With the Internet abuzz over the possibility that Christopher Nolan won’t return to a not-in-development third installment in the Batman series, we figured we’d set the record straight- the Playlist is 90%-ish certain Nolan won’t resist the call of a third film in one of the most robust, durable mega-franchises of the modern film era. Hey, “Star Wars” wouldn’t have survived “Batman and Robin” — the WB went out and made two more after that!
That being said, the 10%-ish of doubt comes from the possibility that Nolan DOES step down, leaving the director’s chair open for another filmmaker. After the success of “The Dark Knight,” it would probably be an amicable split, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see Nolan sticking on as a very hands-on producer. Note these aren’t our personal picks. But here are five feasible directors that WB could want and Nolan might agree to (if he had say). None of them are really great artistes (for the most part) and they certainly wouldn’t be our picks, but from a business perspective, they are people who could be considered.
1. Zack Snyder
A no-brainer from WB’s perspective. The decision to replace directors would come with a lot of scrutiny from the hardcore faithful, and someone like Snyder (inexplicably) has a lot of cred with this group, having made what many consider to be the best film one could make from the “Watchmen” property. He’s got a working relationship with the WB, and he’s long since campaigned for a chance to take on the Bat-mantle, supposedly with an adaptation of seminal graphic novel “The Dark Knight Returns.” Could Nolan and WB be receptive to ending this trilogy by shooting off far into the future for an installment featuring an elderly Batman fighting government lackey Superman?
Why This Might Be Bad: Well, obviously, Snyder has yet to make a good movie. However, to grace with faint praise, Snyder has directed a number of arresting sequences in his films that may fail the collective narrative tissue around him but solidify him with a strong visual sense. If Nolan can reign him in, it might be interesting, but Nolan seems a bit too erudite for Snyder’s gutter mentality.
2. Wolfgang Petersen
Since bolting “Ender’s Game” he has no real next project, so it wouldn’t be a surprise for him to return to WB. A few years ago when the WB was debating a “Superman” relaunch, Petersen was part of a package to direct Andrew Kevin Walker’s script for “Batman Vs. Superman.” The movie was to feature a Batman so distraught over the death of a fiancee that he pursued Superman in combat, a premise that the studio passed over in favor of the eventually-defunct McG-JJ Abrams “Superman” relaunch. Petersen had no sour grapes, however, as he went on to lose WB a huge chunk of money with “Poseidon.” He’s still welcome at the studio, most likely, as they are still flush from his “Troy” success, which was a $500 million worldwide smash.
Why This Might Be Bad: Petersen is another filmmaker not up to par with Nolan’s sensibilities. He’s still got that credibility from “Das Boot,” but the only half-decent movie he’s made since then is the turgid “Troy.” He’s a guy that would probably be forced onto Nolan more than anything else.
3. George Miller
Another filmmaker with a working relationship with WB, Miller is coming off a long, fruitless development period for their big superhero tentpole “Justice League Mortal.” Miller’s newfound return to the A-List owes itself to kiddie films, as he won admirers for “Babe: Pig In The City” but scored huge with the animated “Happy Feet.” He continues to speak of “Mad Max 4,” but that project, re-imagined as some sort of anime project, doesn’t seem to be something that would turn him away from this gig.
Why This Might Be Bad: Miller’s got a bombastic, visually-arresting style that would be hard to imagine in Nolan’s Batman universe. It’s an odd marriage of filmmakers, one that might produce some curious results, but it’s difficult to image the conversations on set between Miller and Nolan. Plus, all things considered, Miller’s last live-action film was eleven years ago.
4. Fernando Meirelles
The bloom has fallen off the rose for Meirelles, who burst onto the American scene with a Best Director Oscar nomination for “City of God.” Since then his stock fell a bit with “The Constant Gardener” and nearly plummeted with the widely-derided “Blindness.” Still, he’s a filmmaker with a strong political consciousness, one who’s surely eager to break into the bigtime- he recently completed a long flirtation period with Paramount regarding the Jack Ryan franchise. He’s coming from an “arthouse” sensibility not unlike Nolan, WB suits would feel, which is sorta misleading, since “City of God” had a propulsive energy not found in most blockbusters.
