Michael Caine Says 'The Dark Knight Rises' Shoots in May

If you're one who reads any piece of Batman news released (like I am), you might notice that a lot of it comes from one person in particular: Michael Caine.  Whether it be that the filmmakers enjoy his slip of the tongue when it comes to the series because it creates added buzz or he just carries enough Hollywood clout that he doesn't care what he says anymore, virtually every interviewer seems to get something out of him about the next Batman installment.

His interview with Empire magazine was no different.  Sir Caine told the interviewer when The Dark Knight Rises plans to start production, and for how long the shoot will last.

The exact quote went a little something like this:

"Emma [Thomas], the producer, said we’d get the script in January. Christopher said: ‘Script in January, shoot in May, finish in November'."

Originally we'd heard the film would start production in April, but that extra month means A LOT in the production world.  That's an extra month to finalize any rewrites, secure locations, and perfect the overall pre-production process.  And being the perfectionist that he is, Christopher Nolan will not waste a single second of this month.

Wrapping in November still leaves 6+ months of post before the scheduled July 20, 2012 release.  In addition, this seems to mirror Nolan's shooting schedule from The Dark Knight (which shot from April to November of 2007 in Chicago, London, and Hong Kong) which lends a little more credence to the report Warner Bros wants Nolan to shoot in more locations than Chicago for tax break purposes.

This report is also significant because of Caine's mention the script will be making its rounds in January.  Which means we should circle the start of the year for any kind of confirmation on the film's villain(s).