Nolan gets sketchy

In theaters Friday: The Day the Earth Stood Still, Doubt

New on DVD: The Dark Knight, Horton Hears a Who!

This is a great week for fans of The Dark Knight. Not only did the stellar summer blockbuster arrive on DVD and Blu-Ray yesterday, but USA Today reports that director and co-writer Chris Nolan is sketching outlines for a potential Part 3. Again, Nolan reiterates that he won’t complete a third Batman movie unless the story is there and he loves the script, but at least the guy is sitting down and contemplating it, right? Having earned $1 billion worldwide at the box office, I can imagine studio executives calling Nolan every couple of hours asking how the outline is coming. “Do you need anything, Mr. Nolan? Muffin, latte? Are you comfortable, Mr. Nolan?”

Nolan knows that Part 3 of a trilogy is almost always a letdown, so he may not direct one. I’m sure Warner Bros. will plow ahead with more Batman movies, regardless, so let’s just hope he comes back for one more ride because Batman Begins and The Dark Knight were both a lot of fun. Here are some things—and people—I would like to see in the next one.

Critics are howling that it will be impossible to replace Heath Ledger’s Joker as a villain. Well, I’m not in that camp because in the movies, nothing is impossible, but there is a percentage play here that will increase Nolan’s odds of pulling off a second sequel. Instead of trying to replace The Joker with a bigger, badder villain, don’t replace him at all. Replace The Joker with a void. That’s right, no villain! At least, not a traditional one.

Given how The Dark Knight ends, Part 3 should begin with Batman on the run, and his goal of the film is to clear his name so he can fight crime in Gotham forever. But at the start he is the villain, hunted by the law, including a brilliant federal agent hired to bring in the masked menace, the “cop-killer” known as Batman…dead or alive. This federal agent should be a modern Sherlock Holmes, a genius who can solve any crime and enjoys playing mind games with his prey. He’s The Riddler! As he tracks Batman, Bruce Wayne must go underground for his own detective work trying to stop a new Zodiac-style serial killer in Gotham, one who leaves behind clues and puzzles about his next victims. While The Riddler is after Batman, both are trying to solves these puzzles and nab the serial killer, and Batman must do it first to clear his name. The key is making Part 3 a true crime mystery. The identity of the serial killer should not be revealed till the very end. So replacing The Joker in my villain void is The Riddler, a decent guy doing something the audience doesn’t like, Batman, who we know is good but the populace of Gotham despises, and a serial killer with all of two minutes of screen time at the end of the movie.

For The Riddler I like Paul Bettany or Jonathan Rhys Myers. Nolan loves to cast Brits and both these guys can appear intelligent and frightening at the same exact time.

As for who should play the serial killer, a huge name in a tiny cameo could be kind of fun. Nolan has worked with Hugh Jackman before, and seeing him and Christian Bale go at it for the last two minutes of the film like they did in The Prestige would be a great, unexpected climax to the film. Or I think it could be a little known actor, someone who could fly under the radar without paparazzi following him and film his scenes in secret. Someone like Jackie Earle Haley . Secrecy is key.

The Dark Knight was about chaos. That film began with the Batman logo emerging from a giant fireball. Part 3 should be about distractions, smoke and mirrors. Adding to Wayne’s distractions in Part 3 should be a femme fatale. See, The Dark Knight was heavily influenced by crime epics like Michael Mann’s HEAT, so likewise Part 3 needs a predominant influence. Nolan should simply tap into his roots like his modern film noir Memento, a movie edited completely backwards! Like Memento, any Batman film featuring The Riddler should mess with the audience’s head. Like Nolan’s excellent The Prestige, Part 3’s narrative should double-back on itself and use a non-linear plot to maximum effect.

Nothing says film noir like a femme fatale. Catwoman needs to play a minor role—in terms of screen time—but have a major influence on some decision Wayne must make in Part 3; a turning point, or a point of no return. Again, she’s not an arch villain, but a shade of gray, a distraction. Batman’s struggle here is “Can he actually shove away the rest of his life, his social life, his business, his heart and soul—perhaps at the very risk of it—to protect Gotham?” Catwoman here would be toned down, and a potential love interest for Wayne. No ears. No whip. She’s what Batman could become if he tossed out all his rules and dispensed justice and revenge however he felt like it. And she’s a rich socialite by day and a burglar by night who gets under his skin in more ways than one. I think either Rhona Mitra or Emily Blunt would be perfect.

What about you? What characters and actors would you like to see in another Nolan-directed Batman movie?