Even though Hollywood is currently infatuated with 3-D technology (higher ticket prices, anyone?), don't expect to see the exploits of your favorite caped crusader in 3-D. According to
Wally Pfister,
Christopher Nolan's cinematographer on such movies as
Memento, The Prestige and
The Dark Knight, 3-D is a fad that is likely to fade away by the time
Batman 3 is in theaters.
"I did it for one shot of The Dark Knight
because [Nolan] said, 'You have to say you did it,' and literally I had this strapped to my shoulder and I was carrying it. But I think Chris is game for doing something interesting like that, Lord knows that the 3-D fad might pass by the time that summer comes around." However, Pfister said that Nolan is open to trying new things.
"What Chris and I have talked about is doing something cool and something interesting. [Director] Brad Bird was [saying], 'You've got to shoot the whole thing in IMAX!' I was like, 'Yeah, I've talked to Chris about that.'"
"But I know one thing about the film that Chris is adamant about is that he wants to shoot on film. He doesn't want to shoot on video, and I'm the same way." In addition to Pfister's above comments to
Cinematical,
AICN recently posted this
synopsis of statements Pfister made in Dallas where he was presented with the Star Award by the Dallas Film Society:
> Pfister, just like Nolan, does not like digital cameras: "The image quality of film" exceeds that of the high end digital cameras like "the Genesis camera and the Red camera." He said that he and "Chris [Nolan] are 'devotees' of film."
> Because of his and Nolan's feelings toward Digital Cinema, Pfister does not want to shoot [
Batman 3] in 3-D. He actually had some pretty harsh things to say about the format, he says that, "It's great for like amusement park rides like the 'Honey I Shrunk The Kids' ride at Disneyland." He said that 3D is not realistic and "it's a distraction. Can you imagine
Memento in 3D? With Joey Pantoliano's glasses sticking out 'a few feet' with his hair all the way back there?"
> Pfister said that he met with Brad Bird a few days ago and that Bird told him that his teenage sons thought that the IMAX used in
The Dark Knight was more realistic than the 3D in these new movies.
> He loves the clarity and latitude that shooting in 65 mm and in IMAX gives him. He can "underexpose by as many as 5 F-stops and overexpose by two. The digital cameras can't do that."
> Although he loves the image and large frame provided by IMAX in
The Dark Knight, he would much "prefer [everything] to be in 2.35:1"