In mining the latest Batman-focused issue of Empire, one will come across a few striking comments from Nolan about his future after the conclusion of The Dark Knight franchise, in particular some that make it apparent his future is really quite hazy at the moment.

Giving an update on the Howard Hughes project he’d long circulated as his post-Rises project, Nolan has confirmed that the project has been put to rest. No real reasons are cited, and Nolan jokes about finding “another wealthy, quirky character who’s orphaned at a young age,” but it does leave one wondering what exactly could put a director with unparalleled clout off what was understood to be a passion project, and one that had forward updates as recently as last year. I do hope he clears that one up one day.

Of course the juicier (and far less substantial) bit of the story is Nolan stoking the Bond coals again, this time making it clear it’s very much something he wants to do, and that he’s even in some kind of contact with Bond producers. Lest we think he’ll be hopping aboard particularly soon, Nolan mentions that “it would have to be the right situation and the right time in their cycle of things,” and right now, it ain’t. I would not necessarily take that to mean — as Indiewire does — that it will have to be a post-Craig entry, though it’s not an altogether illogical assumption.

I’ll also note that what we have seen from Dark Knight Rises doesn’t necessarily promise a new frontier of sexuality and shallow romance from the director that would suggest he’s a natural for Bond’s world of bloody hands and sticky sheets, but it at least looks like a baby step in that direction. Even if Nolan never autonomously expands his own world in that direction, perhaps playing in a different sandbox will bring out new things from the Brit.

Really the question becomes “what”s next for Nolan?” Batman will be done before we know it, and we’re well past the point at which most directors would have announced their next project. It isn’t going to be Bond anytime soon, and it’s not going to be Hughes, so perhaps another original vision? I think most of us would like that very much.

Source | Empire