'Dark Knight Rises' extra dies on set

Warner Bros has confirmed that an extra in The Dark Knight Rises died on set last month.

The unidentified male suffered a heart attack during rehearsals in November, the studio told Page Six.

The man was discovered unconscious after wandering away from production of the Christopher Nolan movie in New York. No members of the principal cast or crew were present at the time.

"He was taken immediately to the hospital," a source said. "It was during a period when the film was shooting a huge sequence with several hundred extras in the Wall Street area.

"But the male extra had been rehearsing in another location away from the set. While on a break, he'd walked away and died of natural causes."

A Warner Bros representative added that production fully cooperated with an investigation into the death, which established that the extra died of natural causes.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Screen Actors Guild stated: "We are aware of the death of a background actor during production of this picture and have been told that the actor died of a heart attack. The actor in question was not working under a [SAG] contract."

Technician Conway Wickliffe died on a dummy film run for Nolan's previous Batman picture The Dark Knight in 2008. The movie is dedicated to him and Heath Ledger, who died of an accidental prescription drug overdose shortly after filming wrapped.

A viral website yesterday revealed the locations where The Dark Knight Rises prologue will be screened this month.

Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt will star in The Dark Knight Rises, which will open in cinemas on June 20, 2012.

Watch a teaser trailer for The Dark Knight Rises below: