be sad to say goodbye,” he said.

Nolan, along with his writer brother Jonathan, co-wrote the movie and said despite the similarities of one of the subplots to that of the Occupy movements staged around the world from New York’s Wall Street to London’s St. Paul’s, it was mere coincidence.

“No we wrote the story about four years ago and that’s just the coincidence of trying to write about the world we live in. Similar people seeing things at times but it’s really just a coincidence,” he said.

Also a new face in the series is Anne Hathaway, who takes on the role of Selina Kyle, or Catwoman.

“They wanted me to make sure that I liked it (Catwoman’s outfit) but it was more about Lindy our costume designer and Chris’s vision, I just had to make sure I looked alright, that was the say I had,” she said.         

French actress Marion Cotillard plays rich philanthropist Miranda Tate who tries to melt the ice of coldness of Wayne’s existence for the past eight years.

Although it’s Cotillard’s first time appearing in the franchise, she worked with Nolan previously on Inception and said she’d happily do it again and again.
 
“He’s so smart, I mean, I don’t know how his brain works but at the same time he’s a technician but he’s also a true artist,” she said.

Also from Inception making his debut in the Batman series is Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays young idealist cop John Blake.

He tries to instill hope amongst the jaded veterans of Gotham City including Bruce Wayne himself.

Gordon-Levitt said playing in a Batman film was a dream come true.

“I along with all my friends, I think, loved Batman ever since I was a little tiny kid and it is an absolute fantasy come true, yeah,” he said.

For Morgan Freeman, who plays gadget guru Lucius Fox and CEO of Wayne Enterprises however, calling time on one of the most successful comic book-turned-film franchises of all time wasn’t emotional for him.

“No I’m not sad to see the end of it but I think it’s like any movie you do, you do it, it’s over. I’m looking forward to this again, I’ll do something else.”

The Dark Knight Rises opens on Friday.