Why This Might Be Bad: In his last two films, Meirelles’ politics have become didactic as all hell, leading to sledgehammer politics annihilating the cohesion of the final half hour of “Blindness.” Is he going to force the commentary developed in “The Dark Knight”? More importantly, is it possible he’s one of those guys who would feel over-matched graduating to the bigtime?
5. Jeffrey Nachmanoff
Our leftfield pick. Nachmanoff has only one directorial credit under his belt, the assured, interesting “Traitor.” Nachmanoff is a popular screenwriter in Hollywood, but his name remains heavily unknown to several, which may be a good thing. There’s bound to be uproar over who sits in the director’s chair for this film, and many will be expecting a superstar pick like Darren Aronofsky or Paul Greengrass, so from a PR perspective, it might be best to bring in a guy like Nachmanoff, who is as under-the-radar as you can get, but judging from “Traitor,” is more than qualified to work with a template already set in place by Nolan. If a director who’s established an onscreen universe brings in a new director to work with, ideally the selection would be a screenwriter who understands story. Plus, he’d be cheap.
Why This Might Be Bad: Nachmanoff also wrote “The Day After Tomorrow.” So yeah…
Andrew Dominik
Steve McQueen
Jonathan Demme
John Hillcoat
Darren Aronofsky
What about Rian Johnson? (Brick, Brother's Bloom)
The guy understands the world of mystery and crime better than any of the directors you've previously mentioned.
A Matt Reeves / Drew Goddard scenario could work very well too.
I would likely wait to video with every name you put on that list.
Zack Sny–
blughebaergh
I just vomited my guts out. Goodbye cruel world.
YEah, i'd hate Snyder to do this too. I think Gabe was just going for people he thinks WB would safely wanna go for, but of course he lists out reasons why they might not as well. As speculatory.
if Zach Snyder directs a Batman film, I'll kill myself
Snyder would be the Schumaker to Nolan's Burton.
my honest opinion: i think either nolan comes back to directing or he will step down from all duties including writing and producing.
it's his baby and he is a damn fine director, so i guess he wouldn't "let" anyone direct it if he had the chance. as far as i remember he was the one that approached and pitched his idea for a batman film to warner brothers.
and for other directors stepping in, i'd go with the obvious:
1) michael mann
2) david fincher
3) alfonso cuarón
i don't think mann and fincher would want to do it, but cuarón might consider it. but what the hell do i know…
I would love to see Mann do it. i mean, he did an adaption of one of the shittiest tv shows of all time with Miami Vice, so its not like he's above doing a sequel to one of the highest grossing, best reviewed films of all time. I just wouldnt let him shoot in digital. @ Playlist, i would love to hear your personal choices more than who you think Warner will go with.
1) michael mann
2) david fincher
3) alfonso cuarón
All too expensive. Especially the first two. Cuaron much less so.
If they're starting over, they're going cheap.
Man, Rian Johnson is a good call. I wouldn't mind seeing him give it a shot. Though I don't see why Fincher would be too expensive. TDK made so much cash, they can and should pay for a top notch director like Fincher to keep the franchise from sliding into mediocrity.
BUT if Nolan is intent on moving on, here's my suggestion:
1. Still hire Goyer and Jonathan Nolan to write the screenplay.
2. Get Nolan's pal Steven Soderbergh to helm the picture while Nolan exec produces.
I'd love to see what Soderbergh could do in the Batman universe. I think his Traffic, documentary style, mult-thread story sensibility could really be an interesting way to go if A) Batman 3 has Batman on the run from the law or B) Is a twisted who-dunnit plot that involved the Riddler and mind games…just an idea!
