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This coming summer to the U.S., don’t miss the chance to bring home GNOMEO & JULIET - the hilarious twist on William Shakespeare’s legendary tale Romeo & Juliet as you’ve never seen it before, perfect for the whole family. Enter the secret world of garden gnomes and meet two adorable gnomes from completely different worlds who fight the odds to be together. From a director of Shrek 2, and featuring fun, all-new music by Sir Elton John, the out-of-the-ordinary animated comedy GNOMEO & JULIET releases on Blu-ray™, Blu-ray 3D™, DVD, Movie Download and On-Demand – May 24, 2011.
Uniquely packaged with families’ top of mind, GNOMEO & JULIET will be made available for purchase by Walt Disney Studios as either a 3-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray 3D + DVD with Digital Copy), a 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray 2D + DVD) and/or a 1-Disc DVD. Disney Blu-ray Combo Packs provide families with an enhanced entertainment experience – with the value and flexibility to enjoy your favorite movies on a variety of platforms of choice.
And for those who enjoy to learn more about the making of the film, GNOMEO & JULIET discs come enclosed with never-before-seen bonus features including “Elton Builds A Garden,” “Frog talk with Ashley Jensen,”, “Crocodile Rock Music Video featuring Elton John and Nelly Furtado.” And for those who purchase the Blu-ray Disc, it includes hours of extra exclusive bonus features including alternate endings, deleted scenes and more.
GNOMEO & JULIET is brought to life by the extraordinary voices of Golden Globe nominee James McAvoy (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) as Gnomeo; Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) as Juliet; Academy Award winner Michael Caine (Inception) as Lord Redbrick; Jason Statham (The Trasnsporter franchise) as Tybalt; Ashley Jensen (TV’s Ugly Betty) as Nanette; Patrick Stewart (X-Men franchise) as William Shakespeare; Ozzy Osbourne (TV’s The Osbournes) as Fawn and Maggie Smith (Harry Potter franchise) as Lady Blueberry.
Bonus Features: DVD & Movie Download:
• Elton Builds a Garden
• Frog Talk with Ashley Jensen
• “Crocodile Rock” Music Video, featuring Elton John and Nelly Furtado
Blu-ray:
• DVD Bonus plus:
• 2 Alternate Endings with Filmmaker Introductions
• Deleted & Alternate Scenes with Filmmaker Introductions, including: 1 Alternate Opening, 1 Alternate Scene and 6 Deleted Scenes
• The Fawn of Darkness, featuring Ozzy Osbourne
Film Synopsis:
From a director of Shrek 2 comes your chance to step into the secret world of garden gnomes — Gnomeo & Juliet. Perfect for the whole family, this fresh and funny makeover of one of the world’s most timeless stories features music from Sir Elton John, and the voice talents of Emily Blunt, James McAvoy and Sir Michael Caine. Caught up in a feud between neighbors, Gnomeo and Juliet must overcome as many obstacles as their namesakes. But with flamboyant pink flamingos and epic lawnmower races, can this young couple find lasting happiness? Complete with hilarious never-before-seen bonus features, Gnomeo & Juliet is an out-of-the-ordinary animated comedy your entire family will love. We just gnome it!
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 42 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux
Black Swan (2010) Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes) MPAA – R for strong sexual content, disturbing violent images, language and some drug use DIRECTOR: Darren Aronofsky WRITERS: Mark Heyman, Andrés Heinz, and John McLaughlin; from a story by Andrés Heinz PRODUCERS: Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, Arnold Messer, and Brian Oliver CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matthew Libatique (D.o.P.) EDITOR: Andrew Weisblum COMPOSER: Clint Mansell
Academy Award winner
DRAMA/THRILLER
Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder, and Benjamin Millepied
Black Swan in an Oscar-winning psychological thriller directed by Darren Aronofsky. It is the story of a ballerina descending into delusion and paranoia as opening night nears and the pressure to be perfect builds. Black Swan isn’t entirely satisfying, except for the dark and gleaming magic director Darren Aronofsky and star Natalie Portman make.
Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a ballerina in a prestigious New York City ballet company. Her life is completely consumed with dance, and she lives with her obsessive mother, the former ballerina Erica Sayers (Barbara Hershey), who exerts a suffocating control over her daughter. Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel), the artistic director of her ballet company, decides to make Swan Lake the opening production of their new ballet season. Thomas wants to replace prima ballerina, Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder), and needs to cast a new principal dancer. But this new lead must be able to portray both the innocent and fragile White Swan and her sensual evil twin, the Black Swan.
Nina is Thomas’ first choice to play the coveted role of the Swan Queen, but Nina has competition. A new dancer named Lily (Mila Kunis) impresses Thomas as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play the White Swan with innocence and grace and also capture the guile and sensuality of the Black Swan. Nina is a perfect fit for the White Swan, but bad girl Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. The two young dancers become friends, but as opening night approaches, that friendship twists into a treacherous rivalry. Nina struggles to access the dark side within her that will allow her to depict the Black Swan with perfection, but her new reckless behavior threatens to destroy her.
Black Swan is indeed a good movie; in fact, it is sometimes riveting, but not because of the writing. The script is shallow, and the screenwriters put the onus on the viewers to accept the great leaps of faith the writers make with the development of Nina Sayers. The depictions of her delusions and paranoia often seem contrived, but the writers handle Nina better than they do the other characters.
Vincent Cassel’s Thomas Leroy is such a stereotype that you can see Cassel fighting onscreen to make his character real or tangible rather than just be a type. Barbara Hershey is more successful in making Erica Sayers a character that electrifies the story every time she appears, but Erica is really a tired stage mother type. Mila Kunis is blood sugar sex magic as Lily, but I get the feeling that the screenwriters were afraid of where this character could take the story. Lily often seems like spicy seasoning overused in some places and woefully underutilized in others.
Black Swan’s success is in Natalie Portman and in the way Darren Aronofsky uses the camera to drink in every bit of Portman’s virtuoso performance. This duo makes Black Swan wonderfully creepy, almost always managing to stop whenever the entire thing seems on the verge of turning campy. Portman is passionate when being passionate is better than being intense. Black Swan looks good under Aronofsky’s bold direction. Watching this film, I believed that I could see him with a handheld camera just outside the picture frame gliding behind Portman.
Perhaps it is Aronofsky chasing Portman that makes this movie feel so wildly melodramatic. Everything that is so attractively lurid, sensational, and bracing about Black Swan is because of this director-star pairing made in heaven.
8 of 10 A
NOTES: 2011 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Natalie Portman); 1 nominations: “Best Motion Picture of the Year” (Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver, and Scott Franklin), “Best Achievement in Cinematography” (Matthew Libatique), “Best Achievement in Directing” (Darren Aronofsky), and “Best Achievement in Editing” (Andrew Weisblum)
2011 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best Actress” (Natalie Portman); 11 nominations: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects,” “Best Cinematography” (Matthew Libatique), “Best Costume Design” (Amy Westcott), “Best Editing” (Andrew Weisblum), “Best Film,” “Best Make Up/Hair,” “Best Production Design” (Thérèse DePrez and Tora Peterson), “Best Screenplay-Original” (Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, and John J. McLaughlin), “Best Sound,” “Best Supporting Actress” (Barbara Hershey), and “David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction” (Darren Aronofsky)
2011 Golden Globes: 1 win “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Natalie Portman); 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Darren Aronofsky), “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (Mila Kunis)
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE 40TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION ON BLU-RAY™ MAY 31
Star Malcolm McDowell Feted Worldwide
Special Anniversary Screenings at Cannes Film Festival and New York’s The Museum of Modern Art
Burbank, Calif., March 31, 2011 – Stanley Kubrick was one of the great filmmakers of our time and his profound influence on motion pictures continues to this day. His 1971 film, A Clockwork Orange, starring Malcolm McDowell, portrayed an oppressive lawless society where man was reduced to little more than a machine. The film introduced into popular culture the concept of “ultra-violence,” as singing, tap-dancing, derby-topped hooligan Alex (McDowell) has a “good time” – at the tragic expense of others. His journey from amoral punk to brainwashed proper citizen and back again forms the dynamic arc of Kubrick’s future-shock vision of Anthony Burgess’ novel.
