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UPDATED: Christopher Nolan’s Statement And Other Updates On The Tragedy In Colorado

by Jill Pantozzi | 12:55 pm, July 21st, 2012


Those of us here at The Mary Sue are fortunate enough to work in a field where the news is cheerful most of the time. We mourn those in the genre world who have passed, get emotional about injustices that relate to our purview but we never thought we’d have to report on the events which took place in Aurora, Colorado yesterday. A lot of the news is getting sensationalized and while we want The Mary Sue to remain a place you come to escape from the seriousness of every day life, we also know this is a story that is important to many people. We’ve collected the latest developments on the story, including a statement from The Dark Knight Rises director, Christopher Nolan. EDIT: We’ve now updated the story to include actor Christian Bale’s statement.

Nolan’s statement via Mashable:

Speaking on behalf of the cast and crew of The Dark Knight Rises, I would like to express our profound sorrow at the senseless tragedy that has befallen the entire Aurora community. I would not presume to know anything about the victims of the shooting but that they were there last night to watch a movie. I believe movies are one of the great American art forms and the shared experience of watching a story unfold on screen is an important and joyful pastime. The movie theatre is my home, and the idea that someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me. Nothing any of us can say could ever adequately express our feelings for the innocent victims of this appalling crime, but our thoughts are with them and their families.

Hollywood as a whole are making adjustments as a result of the shooting. The Hollywood Reporter says Warner Bros. are keeping silent on box office numbers until Monday out of respect for the victims. “Out of respect for the victims and their families, Warner Bros. Pictures will not be reporting box office numbers for The Dark Knight Rises throughout the weekend.  Box office numbers will be released on Monday,” the studio said in a statement. Other studios have access to the numbers but let’s hope they have the decency to follow Warner Bros. suit. It’s a small gesture, to be sure, but a gesture nonetheless. The studio had already cancelled the film’s Paris premiere and plans to do the same with the ones planned for Mexico and Japan as well.

Several television networks pulled commercials for TDKR before Warners got involved. “NBC pulled the ads this morning and then later heard from Warners’ agency not to run them,” a source told Deadline. TNT and FX networks did not change their scheduled airings of Batman Begins or The Dark Knight but other networks have changed other scheduled programming that involved hostage situations according to THR.

Meanwhile, AMC theaters have banned costumes in their establishments. MSNBC writes, “AMC Theatres said it will not let guests bring costumes, face-covering masks or fake weapons into the movies. The company added that anyone wanting a refund in light of this new policy will be granted one.” I can speak from experience that there was also an increased police presence at the AMC Loews theater I patronized.

The latest reports say the suspect accused of the shooting, which killed 12 and injured over 50, declared himself the Joker to police. That last bit of information is still only coming from an anonymous source. Aurora Police are now attempting to figure out the best approach to enter the suspect’s apartment, which was set with explosives. ”It is a very vexing problem how to enter that apartment safely. I personally have never seen anything like what the pictures show us is in there,” Police Chief Dan Oates told the press.

Anyone looking to help can contact the local Red Cross chapter or volunteer if you’re in the area. You can also help by donating to the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance. Our thoughts go out to the victims, their friends, family, and the community at large.

UPDATE: TDKR actor, Christian Bale, has released a statement:

Words cannot express the horror that I feel. I cannot begin to truly understand the pain and grief of the victims and their loved ones, but my heart goes out to them.

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  • http://twitter.com/uptothesky ana

    You should maybe also post some of the comments coming from the comic writers and artists, who are all saying very good things via twitter and other forms of social media. i found them particularly heartening. 

  • http://twitter.com/uptothesky ana
  • http://twitter.com/BrightBlueInk Inky

    I’m a little bummed about the costumes thing–I was hoping that wasn’t going to be banned since the guy himself didn’t technically wear a costume. I can totally understand the mask and fake weapon ban, though.

