Christopher Nolan has been hard at work on his Batman series for the last 7 years, taking the franchise to places we never thought we’d see after the Joel Schumaker versions practically ruined the Dark Knight for many of us. Nolan is about to begin filming his third and final installment in the series, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, but is already making plans for what’s next after his film releases in 2012.
According to Vulture, Nolan’s plans are to tackle a biopic on eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes. He had plans to direct a film on Hughes for some time, but was put off on after it was obvious that Martin Scorsese’s version, THE AVIATOR, would reach theaters before his did. Leonardo DiCaprio played Hughes in THE AVIATOR, and DiCaprio was most recently seen in Nolan’s INCEPTION. Wouldn’t it be an interesting twist if DiCaprio reprised his role as a slightly older version of Hughes in Nolan’s undertaking? I doubt that will happen, since DiCaprio hasn’t changed much and it’s only been 7 years since THE AVIATOR was released. Who knows, Nolan may be able to persuade DiCaprio to come back, but don’t hold you breath.
THE AVIATOR was largely based on the novel by Charles Higham, HOWARD HUGHES: THE SECRET LIFE, which pays closer attention to Hughes’ early life through 1947. Nolan’s plan is to look more from Michael Drosnin’s CITIZEN HUGHES: THE POWER, THE MONEY AND THE MADNESS, which focuses more on the crazier parts of Hughes’ life, even delving into his OCD problems. Here are just a few of the “crazy” parts that may be covered:
We’ll meet the Howard Hughes who spent much of 1948 sitting naked in a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel with only a pink dinner napkin covering his genitals as he screened movies from his studio, RKO Pictures, and ran up an $11 million tab; the Hughes who — obsessed with food safety — once bought every franchise restaurant chain in his home state of Texas, and who was similarly so concerned about air quality that he installed an aircraft filtration system in his 1954 Chrysler New Yorker, taking up its entire trunk; the Howard Hughes who had his hair cut and nails trimmed only once a year, and who was seemingly as addicted to Baskin Robbins Banana Ripple ice cream as he was to regular codeine injections; the Hughes who at the end of his life considered only Mormons trustworthy enough to be let into his inner circle.
Nolan plans on tackling CITIZEN HUGHES sometime in late 2012, with a release date of 2014 in mind. He hopes the 10-year gap between his version and Scorsese’s version will be enough to keep people from comparing the two too much.