This was a powerful film made by a director at the height of his artistry and its impact generated worldwide controversy. Forty years later, the world is a different place but the film’s power still entices, shocks and mesmerizes today.
On May 31, Warner Home Video will honor Kubrick and the film with A Clockwork Orange 40th Anniversary Edition on Blu-ray ($34.99 SRP). The two-disc release includes two newly-produced bonus features: Turning Like Clockwork, a 25-minute documentary about the film’s “ultra-violence” and its cultural impact, and a short documentary where Malcolm McDowell reminiscences on working closely with the legendary director. This two-disc edition will also contain the feature-length documentaries, Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures and O Lucky Malcolm! The 40th Anniversary Edition will be packaged in a 40-page Blu-ray book withrare photos and production notes.
McDowell’s Never Apologize will also be released on May 31 for the first time on DVD in the U.S. This spirited documentary pays tribute to British director Lindsay Anderson, who directed the actor in his films If and O Lucky Man and is based on his entertaining London and Edinburgh one-man stage shows. The film weaves McDowell’s experience of working with Anderson as well as tales of Sir Alan Bates, Sir John Gielgud, Sir Laurence Olivier, Bette Davis, Princess Diana, John Ford and Lillian Gish. Never Apologize will sell for $19.97 SRP.
This will be a big year for Malcolm McDowell and A Clockwork Orange. The prestigious Cannes Film Festival will launch the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the release of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece with a special screening of a digitally restored copy of the film, joined by McDowell, Kubrick’s widow Christiane and brother-in-law Jan Harlan, executive producer on several of Kubrick’s films.
Anniversary screenings will continue with a special event May 25 at New York’s The Museum of Modern Art with McDowell participating in a panel discussion. In the early fall, Malcolm McDowell will be feted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences which will include a screening of A Clockwork Orange at AMPAS, Los Angeles.
McDowell stars in the upcoming film Vamps, directed by Amy Heckerling, opening later this year. And Franklin & Bash, the new TNT comedy-drama TV series debuting this summer features McDowell as the head of a buttoned-down law firm joined by two young, fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants street lawyers who cause a seismic culture clash within the firm. He will also be featured in the upcoming film Silent Hill Revelation, the sequel to the 2006 hit Silent Hill.
Continuing the celebration, WHV will also release the Stanley Kubrick: Limited Edition Collection on Blu-ray ($148.95 SRP) May 31 -- an unprecedented 9-film, 10-disc collection, which contains every film the director made since1960. The collection features the film and bonus content from A Clockwork Orange 40th Anniversary Edition, the Blu-ray debuts of Lolita and Barry Lyndon, as well as the feature films Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut. The Blu-ray collection will be elegantly boxed in new book-style premium packaging and will include a 40-page hard-cover book that explores the breadth of genres and themes in Kubrick’s work. The same group of films will be available on DVD in Stanley Kubrick: The Essential Collection ($74.92 SRP), which also includes a 40-page book.
A Clockwork Orange 40th Anniversary Edition is also available On Demand and for Download from iTunes™, including bonus iTunes™ extra content. Additionally, Lolita, Barry Lyndon, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut, and Never Apologize will be available On Demand and for Download.
A Clockwork Orange 40TH Anniversary Edition on Blu-ray
Causing major controversy when first released, the film garnered four Academy Award® nominations – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Screenplay – and is #4 on AFI’s Top 10 List of Best Science Fiction Films of All Time.
Disc 1:
· Feature Film
· New Bonus Features
o Malcolm McDowell Looks Back: Malcolm McDowell reflects on his experience working with Kubrick on one of the seminal films of the 1970s
o Turning like Clockwork considers the film’s “ultra-violence” and its cultural impact
· Plus
o Commentary by Malcolm McDowell and historian Nick Redman
o Documentary Still Tickin’: The Return of Clockwork Orange
o Great Bolshy Yarblockos!: Making A Clockwork Orange
o Theatrical trailer
Disc 2:
· Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (Produced and directed by Jan Harlan, the brother of Christiane Kubrick, Stanley Kubrick's widow). Kubrick’s career comes into sharp focus in this compelling documentary narrated by Tom Cruise. Fascinating footage glimpses Kubrick in his early years, at work on film sets and at home, augmented by candid commentary from collaborators, colleagues and family.
