Marion Cotillard Says She ‘Screwed Up’ Her Awkward Death Scene in Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’: ‘I Didn’t Nail That’
Marion Cotillard is taking the blame for her awkwardly staged death scene at the end of Christopher Nolan’s final Batman film, “The Dark Knight Rises.”
“I didn’t nail that scene,” Cotillard said in an interview with Les rencontres du Papotin. “I didn’t find the right position. I didn’t find the right way… I was stressed. Sometimes it happens that you screw something up. So that, I screwed up.”
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During the final act of “Dark Knight Rises,” Cotillard’s character Talia al Ghul, the evil daughter of “Batman Begins” baddie Ra’s al Ghul, is chased through Gotham and eventually killed by the Caped Crusader. In her final breath, she declares, “My father’s work is done.” Cotillard’s awkward blocking during this moment has long been criticized by fans, with some saying it distracts from the otherwise heartwrenching scene.
Cotillard previously addressed the scene in a 2016 interview with Allociné, saying, “Sometimes there are failures, and when you see this on screen, you’re thinking: ‘Why? Why did they keep that take?’ But either you blame everyone or nobody. But I thought people overreacted because it was tough to be identified just with this scene. When I’m doing the best I can to find the authenticity in every character that I’m playing, it’s tough to be known just for this scene.”
Although some had problems with the Cotillard’s scene, it wasn’t enough to stop “The Dark Knight Rises” from becoming a box office smash. Released in 2012, the film grossed just over $1 billion at the worldwide box office against a budget of $250 million.
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