14 DAY TRIAL // Although rumor has had it that a sequel to the highly successful “Dark Knight” would drop in 2011, with an estimated start production date for the summer of 2010, actor Michael Caine is now saying fans should not get ahead of themselves with anticipation. Christopher Nolen has his plate full right now, which means that there will be no Batman movies in the immediate future, the veteran actor adds.
Speculation about a sequel to the successful 2008 film first began when another member of the cast let it slip that there might be more to the franchise than fans believed, meaning that it was nowhere near over. Aaron Eckhart revealed in an interview that Two-Face would return to the silver screen as a villain in an upcoming Batman film, which virtually shattered all previous theories that Warner would drop the franchise following Heath Ledger’s sudden death. Now, Michael Caine is telling that patience must be exercised.
“[Are you not expecting there to be a third Batman?] Well Christopher [Nolan, the director] is doing a picture called ‘Inception’ with Leonardo DiCaprio which I saw on the Internet. So I imagine another Batman is quite a long way away.” Caine reveals in an interview with Collider.
Of course, the actor adds, if the movie is made, he truly hopes he will be cast in it again, because working with Nolan ranks as one of the best experiences the actor has had in his long career. Plus, Caine admits he’s signed for three Batman films, which means he will be returning on the screen as the butler, when the third installment gets greenlit.
The one thing that Caine regrets about a possible third Batman film is that Ledger will no longer appear in it. Speaking of the late actor’s Oscar win for Best Supporting Actor, Michael Caine shares that no other nominee deserved it more than him, since he worked really hard to capture the essence of The Joker.
“I met him on the set where he invades the party we’re having. I’m standing in front of the lift and I’m expected to greet people and there’s all these gangs behind him and he came in. But, before that, I’d met him obviously on the set and we were chatting. He had this make-up on and I was saying how fantastic I thought it was. We were just chatting quietly and then they said, ‘We’re ready to shoot.’ And I had never seen the performance. We were just talking, you know. And then he came out the elevator and I was absolutely stunned by the way he did it and the energy that went into it. And then when I saw the movie, there’s an opening monologue and a closing monologue that he does which I felt if anybody’s going to better that and get an Academy Award above him, I would pay good money to see that and nobody did beat him. I’m so pleased.” Caine explains for the aforementioned source.