· O Lucky Malcolm! Documentary about the life and career of actor Malcolm McDowell produced and directed by Jan Harlan and edited by Katia de Vidas.
A Clockwork Orange 40th Anniversary Blu-ray Book
Street Date: May 31, 2011
$34.99 SRP
Catalog # 1000169336
UPC # 883929157761
Stanley Kubrick: Limited Edition Collection (Blu-ray)
Street Date: May 31, 2011
$148.95 SRP
Catalog # 1000175414
UPC # 883929165834
Stanley Kubrick: The Essential Collection (DVD)
Street Date: May 31, 2011
$74.92 SRP
Catalog # 1000175413
UPC # 883929165827
Never Apologize (DVD)
Street Date: May 31, 2011
$19.97 SRP
UPC # 883929166565
Note: All enhanced content listed above is subject to change.
Warner Home Video Blu-ray™ Discs offer resolution six times higher than standard definition DVDs, as well as extraordinarily vibrant contrast and color and beautifully crisp sound. The format also provides a higher level of interactivity, with instant access to extra features via a seamless menu bar where viewers can enjoy features without leaving or interrupting the film.
About Warner Home Video
With operations in 90 international territories, Warner Home Video, a division of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc., commands the largest home entertainment distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video's film library is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Video and New Line Cinema.
About Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group (WBHEG) brings together WarnerBros. Entertainment's home video, digital distribution, interactive entertainment, technical operations and anti-piracy businesses in order to maximize current and next-generation distribution scenarios. An industry leader since its inception, WBHEG oversees the global distribution of content through packaged goods (Blu-ray Disc and DVD) and digital media in the form of electronic sell-through and video-on-demand via cable, satellite, online and mobile channels, and is a significant developer and publisher for console and online video game titles worldwide. WBHEG distributes its product through third party retail partners and licensees, as well as directly to consumers through WBShop.com.
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 145 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK Running time: 136 minutes (2 hours, 16 minutes) MPAA – R (original rating – X) PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Stanley Kubrick WRITER: Stanley Kubrick (based upon the novel by Anthony Burgess) CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Alcott EDITOR: Bill Butler
Academy Award nominee
SCI-FI/DRAMA
Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Sheila Raynor, Philip Stone, Adrienne Corri, Mariam Karlin, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke, James Marcus, Anthony Sharp, and Godfrey Quigley
The occasion upon which a film surpasses its source material both in terms of quality but in its points, ideas, and implications is indeed rare. That the late Stanley Kubrick’s (1928-1999) A Clockwork Orange is one of those occasions is so astounding because its source material, the novel by the late British novelist and critics, Anthony Burgess (1917-1993), A Clockwork Orange (1962), is itself an important work of fiction.
In a near future, gangs of amoral young boys roam the streets of England beating each other and searching out victims for robbery and rape. Alex de Large (Malcolm McDowell), a teddy-boy hooligan who wears a derby as part of his gang costume, stomps, whomps, steals, sings, and tap-dances while he violates others. A leader of a gang of droogs (his mates), Alex accidentally kills a woman at the beginning of a planned night of violent debauchery, and his droogs turn on him leaving him wounded for the police. While in prison, Alex volunteers for an experimental program that, through drugs and video shock therapy, brainwashes him to feel intense nausea and an urgent need to die, whenever he has ideas about sex and violence – an experiment which raises hard questions in a society rife with criminal violence and political corruption.
In A Clockwork Orange, Kubrick used vivid sets, music, words, and feelings to create a tour de force of pointed social satire. The innovative way of using light and flamboyant color cinematography to heighten the intensity of the violent scenes made A Clock Orange highly controversial when it was first released in 1971. Although the film is marked by good performances, one of them being particularly good, that of Malcolm McDowell as Alex, A Clockwork Orange is completely and totally Stanley Kubrick’s film. His presence, his touch, his demands, his direction, and his will bleed from the pores of every frame.
