And Christopher Nolan thought "Inception" was the big mind-bender! At the London premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises" Wednesday night, the director was inevitably confronted with questions about the apparent perils of saying negative things about the film, as well as about the Bane vs. Bain Capital conspiracy whipped up by the political blogosphere that later went mainstream when "The Daily Show" and Rush Limbaugh took notice (one a little more humorously than the other).
Guess which issue Nolan called "peculiar"?
MORE: Batbrained? Debunking "Dark Knight Rises" Bane-Bain conspiracytheory
"I'm not sure how to address something that bizarre, to be honest," the British filmmaker said on the red carpet about the chatter over whether the film's supervillain, Bane, is supposed to be representative of Bain Capital, the financial services firm once headed up by presidential hopeful Mitt Romney that Romney opponents say did a better job enriching its own coffers than it did helping other companies.
"I really don't have an answer for it, it's a very peculiar comment to make," Nolan concluded.
He does, however, understand where the rabid Batman fans are coming from, to an extent. Yesterday, Rotten Tomatoes suspended commenting on the Dark Knight Rises reviews coming in (the first time the site had ever taken such measures) after critics who had the audacity to not like it were pelted with harsh retorts like, "You should die in a fire."
"I think the fans are very passionate about these characters the way a lot of people are very passionate," Nolan said. "Batman's been around for over 70 years and there's a reason for that. He has a huge appeal, so I think you know people certainly respond to the character."
MORE: "Dark Knight Rises": Early reviews roundup!
Perhaps Nolan should talk Caped Crusader lore with Morgan Freeman, who played gadget master Lucius Fox throughout the trilogy, sometime.
Freeman also called the Bane-Bain controversy "ridiculous," adding, "Chris wrote a fictional story that didn't have any political thoughts in mind, so it's like art or something you know, it's all in the mind of the beholder."
GALLERY: Movie premiere pandemonium!
But as Nolan would probably be first to point out, Bane was created by Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench and Graham Nolan (no relation) and first showed up in a comic book in 1993.
Can we all get back to enjoying -- or, perhaps, not enjoying -- the anticipation of waiting for this movie to come out now?
Related content:
- Morgan Freeman gives $1 million to Obama
- 'Dark Knight Rises' comments suspended on Rotten Tomatoes
- Video: Christian Bale on 'The Dark Knight Rises'
- Video: Gary Oldman on 'Dark Knight Rises' themes
- Rush Limbaugh: 'Dark Knight Rises' villain Bane is a dig at Mitt Romney
- Video: Tom Hardy on his 'Dark Knight Rises' character
- Revved up for 'Dark Knight Rises'? Check out teaser for Batmobile film