Business & Tech

Connecticut Actor Among Cops Fighting Alongside Batman In 'Dark Knight Rises'

Kyle Patrick Brennan talks about his experience being an extra in the last installment of the Christopher Nolan 'Batman' movies and reacts to the Aurora, CO shooting.

As Batman battles Bane and his cohorts toward the end of The Dark Knight Rises, you may glimpse a familiar face fighting against evil other than Christian Bale.

Avon native , 27, plays a cop fighting alongside Batman.

While a lot of the scenes he was in, many the "reverse" of what director Christopher Nolan's crew already shot in Pittsburgh, "didn't make the final cut" and he had little screen time, Brennan said that it was the experience that was most valuable to him.

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"I did get to see my back a few times but really, it all moved so fast. I think when it comes out on DVD I'll be able to pause it frame by frame and see more of myself," Brennan wrote in an email to Patch, noting that he was singled out for the cop role during two days of training because of his martial arts and boxing experience.

His mother, Jan Brennan, of Avon, said that while her son's "face time was very limited in this movie," "that didn't mar his overall experience." She said Friday that her son went to see the movie with a friend again on Thursday night and said he saw himself clearly three times.

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"He has some projects coming up in the near future where there will be plenty of face time," she wrote in an email to Avon Patch. "Kyle's time is coming and when it does, he will be as masterful as Christian Bale and Thomas Hardy!"

She was prouder still of the experience her son had in being a part of the Batman finale and working with "such an exceptional cast" and "professional group of actors." It left Kyle with the "impression that these people in his business were committed to producing a top quality product and took their profession seriously," she said.

"Kyle works diligently and takes such pride in his profession as well; I know this was so encouraging to him to see some of the best in his profession being and doing their best at all times during the shooting of the scene in which Kyle was participating," Brennan said.

One of the most memorable moments playing an extra in the conclusion to Nolan's Batman movies happened on his second day of filming. The "whole cast, crew and crowd" cheered as Christian Bale (Batman) and Tom Hardy (Bane) walked out. They began their fight sequence for the cameras almost immediately.

"After a few takes Batman was kicked to the stairs by Bane right at my feet!" Kyle Brennan said.

He chatted with Hardy and the stuntmen "quite a bit" between takes. Even in an intense fight sequence, the stuntmen showed their senses of humor.

"Watching the stuntmen mess with each other before action was called was great," Brennan said. "They'd play pranks like tying shoe laces together or hitting each other in the groin or even as far as beating each other up. All while filming was happening!"

Observing renowned actors like Bale work was inspirational to Brennan as he rises in the craft.

"The focus, attention to detail and professionalism was unlike anything I'd seen in anyone else," Brennan said of Bale. "Not only were there hundreds of people around, explosions, a restrictive suit, camera and crew men circling around you – I mean – there was every distraction imaginable out there. Bale still delivered the fight choreography and lines with the same intensity time and time again. This is why Christian Bale is who he is."

Even though he was in part of the movie, Brennan said that The Dark Knight Rises still surprised him at times. He went to see it with his girlfriend and family last Friday at AMC Empire on 42nd and Broadway.

"I loved the film! I thought it was a perfect story and end to the trilogy. Because I'm involved in movie making in a writer, director, producer, actor capacity, it's very rare that a movie can surprise me with a twist," said Brennan, who has played a ghost hunter in upcoming independent horror movie Six Degrees of Hell and co-created a new show called Undiscovered featuring rising artists. "The Dark Knight Rises did that to me twice! It's just another testament to Chirstoper Nolan and his team."

However, there was a somber side to seeing the movie the day that at a midnight screening of the movie.

"My heart goes out to the friends and family of those affected by the shooting in Colorado," Brennan said. "When life or the world gets us down we can always escape to the fictional world of movies but now that has been compromised. I think people might not be as open to fully letting go and immersing themselves in the world of a movie. It's a tragedy that life was taken and a tragedy that the movie experience has been tainted."

There were two cops outside the theater the Brennans went to, though that may be standard practice, Jan Brennan said. AMC released a statement last week that its theaters, including the one in Plainville, are for the time being in the wake of the Colorado theater massacre. However people were wearing t-shirts with Batman logos and symbols, she said.

"I'd be lying if I said that the threat of a disruption didn't cross my mind," Brennan said. "But once the film started any fear or worry I had dissipated. The reality of living in NYC, the center of a bullseye, is such that you can't live in terror because that's exactly what terrorists want."

For more information about Brennan, visit his website at www.kylepatrickbrennan.com.


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