Batman 3 Rumor Mill: Nolan Using Inception as an IMAX Guinea Pig? Possibly. Megan Fox as Catwoman? Not So Much

There is no script (that we know of), there has been no announcement by Warner Bros., and yet the rumors surrounding the inevitable third installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise continue to persist. A big reason for this is most definitely because the amazing teaser trailer for Inception that was released a few days ago. Everybody wants a piece of Chris Nolan. First I’ll get the ridiculous out of the way. Megan Fox is NOT going to be cast as Catwoman in Batman 3, despite recent reports confirming that the actress has already been signed to play antagonist Selina Kyle. I honestly don’t know how the London-based gossip rag, The Sun, even cooks up this stuff. Remember a few months back when they claimed that Eddie Murphy had be cast as The Riddler? Yeah, I know.

What’s even more ridiculous than the thought of Christopher Nolan casting Fox in one of his films, is the absolute certainty of The Sun’s reporting. It’s not like they labeled this as a rumor, they flat out “report” her casting as fact; as well as claiming that Batman 3 is set to begin shooting in 2011. So instead of having a press conference to make a this anticipated announcement that the entire world has been waiting for, Warner Bros. and Nolan decided to leak the news to The Sun? Yeah right. I think it’s safe to say that any story surrounding the entertainment world that comes from this publication is utterly and completely false.

Fox’ reps were contacted about the rumor and immediately denied the claim, though they did say that Fox loves Nolan, saying:

“Megan is a huge fan of the Batman movies and of director Christopher Nolan, but these discussions have not taken place.”

And not that Megan Fox is absolutely terrible. She’s a decent actress and I think receives a lot of unjustified criticism for her supposed lack of acting ability. But lets look at the actresses that Nolan has chosen to work with thus far:

-Scarlett Johansson, The Prestige: Four-time Golden Globe nominee (Lost in Translation, Girl With a Pearl Earing, A Love Song for Bobby Long, Match Point)
-Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Dark Knight: Two-time Golden Globe nominee (Secretary, Sherry Baby)
-Ellen Page, Inception: Academy Award nominee (Juno)
-Marion Cotillard, Inception: Academy Award winner (La Vie en Rose)

Nolan seems to choose actresses that have proven dramatic ability and credibility for each of his films. Not the eye candy of the Transformers franchise. But hey, Megan Fox would look super hot in black leather, right?

So now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to the Batman 3 rumor that could prove to be true, as well as really awesome. Harry at Ain’t It Cool News posted an interesting article a couple days ago, claiming that one of the reasons Christopher Nolan chose to make Inception before delving into Batman 3 (besides the creative break from the Bat universe) is because it would allow he and his team time to develop rigs  and newer, smaller cameras to allow him to shoot the third Batman entirely in IMAX format. You may recall last summer sitting in an IMAX theater watching the breathtaking visual crispness of The Dark Knight. That’s because Nolan used IMAX technology to film about 25 minutes of the film. Those 25 minutes were all action sequences filled with car chases and explosions because the IMAX cameras are extremely loud, heavy, large and can only shoot 2 minutes of film at a time; so it would be nearly impossible to film a scene of dialogue with a roaring camera engine as background sound.

Back in 2007, Nolan mentioned to USA Today that he had always dreamed of making an entire film with IMAX technology, saying:

“There’s simply nothing like seeing a movie that way… I wish I could shoot the entire thing this way.”

Alex Billington at FirstShowing.net said that an IMAX rep told him, regarding Inception, that:

“Inception is definitely one of the titles that we are looking at for 2010.”

So that would mean that Nolan is definitely using IMAX technology on Inception; to the degree of how much of the film will be shot that way or if he has officially developed new cameras, has yet to be confirmed. So at this point it’s all speculation and hearsay. But this is a very positive sign for all you Bat fans who are concerned that Nolan has not “officially” signed on to Batman 3. As I’ve claimed for months now, the fact that Nolan hasn’t given Warner Bros. a definitive “No” answer, on top of the fact that they have not hired a new director, means that he will be back. For a studio to not immediately get the ball rolling for a sequel to the second-highest grossing movie of all time, means that they are bending to the will of the creator of that film.

What Do You Think? Discuss.