I think Rian Johnson needs like 2-3 films under his belt before he could attempt this. Maybe Looper would show off his stuff.
We really tried to not get too pie-in-sky-ish here.
Look Darren Aronofsky, is never going to do Batman. If you can't figure that out from all the information at hand, well, sorry, but we're not gonna argue it.
Snyder, while a horrible choice, would be ultimately way more desireable from a studio perspective than Aronosfky. I doubt all three of Aronofsky's films have grossed half of what "300" did.
Babe: Pig in the City is masterful, but I wouldn't say that film bombing won Miller a lot of capital.
Also, are you implying that Nolan's sledgehammer is any better than Meirelles'? That's a particularly absurd proposition.
Ivan has something close to my shortlist, but I don't think Alan Horn wants to ever see Andrew Dominik again; I don't think Andrew Dominik wants to ever see Alan Horn again.
Dream would be Kathryn Bigelow directing a Vincent Ngo script.
However, I'd say the director will be someone who Bale has already worked with. Likely candidates that haven't been mentioned, I'd say Brad Anderson, John Singleton, James Mangold and McG don't seem implausible. Left-field less likelies are Mary Harron, Todd Haynes and Terrence Malick.
Alfonso Cuarón. He's absolutely the best choice. He's also directed the third entry in Warner Bros other big franchise to much acclaim.
Second pick Fernando Meirelles.
The one suggestion in these comments that thrills me is Johnathan Demme. The others- most would do a good Batman movie, but none would 1) bother and/or 2)be allowed near it.
Brad Anderson would be an excellent choice and inexpensive.
PT Anderson paints very epic stories that could be fitting to nolans universe.
Others: John dahl, Polanski,
I think Rian Johnson has about the same level of experience that Nolan has coming into a franchise.
Looking at Post-Joker Gotham Rogue's list the series needs a man who can write/direct the characters of Wayne/Batman/and whatever villain we have in store.
Most of the fandom is looking at The Riddler and Johnson's Brick reminded me of a great Riddler or Long Halloween-esque story. Brother's Bloom also shows that criminals have a heart, despite their insanity.
I also like that he's not into Green Screen at all. Snyder would kill the element of Gotham being a real place on earth. I think the same could be said of Fincher.
@hack. Not quite. Nolan had done one studio picture, before in Insomnia with heavyweight actors.
It was his third feature. Batman was his fourth.
Johnson's done two feature and Bloom was done for a mini-major in Summit, which is the same studio that did Memento.
So yeah, not quite. I would suspect that Looper is done at Summit and not at a major studio.
I will also bet all the money in the world that Rian Johnson will never direct a Batman movie.
Memento was made at Artisan, I believe.
Nolan did Following, Memento (Artisan), Insomnia (Summit) and then Batman Begins.
What studio pick did he do that I'm not aware of?
Johnson did Brick (which also won Sundance and was a rare domestic distribution deal for FOCUS), Bloom (with two academy award winning actors – and four actors that have been nominated for academy awards – Through Summit for the same adjusted budget as Insomnia) and now has Looper.
I don't think Following had much of an impact on Warner's decision to interview/hire Nolan.
Both use non-linear storytelling methods. Both are extremely visual and pull from European cinematography. And both know how to manipulate and audience with pre-conceived casts.
Regardless, Johnson is a breathe of fresh air to a blockbuster audience. The thing that I think we don't want to say out loud is that Nolan created two great storylines for his last two films that were original (even though they were well researched). I don't want-trust Snyder. Truth is, I'd hate to see a page by page adaptation of any Batman Graphic novel to hit a big screen.
With Mann, who might have been a strong influence of The Dark Knight, I cringe at what he did as a producer with Hancock.
Rian Johnson is the nerd we want. His first movie was about detectives his second was about con men. Both were well received.
I think Guillermo Del Toro might do a good job and if all else fails they could just call Tim Burton.