The Dark Knight Rises stars talk Oscar chances

Christopher Nolan's three 'Batman' films have racked up more than a billion dollars in box office sales and near-unanimous praise from critics.

Despite this, they've been mostly ignored in the prestigious categories at the Oscars, with the notable exception of Heath Ledger's posthumous win for 'Best Supporting Actor' in 2009.

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'The Dark Knight' picked another seven nominations, but these were in technical categories like 'Art Direction' and 'Sound Editing'. It was ignored for 'Best Picture' and 'Best Director', while far weaker films, such as 'Frost/Nixon', 'The Reader' and (yawn) 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' got nods.

But why? And will it happen again even though 'The Dark Knight Rises' is, by consensus, another triumph?

We asked stars Anne Hathaway, Morgan Freeman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard and director Christopher Nolan.

Nolan wasn't too concerned by the Academy snubs, rightly pointing out that he's had three nominations already (for writing and directing 'Inception', and writing 'Memento'). But Freeman and Cotillard were especially forthright about the 'Batman' series receiving some belated Oscar recognition.

Watch the cast have their say below.

'The Dark Knight Rises' is in cinemas now.

Editor's note: The interviews were recorded before the dreadful events in Aurora, Denver.