    I wonder what midnight showings are going to look like now? Are they even going to be able to do one for upcoming movies like The Hobbit? It really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but it’s such a part of “geeky” culture that it’s hard to imagine this sort of thing changing so much.

  • http://twitter.com/EpicPseudonym Epic Pseudonym

    Thanks for your balanced and informative article.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=551078935 Morgaine Bowers

    I would just like to thank the Mary Sue for including information on how to help the victims and their families. There are countless other articles about this same topic, yet none of the other articles I have read listed any way in which we could help. 

  • Anonymous

    The thing about the single source alleging that Holmes said he was the Joker, and I’m only gonna bring this up in a forum of fellow nerd types, is it makes no sense to me because the Joker’s hair is Green, and Holmes’ hair was supposedly Red. So I call b*shit. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=766555157 Jessica Burchfield

     Thank you, Mary Sue, for “treading lightly” but firmly through this devastating news. Your readers appreciate your memorial to the victims. Thank you for raising awareness of the ways we can all help.

    Personally, not only mourning the loss of innocent life, I’ve been mourning a piece of our culture since I heard the news. Being the “retro big kid” that I am, I’ve come to miss the innocence of the 80′s – remember those days? Never did we imagine our children would worry about school and movie shootings. So sad. http://wp.me/p1RlRY-4r

  • http://www.wordflow.webs.com/ Invisible_Jester89

    How dare this happen in a fandom associated with such a powerful, determined figure of hope in the face of disaster as Batman? I am shocked, saddened, horrified, and hurt by what happened to fellow fans in my fandom. My condolences to them, their families, and all affected by this senseless tragedy.

    It hurts even worse knowing the killer took the identity of one of my favorite comic book villains. It hurts so bad being a Joker fan right now and knowing what he did. I just have to keep reminding myself that it’s not the character’s fault, only the fault of a man who needed mental help and clearly never got it before 12 people died and 50 got injured. But my hurt couldn’t possibly ever hope to be as great as the hurt those people in Colorado who lost children, wives, husbands and friends must be feeling.

    The Bat-fandom is with you, Aurora, in spirit and in solidarity.

  • http://www.wordflow.webs.com/ Invisible_Jester89

    How dare this happen in a fandom associated with such a powerful, determined figure of hope in the face of disaster as Batman? I am shocked, saddened, horrified, and hurt by what happened to fellow fans in my fandom. My condolences to them, their families, and all affected by this senseless tragedy.

    It hurts even worse knowing the killer took the identity of one of my favorite comic book villains. It hurts so bad being a Joker fan right now and knowing what he did. I just have to keep reminding myself that it’s not the character’s fault, only the fault of a man who needed mental help and clearly never got it before 12 people died and 50 got injured. But my hurt couldn’t possibly ever hope to be as great as the hurt those people in Colorado who lost children, wives, husbands and friends must be feeling.

    The Bat-fandom is with you, Aurora, in spirit and in solidarity.

  • http://www.wordflow.webs.com/ Invisible_Jester89

    That man is not a Joker fan, and on behalf of other Joker fans I want to say that the Joker fan community at large is disassociated with that man in every possible way.

  • http://www.wordflow.webs.com/ Invisible_Jester89

    That man is not a Joker fan, and on behalf of other Joker fans I want to say that the Joker fan community at large is disassociated with that man in every possible way.

  • http://www.wordflow.webs.com/ Invisible_Jester89

    It hurts to know that the fandom I am involved in so heavily and that I love so much, that my favorite superhero in the DCU, has come to be associated with this kind of tragedy.

    And the irony of it is, Bruce Wayne’s parents died after attending a show at a theater, and now 12 Batman fans die before a show at a theater.

  • http://www.wordflow.webs.com/ Invisible_Jester89

    It hurts to know that the fandom I am involved in so heavily and that I love so much, that my favorite superhero in the DCU, has come to be associated with this kind of tragedy.

    And the irony of it is, Bruce Wayne’s parents died after attending a show at a theater, and now 12 Batman fans die before a show at a theater.

