THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (News Update)

• THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

Entertainment Weekly‘s Summer 2012 movie preview issue features Christian Bale and Anne Hathaway as their costumed counterparts in The Dark Knight Rises on the cover  along with numerous additional still frames from filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s hotly-anticipated Batman trilogy finale and interviews with such people as Tom Hardy (who’s playing Bane, of course) and Hathaway.

Bats gots a BAT-Pad

Most of the complaints concerning Bane’s voice stem from screenings of the Dark Knight Rises‘ prologue last December, however, the incomplete sound mixing for that scene in general was the real problem in need of correction. S

Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle 

till, here’s an excerpt from the EW report, where Hardy addresses the issue:

“It’s a risk, because we could be laughed at — or it could be very fresh and exciting,” says Hardy, adding that the voice he developed was influenced by many factors, including a desire to honor the comic book character’s brains and Caribbean heritage. “The audience mustn’t be too concerned about the mumbly voice,” says Hardy. “As the film progresses, I think you’ll be able to tune to its setting.”

Bane looking to buy some Stock

What with his threatening mask – which costume designer Lindy Hemming has said was inspired by a silverback gorilla’s fangs – and Hardy’s intimidating screen presence, there’s good reason to think Bane will be a worthy foe, as presented in Dark Knight Rises.

Besides that, Bane has traditionally relied more on his sheer physical presence in order to get under the Caped Crusader’s skin anyway (unlike the Joker in The Dark Knight).

Hathaway on the other hand spoke about her prep work for playing Selina Kyle, who Nolan describes as having “an underlying darkness” in Dark Knight Rises:

“I had to physically transform. Chris [Nolan] sat me down at the beginning and said, ‘Joseph Gordon-Levitt did all of his own fighting in ‘Inception’. That one zero-gravity fight? He trained for two months.’ I basically left his office and went to the gym and just came out about five minutes ago.”

As evidenced by reactions to the most recent promo image of Hathaway in her Catwoman duds, no amount of physical training will seemingly be enough to ward off complaints about the character’s high-tech goggles as “cat ears” accessory (or her spiked boots) in Dark Knight Rises. That is, no one’s really going to change their mind about the look either way, until they see some actual footage of Hathaway in action.

If nothing else, the actress has already demonstrated that she can be sultry and seductive onscreen as is called for by a classic femme fatale like Selina Kyle.

Could JGL just be a Cop??

As for all you readers out there who have been wondering when we might get to see said new footage from The Dark Knight Rises - including a better look at both Hardy and Hathaway in the film – you can probably expect a new trailer to premiere in a few weeks’ time.

The Dark Knight Rises will open in theaters around July 20th, 2012.