Approaching a ‘Period’ Film: “I really wanted to avoid the sort of alienation factor with period films, this barrier that often exists because of the formality or the sort of starch quality of period films," said Nolan. "A lot of that is in the cinematography and the style in which the film is shot. A lot of it is also the performances. We talked, Christian and I and everybody, we talked about this in rehearsals, a lot of actors' ideas of how Victorians behaved is simply having watched other actors who simply watched other actors, doing this kind of process of compounding artifice in a way. We don't have much usable film or recordings of people of that era, where there is film recording. It's not spontaneous, it's not casual, it's not real life - it's performance. We decided to take the approach of just treating it as a contemporary story.”
Finding the Right Structure for The Prestige: Nolan says, “It was quite challenging to find the right structure and it took a lot of time. We really spent years working on the script. It required interlocking framing devices and interlocking voiceovers, combined with the notion of structuring using the three act structure of the trick. It took a long time, the key being the need to express multiple points of view purposefully and clearly. It was a difficult script to write.”
The Supporting Cast: “They were an incredible bunch. I mean, [David] Bowie, particularly, was a very essential figure in that casting because Tesla's a small part, but a very important part in the film. The audience has to see him on screen and immediately invest a tremendous amount of belief in his abilities as some kind of, well, magician, wizard. I felt that to get a movie star to do that would be very distracting. Bowie's presence and charisma comes from a different place. It's harder to define, but very palpable. I'm very lucky to have convinced him to do it.”
Up Next – Nolan’s Second Batman Film: Nolan revealed he’s just finishing up the script, with shooting expected to begin on The Dark Knight in early 2007. Asked how nervous he is about doing another Batman movie, Nolan responded, “I mean it's a pretty dumb thing of me to do, to go back and try and do it again. But you like the challenge. I just found the world and the characters pretty fascinating. We felt that you just wanted to push with on the story, really. But it'll be a huge challenge. We were very happy with the way the first film worked out and then was perceived. So yeah, it's an enormous risk. That's really what you have to be doing as a filmmaker, I think, is taking enormous risks.”
And those rumors that have Jake Gyllenhaal close to signing on to play Harvey 'Two-Face' Dent? Nolan laughed, “Not very close at all. I mean, I haven't thought about casting at all. Other than Heath [Ledger] was a particular case in point because he just became a possibility and I jumped on that because he was the guy I needed. But I haven't finished the script yet. There'll be plenty of time for that.”
At least the pre-production process for the second Batman movie is easier than it was on Batman Begins. “There are certain things that obviously you're not having to worry about and spend time on. We've already made the Batmobile. We already have the main members of the cast. So, yeah. But frankly, the new film poses all kinds of new challenges so it'll be just as tricky in its own way.”