  • Anonymous

    It makes me sad to that midnight showings, at least for a couple years
    are going to feel a bit odd, and maybe a little bit scary. It something
    that I never even conceived of before this event. Midnight showings were
    my first look as a teen into the geeky culture, and I have loved it
    ever since. They were always nights of fun, excitement, and a feeling of
    collective love for whatever was on screen. It was a bringing together
    of people to share in something wonderful, and it’s a sad day when that
    has been so tainted.

    It’s a bit of a reality shock, when violence, and specially in the jokers case, insanity, is plucked from the screen and put right in front of us. Suddenly we have to look inwardly and wonder why we has humans do gravitate toward that sort of darkness simply because it on screen and not real. As someone who loves good storytelling, a good villain is a crucial and intriguing part,  but I have to wonder, when faced with reality like this, should movies be glorifying villains like they are? Perhaps they should be showing more the patheticnes and futileness of a villain, and how alone, and powerless they always are at the end. (Not that Nolan doesnt do a pretty damn good job with this already). I know to us sane people that sounds ridiculous, but to unstable people it may make a difference. I don’t know, I do think it’s something that directors and writers and actors should be thinking about.

  • Carmen Sandiego

     People who dress unconventionally are already being profiled at movie theaters because of the costume-ban, though I understand the worry of the theaters.  Before this happened every showing of Batman at my local (large) theater was sold out until Wednesday.  The showing I went to last night was only 2/3rds full do to no-shows concerned about copy-cats.  The ban on fake weapons seems reasonable, but the ban on costumes?  Not so much.  The shooter showed his face openly and wasn’t wearing anything but loose day clothes for the first part of the film and only went out later to grab his gear and gas mask before he began the assault. :(

  • Carmen Sandiego

    This is purely my gut calling, but I believe the shooting had almost nothing to do with the movie, save that the shooter knew it would be a full house.  When someone does something like this, waits so patiently and plans so long to cause so much suffering, no rules will stop them and anything can motivate them. :s

  • http://twitter.com/BrightBlueInk Inky

     I hadn’t thought much about people who dress “unconventionally” being scrutinized because this, but now I’m a little concerned about that, too. There’s a lot of more “out there” fashions like, say, Gothic Lolita that would probably look like a costume to a lot of people. It’d be a shame to see people be disallowed into theaters because of what their wearing, particularly since, as you said, the guy wasn’t wearing a costume or anything or even covering his face until he went outside.

  • http://twitter.com/BrightBlueInk Inky

     I think you bring up an interesting point, but I’m not sure if this guy did what he did because of the Joker (or any other movie villain). I know there’s rumors going around that he said he was the Joker to police, but the rumors also said he had red hair, not green, so…I don’t know. I don’t honestly think he did this because he wanted to be a comic book villain. I think he was just either mentally disturbed or plain evil.

  • Anonymous

    Well, he did rig his apartment with a ton of explosives, which is very  “Joker”-esque. Investigator’s are actually looking into batman comics to try and reveal any clues…I mean, jeez, it’s so unreal, it’s like a movie.

    But yeah, I agree, if someone wants to inflict pain and suffering on people they will do it. Movie or not. I think the reason they try to associate themselves with very popular movies is because they conceive this as even more power, and mass popularity.  The kids who killed students and a teacher at Columbine did the same thing with the Matrix, the most popular movie at that time.

  • http://twitter.com/Totz_the_Plaid Totz_the_Plaid

    AMC released a statement (can’t find it at the moment) that it’s just masks and fake guns that are outright banned, not costumes altogether.

  • http://shiftercat.livejournal.com/ ShifterCat

    Agreed.  Joker is a sufficiently well-known character that you don’t even have to be a geek to know his distinctive hair colour.

    While I don’t agree with all his pop-culture views, I do think Roger Ebert hit it on the head when he said that the link between public violence and publicity is a lot more clear than any links between violence and movies.  The shooter knew that this was going to be a huge public event, and planned accordingly.

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