While there was some speculation that The Dark Knight Rises would shoot in New Orleans, the production has passed on the city and will set up shop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the production could be in the city for four to six weeks shooting in downtown and the surrounding area.  While I would like to say this is a further indictment of how little Christopher Nolan cares about the look of Gotham City, I'm not sure if TDKR even takes place in Gotham.  However, Chicago (the home of The Dark Knight) can't be mistaken for Pittsburgh, so either Nolan doesn't really care that the look of Batman's hometown will change yet again or we're not going to Gotham at all.

Hit the jump for more on the film and a statement from Nolan about shooting in Pittsburgh this summer.  The Dark Knight Rises opens July 20, 2012.  Click here for all of our Dark Knight Rises coverage.

Nolan released the following statement regarding the production's move to Pittsburgh:

"Pittsburgh is a beautiful city.  We have been able to find everything we were looking for here, and I am excited to spend the summer in Pittsburgh with our final installment of Batman."

I briefly visited Pittsburgh last summer for a friend's wedding and thought it was a nice place, but obviously I haven't done the intense level of location-scouting that helped to make the city an appealing choice for the production.

While plot details remain heavily under wraps, we know that Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman will all be returning.  They'll be joined by Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, Tom Hardy as Bane, Juno Temple as a "street-smart Gotham girl", along with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and possibly Marion Cotillard in unconfirmed roles (although they've been rumored for Alberto Falcone and Talia al Ghul, respectively).