It should come as no surprise to anyone who’s been following along on this site that The Dark Knight Rises is mere weeks away from becoming a reality. After months of spurious rumors director Christopher Nolan has started making legitimate casting announcemens, and now he’s set a date to start shooting too.

The Dark Knight Rises begins principle photography some time in early May. Coming Soon caught Nolan at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival where he laid down the first real timeline we’ve heard for the sequel, saying of the movie and his collaboration with co-writer David Goyer: “We've worked on it a long time - David Goyer and myself. We're about 12 weeks away from shooting. We start in May.”

Nolan also seemed to confirm the reports we’ve heard that, pretty much no matter what happens, Dark Knight Rises will be his last entry in the Batman universe. When asked why he decided to do the third film Nolan responded, “It was about finishing the story.”