Kubrick also wrote a great script. Not only are particular words important, but also their placement and context within a given line of speech, how the actor delivers them and when determines the character, setting, and plot down to the smallest details. Words are as brilliantly, visually descriptive as the sets, lighting, and photography. What we hear in the words and how we hear and perceive them are as important as what we see.
The film may be the best English language satirical film ever made. A Clockwork Orange examines the family unit, crime and punishment, how governments often shape law enforcement so that it serves their interests rather than that of the public good, and examines free will among others things. Perhaps, the film saves its most pointed commentary for the struggle between the selfish individual unit and group unit that demands conformity. It’s a war of clumsy skirmishes and bloody battles, but there is no end to this conflict. There aren’t any answers, easy or otherwise. Because Kubrick tackled such ideas about society and individual freedom with such visual originality, A Clockwork Orange remains one of the great works in cinematic history.
10 of 10
NOTES: 1972 Academy Awards: 4 nominations: “Best Picture” (Stanley Kubrick), “Best Director” (Stanley Kubrick), “Best Film Editing” (Bill Butler), and “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium” (Stanley Kubrick)
1973 BAFTA Awards: 7 nominations: “Best Art Direction” (John Barry), “Best Cinematography” (John Alcott), “Best Direction” (Stanley Kubrick), “Best Film,” “Best Film Editing” (Bill Butler), “Best Screenplay” (Stanley Kubrick), and “Best Sound Track” (Brian Blamey, John Jordan, and Bill Rowe)
1972 Golden Globes: 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Stanley Kubrick), “Best Motion Picture – Drama,” and “Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama” (Malcolm McDowell)
Malcolm McDowell’s Never Apologize will also be released on May 31 for the first time on DVD in the U.S. This spirited documentary pays tribute to British director Lindsay Anderson, who directed the actor in his films If and O Lucky Man and is based on his entertaining London and Edinburgh one-man stage shows. The film weaves McDowell’s experience of working with Anderson as well as tales of Sir Alan Bates, Sir John Gielgud, Sir Laurence Olivier, Bette Davis, Princess Diana, John Ford and Lillian Gish. Never Apologize will sell for $19.97 SRP.
McDowell stars in the upcoming film Vamps, directed by Amy Heckerling, opening later this year. And Franklin & Bash, the new TNT comedy-drama TV series debuting this summer features McDowell as the head of a buttoned-down law firm joined by two young, fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants street lawyers who cause a seismic culture clash within the firm. He will also be featured in the upcoming film Silent Hill Revelation, the sequel to the 2006 hit Silent Hill.
Never Apologize (DVD)
Street Date: May 31, 2011
$19.97 SRP
UPC # 883929166565
DREAMWORKS ANIMATION’S “KUNG FU PANDA 2” TEAMS WITH ZYNGA FOR FIRST-EVER IN-GAME INTEGRATION IN CITYVILLE
“Kung Fu Panda 2” Offers Millions of CityVille Players a Unique Item and Quest In Celebration of the Film's May 26th Theatrical Release
GLENDALE and SAN FRANCISCO – May 20, 2011 – DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. (Nasdaq: DWA), Paramount Pictures and Zynga (http://www.zynga.com/) today announced a new in-game item and quest for players of the popular game CityVille to promote the opening of Kung Fu Panda 2, which debuts in theaters on Thursday, May 26th. This is the first-ever in-game integration within CityVille, Facebook’s largest and most popular application.
Starting today, CityVille’s more than 88 million monthly players (according to AppData) will be able to place a Kung Fu Panda 2 themed drive-in movie theater in their city. Players who place the theater will also receive collection items, members of Kung Fu Panda’s Furious Five: Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Viper and Monkey. When all five items are collected, an exclusive Po the Panda statue will be unlocked and available to players as a reward for completing the Kung Fu Panda 2 quest.
“Nearly a third of all Kung Fu Panda fans on Facebook have also played CityVille, so the integration is a natural fit and something we think our players will love,” said Manny Anekal, Global Director of Brand Advertising at Zynga. “It’s important that we collaborate with innovative brands like DreamWorks Animation that resonate with and are meaningful to our players and enhance their game play.”
