Christopher Nolan To Mentor Man Of Steel?

After he took Batman back to respectability with “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight,” director Christopher Nolan has been dogged by speculation on when the third Caped Crusader film would begin production. The topic came up several times at Dallas Comic Con last month, and the only answer anyone had was, “Whenever Nolan’s ready, you’ll hear something.”

Today, an interesting item began circulating, via Deadline.com’s Nikki Finke and Mike Fleming, regarding Nolan’s dance card. According to Finke, not only is he circling around a script for a third Batman movie, but will advise on the production of a Superman reboot.

Let’s look at the Batman item first: the script is reportedly being hammered out by the trio who wrote “The Dark Knight,” Chris and Jonathan Nolan, along with David Goyer (fresh off his departure from “FlashForward”). The concept came around while Christopher Nolan was putting the finishing touches on “Inception,” the mind-bending thriller he’ll release this July starring Leonardo DiCaprio. There’s no timetable for producing the movie, nor is there any hint of who Bruce Wayne’s adversaries will be in this go-round – so don’t put any stock in rumors you’re hearing about casting. (Remember, Heath Ledger took us all by surprise as The Joker.)

Now, on to the Man of Steel: since Nolan’s been canonized at Warner Brothers, his council is reportedly being courted for a next Superman movie, whether it’s a complete reboot, or continuation of Bryan Singer’s vision of Kal-El. Let’s go to Finke’s sources from the WB lot:

Bryan or Brandon are not completely out of it yet. But Warner Bros doesn’t have a handle yet on it, either. [Producer] Jon Peters is trying to make something happen since he stands to benefit financially. But they [the studio] need to hear a great story that makes sense.

Nolan would not write or direct whatever Superman film comes next, only advise the production on ways he thinks it could be honed.

While fans have been begging Nolan to help bring the same respectability to the Last Son of Krypton as he has with Batman, I would hope they realize Nolan’s style completely clashes with the character of Superman. Where Nolan’s cinematic resume – “Memento,” “Insomnia,” the Batman movies – are all darker, grittier films, Superman, by its very nature, uses a shiny, bright, colorful palette. While the property could use a heavy dose of realism, I’m not at all convinced that Nolan could work the same magic with Supes.