by Meg Malone
As we bite our nails, waiting impatiently for "The Dark Knight Rises" to finally arrive, we're thrilled to have our Batman-longing quenched for at least thirteen minutes. That's the length of a new featurette released for the Christopher Nolan film that includes movie footage, cast and crew interviews, as well as a behind the scenes look at the creation of some sure to be memorable on-screen moments.
In the approximately eight years since Batman slipped away, Gotham has changed, though the city's calm can't be taken at face value. "Everything seems fine on the surface, but it's all built on this lie," according to producer Emma Thomas. "So 'The Dark Knight Rises' is about how that affects Gotham and how things begin to get worse once again."
The featurette touches on each member of the A-list cast, but also devotes a lot of time to the action that we can expect when we settle into our theater seats on July 20. Christian Bale comments on Nolan's "strong sense of spectacle," and the featurette makes the spectacle clear.
"We've expanded into the largest of genres, the war movie, the disaster film," Nolan says.
"It's been relentless action from start to finish," adds special effects supervisor Chris Corbould.
Shot in various locations around the world, impressive highlights in the featurette include the film's high-flying airplane stunts, an extras-galore riot scene and that exploding football field (or as I call it, my excuse for never, ever partaking in a Thanksgiving game of two-hand touch again).
"With Chris Nolan, as much as we can physically do inside of that lens is where he would like to go," says Tom Struthers, the film's stunt coordinator.
In addition to a look at Gotham's underground sewer system, Nolan reveals that Batman will also be getting a bigger and more tech-modern Bat Cave. The Bat, Bruce's new flying vehicle that Bale deems "a wonderful new gadget," gets some screen time zooming over cars and buildings (where is that thing in traffic when you need it, by the way?).
"Chris was able to amp up the stakes for this last movie and really take it to places that I don't think anyone's expecting," Anne Hathaway says of the film's overall impact.
"It's the true completion," Bale agrees. "It takes everything to a whole new level."
Tell us what you think of the "Dark Knight Rises" featurette in the comments or on Twitter!