“Our exclusive integration of Kung Fu Panda 2 in Zynga's CityVille gives millions of players a fun and deeply interactive way of connecting with Po and the Furious Five,” said Jason Alex, Head of Online Marketing at DreamWorks Animation. “Po journeys on a memorable kung fu quest in the movie and through this online challenge we’re able to reward fans for further engaging with the characters they love.”
The Kung Fu Panda 2 quest begins today and runs through May 31st on CityVille.
This announcement follows recent Zynga movie-themed integrations with Paramount Pictures to bring Rango into the untamed wilderness of FrontierVille and with DreamWorks Animations on Megamind, where Megamind launched his very own “Mega-Farm” within FarmVille. In the first 24-hour promotion period more than 9 million people engaged with the “Mega-Farm.”
About Zynga
Zynga Inc. is the world’s largest social game developer with more than 250 million monthly active users playing their games which include CityVille, FarmVille, FrontierVille, Words With Friends, Mafia Wars, Zynga Poker, Café World, and Treasure Isle. Zynga Inc. games are available on a number of global platforms including Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo, the iPad, the iPhone and Android devices. Through Zynga.org, Zynga players have raised more than $10 million for world social causes. Zynga Inc. is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, visit http://www.zynga.com/ or http://www.zynga.org/.
About DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation creates high-quality entertainment, including CG animated feature films, television specials and series, live entertainment properties and online virtual worlds, meant for audiences around the world. The Company has world-class creative talent, a strong and experienced management team and advanced filmmaking technology and techniques. DreamWorks Animation has been named one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” by FORTUNE® Magazine for three consecutive years. In 2011, DreamWorks Animation ranks #10 on the list. All of DreamWorks Animation’s feature films are now being produced in 3D. The Company has theatrically released a total of 21 animated feature films, including the franchise properties of Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon.
About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group and Paramount Television & Digital Distribution.
Filming will take place on three continents, with an all-star cast working under the direction of Christopher Nolan.
BURBANK, CA, May 19, 2011 - Principal photography has begun on Warner Bros. Pictures' and Legendary Pictures' "The Dark Knight Rises," the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy.
Leading an all-star international cast, Oscar® winner Christian Bale ("The Fighter") again plays the dual role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.
The film also stars Anne Hathaway, as Selina Kyle; Tom Hardy, as Bane; Oscar® winner Marion Cotillard ("La Vie en Rose"), as Miranda Tate; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as John Blake.
Returning to the main cast, Oscar® winner Michael Caine ("The Cider House Rules") plays Alfred; Gary Oldman is Commissioner Gordon; and Oscar® winner Morgan Freeman ("Million Dollar Baby") reprises the role of Lucius Fox.
In helming "The Dark Knight Rises," Christopher Nolan is utilizing IMAX® cameras even more extensively than he did on "The Dark Knight," which had marked the first time ever that a major feature film was partially shot with IMAX® cameras. The results were so spectacular that the director wanted to expand the use of the large-format cameras for this film.
The screenplay for "The Dark Knight Rises" is written by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer. The film is being produced by Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Charles Roven, who previously teamed on "Batman Begins" and the record-breaking blockbuster "The Dark Knight." The executive producers are Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan, Kevin De La Noy and Thomas Tull, with Jordan Goldberg serving as co-producer. "The Dark Knight" is based upon characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by Bob Kane.
Behind the scenes, "The Dark Knight Rises" reunites the director with several of his longtime collaborators, all of whom worked together on the "The Dark Knight." The creative team includes director of photography Wally Pfister, who recently won an Oscar® for his work on Nolan's "Inception"; production designer Nathan Crowley; editor Lee Smith; and Oscar®-winning costume designer Lindy Hemming ("Topsy-Turvy"). In addition, Paul Franklin and Chris Corbould, who both won Oscars® for the effects in "Inception," will supervise the visual and special effects, respectively. The music will be composed by Oscar® winner Hans Zimmer ("The Lion King").
The locations for "The Dark Knight Rises" span three continents and include the American cities of Pittsburgh, New York and Los Angeles, as well as sites in India, England and Scotland.
"The Dark Knight Rises" is a presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures, in association with Legendary Pictures. Slated for release on July 20, 2012, the film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
