For those of you biting your nails while waiting for a Dark Knight sequel announcement with some actual news, you might want to get some acrylics put on to save your cuticles…

The LA Times Blog has published the third part of their interview with Dark Knight/Batman Begins director Christopher Nolan, who reveals that no one is pressuring him to get back to the Bat-Franchise anytime soon:

“They’re [Warner Bros] being extremely gracious. I have a very good relationship with the studio. They know that I really needed to go on holiday and take some time to figure what I want to do next. They’ve been very respectful of that, which is terrific and one of the reasons I enjoy working with Warner Bros.”

Even more disconcerting for the WB is Nolan’s thoughts on crossovers within his Bat-Universe:

“I don’t think our Batman, our Gotham, lends itself to that kind of cross-fertilization. It goes back to one of the first things we wrangled with when we first started putting the story together: Is this a world in which comic books already exist? Is this a world in which superheroes already exist? If you think of “Batman Begins” and you think of the philosophy of this character trying to reinvent himself as a symbol, we took the position — we didn’t address it directly in the film, but we did take the position philosophically — that superheroes simply don’t exist. If they did, if Bruce knew of Superman or even of comic books, then that’s a completely different decision that he’s making when he puts on a costume in an attempt to become a symbol. It’s a paradox and a conundrum, but what we did is go back to the very original concept and idea of the character. In his first appearances, he invents himself as a totally original creation.” … “It’s a different universe. It’s a different way of looking at it. Now, it’s been done successfully, very successfully, in the comics so I don’t dispute it as an approach. It just isn’t the approach we took. We had to make a decision for Batman Begins.”

So, how long do you think Nolan can gallivant around before Warners drops the pressure bomb? We’re just taking a guess, but if Harry Potter comes and goes without news of Nolan’s next project and eventual Bat-Future, look for pressure to be applied.