I was hoping the Inception teaser trailer would keep the Christopher Nolan-obsessed fanboys puzzled and therefore occupied for a while. But someone had to go and spoil the premise of that otherwise cryptic film and now the geeks and gossip rags are back to their old favorite online game: spreading rumors about Batman 3.
British tabloid The Sun has made up a story claiming Megan Fox has “signed on” to play Catwoman, despite the fact that there’s no script to guarantee that such a role will even exist. But hey, Fox News has picked up the “news” so it must be true. Then there’s the Harry Knowles-ignited rumor about the third installment potentially being shot “FULLY” in IMAX.
Certainly speculating about big and highly anticipated movies is fun. Whether we discuss why Nolan shouldn’t even try to follow The Dark Knight or if we write a list of actresses we’d like to see cast as Catwoman, it’s important that we recognize that it’s all just wishes and wonders. And being able to tell the difference between a viable scoop and a rumor is what separates us respectable blogs from the unreputable people at British tabloids and, umm, Fox News (which, like The Sun, is owned by News Corp.).
The only silver lining is those websites that immediately nip such rumors in the butt and then proceed to make fun of the idea further through some kind of list or whatever. Especially when it’s a slow news day, such posts provide good reading.
Check out the film blog responses to today’s ridiculous rumors after the jump:
- Joseph Baxter at The Feed agrees that it’s almost nice to see these sorts of Batman 3 rumors circulating again:
While they were rampant at the end of 2008, amidst more credible ones such as Rachel Weisz’s possible casting, it’s been a while since we heard some off-the-wall, “wtf,” Batman 3 rumors. This latest one, therefore, almost seems like an old friend has come to visit. Of course, it joins some others of its ilk such as the “Cher as Catwoman” rumor and of course, the UK Sun’s previous pre-Christmas masterpiece, “Eddie Murphy as the Riddler and Shia LaBeouf as Robin.” Hey, in the bizarro world where these reports are even close to being truthful, it seems that Batman 3 will be a Transformers reunion.
- Lane Brown at Vulture has one good reason why this rumor is false. And he points out what today is the anniversary of:
The Sun “reports” that Megan Fox has “signed on” to play Catwoman in the next Batman movie, which means that Megan Fox will almost certainly not play Catwoman in any upcoming Batman movie. Also, today is the one-year anniversary of last summer’s made-up rumor about Cher playing Catwoman.
- Kyle Buchanan at Movieline has a list of ways to tell a British tabloid casting rumor is fake. The only one that matters is #5, but here’s the one directly dealing with Batman 3:
1. The rumor in question is about an actor cast in the next Batman film, when even presumptive director Christopher Nolan (currently shooting the Leonardo DiCaprio starrer Inception) has not signed on yet, nor struck a deal to write the script.
- Mark Lisanti, also at Movieline, has a list of other people who won’t be playing Catwoman. Here’s the one that says the most about how these tabloid rumors get started in the first place:
3. Renee Zellweger
Zellweger’s people are still waiting for Warner Bros. executives to return a call from 2002.
Proposed tabloid headline: “Renee Zellweger’s Publicist Promised Us An Exclusive On ‘Bridget Jones 3’ If We’d Float Her Name For Catwoman! So, Zellweger Might Be Catwoman, Maybe!!! OK, We Can’t Do This. We Just Can’t. Let The Daily Mirror Be Their Filthy Little Whore This Time. We’re Going Back To Cosmetology School, This Is Getting Undignified.”
- Mark at I Watch Stuff has come to a conclusion regarding who/what will indeed be playing Catwoman:
To sum things up for those of you who haven’t been following every British tabloid casting announcement, the part of Catwoman will now be played by the ensemble of Angelina Jolie, Cher, Miley Cyrus, Julie Newmar, an actual cat, a CGI cat, a lab-created, actual cat-woman, a lady who just owns a lot of cats, Eddie Murphy, and Megan Fox.
- Todd at IDontLikeYouInThatWay.com guesses how simple and disturbing the Batman 3 plot would be if this rumor were true:
Nobody is reporting this except The Sun, so who knows if this is true or not. If it is, congratulations. 120 pages of Batman jacking off seems like it would be pretty easy to write.
- John at The Movie Blog claims that if the Fox rumor is true then “Santa Claus is real, O.J. didn’t do it and the Oscars love comedies.” Here’s his simple argument:
This is not Michael Bay. Nolan is not all about tits and ass. This is his Batman franchise, and there is no way in hell this genius is going to put Megan Fox in it. Period. End of story. No questions asked.
I simply can not believe how many people I’ve read on the web today that actually believe this tripe.
- David Oliver at CHUD.com says it’s not true unless his site says so:
Now, until you read it from Devin, Nick or some other outlet way, way more reputable than a British rag, make of that what you will. Chalk it up to however you like. I feel I’ve done my civic duty to disseminate info with a flatbed of salt with which to to take it.
- Neil Miller at Film School Rejects has a list of reasons Batman 3 will not be shot completely in IMAX. Most of his arguments have to do with the expense, but his fourth point is still the most important at this point in time:
4. The movie might not happen at all. Through all of this, I think we miss the most obvious points. There is no script, the director has not signed and there has been no official indication that a third Batman movie will happen anytime soon. Sure, it is easy to assume that Warner Bros. will want to make another film and capitalize on the heat generated from The Dark Knight, but that doesn’t mean they will be able to get Chris Nolan back on the horse. He has said time and time again that the story needs to be there. What if it is never there? And if the movie never happens, it can’t be in full IMAX then, can it? I know it’s semantics, but I like to reinforce my arguments — especially when I’m clearly right.
- Alex Billington at FirstShowing isn’t entirely in the doubting boat regarding an all-IMAX Batman:
At this point in time, almost anything we hear about the third Batman is always a rumor, because Chris is 100% dedicated to Inception right now and they haven’t so much as even written a single line of the script yet (or so we’ve heard). But then again, if IMAX is to work with Nolan to develop a camera that is smaller, quiet, and can shoot more than 3 minutes, they might as well start working on it now. Nolan is shooting Inception as we speak and an IMAX rep told me that “Inception is definitely one of the titles that we are looking at for 2010.” I have a feeling that means he’s already shooting with IMAX as much as possible.
- Simon Dang at The Playlist represents the fanbase that wouldn’t even want an all-IMAX Batman:
Rumor has it, Christopher Nolan wants to film the third “Batman” film totally in the IMAX format he toyed with in “The Dark Knight.” As good as those certain scenes looked, we hate to admit the idea of having to watch long features on that wide screen doesn’t sound too appealing.
- Harry Knowles at Ain’t It Cool News pretty much showed us the best way to handle the spreading of an unsourced tip (aka a rumor) in his introductory disclosure. If only all tabloids used this sort of line:
I have to say upfront that the nature of this story is a rumor, not because I don’t have solid sources, I do… but because it could simply NOT WORK OUT. That happens sometimes. It is something that the production team are “considering” - but it is an extremely costly process, but one that I believe we would all love to see happen.
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