Summary:
- Jonathan Nolan initially hesitated about Bane as the main villain in “The Dark Knight Rises,” preferring the Riddler for the role.
- However, he recognized the need for a different direction, considering the impact of Heath Ledger’s Joker.
- Ultimately, “The Dark Knight Rises” saw Tom Hardy as Bane, fulfilling Nolan’s vision for a post-apocalyptic narrative shift.
Jonathan Nolan recently admitted on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that he initially had reservations about Bane being the main antagonist in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises.
Co-writing with David S. Goyer and his brother, director Christopher Nolan, Jonathan revealed his preference for the Riddler to take on the lead villain role in the trilogy’s final installment.
“Bane came out of a conversation with David and Chris,” Jonathan explained, expressing his uncertainty about the decision during the story stage.
He added, “I [didn’t want it to be] back seat driving,” recognizing Christopher’s understanding of the narrative direction, particularly in light of Heath Ledger’s iconic portrayal of the Joker in the previous film.
He continued, “I started to play with the idea of the Riddler and what could be done with that character. But it did feel like close enough to the space of what we had done with Heath, and you really needed to [change direction].
There’s another genre shift there. One of the things I was excited about for The Dark Knight Rises was that if you do a kind of urban crime genre for [The Dark Knight], the third one was a post-apocalyptic film. You sort of go: Batman always saves the day and the city survives. Why can’t we destroy Gotham and see what happens afterwards?”
At first, the director of “The Fallout” wasn’t alone in pushing for the Riddler in Nolan’s third Batman film.
Last September, Goyer shared that a Warner Bros. executive suggested Leonardo DiCaprio for the role at “The Dark Knight” premiere.
However, Nolan opposed building the movie around a single villain and emphasized the need to craft the story naturally.
Ultimately, “The Dark Knight Rises” featured Tom Hardy as Bane, alongside Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne/Batman.
