Colorado shooting leaves filmmaker Christopher Nolan devastated

Yesterdays mass killing at a Colorado theatre during the midnight premiere of his latest film The Dark Knight Rises has left filmmaker Christopher Nolan devastated. In a statement, the director has condoled the killing of at least 12 people by 24-year-old gunman James Holmes, saying "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... 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. He added, 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." According to reports, the gunman, who had dyed his hair red, was reportedly playing the role of The Joker, originally essayed by the late Heath Ledger in the second film of the Batman series, The Dark Knight. Following the bloodbath, producer Warner Bros has cancelled the films premiere at Paris. The filmmakers have also decided to edit all footage of guns from trailers for Christian Bale and Anne Hathaway starring The Dark Knight Rises and they will also stop promotional teasers for Gangster Squad which was to be shown with the film as they feature a scene in which mobsters open fire in a movie theatre. In the meantime, the mother of the suspect, James Holmes, said that the authorities have got their man. She said, "You have the right person. I need to call the police... I need to fly out to Colorado". The suspect Holmes was reportedly a student at the University of Colorado Denver medical Campus but he dropped out in June. Recalling the unfortunate incident, an eye-witness told Abc's Denvers affiliate channel KMGH, "We were maybe 20 or 30 minutes into the movie and all you hear, first you smell smoke, everybody thought it was fireworks or something like that, and then you just see people dropping and the gunshots are constant".