In 2011, Joseph D. Hollabaugh went to the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania extras casting call for Warner Bros. The Dark Knight Rises, he received a call back for a small role as a cop stuck in the sewers a scene featured later in the film. Joseph D. Hollabaugh had to turn down the role in the film, because his film The Light in the Shadows, was nominated for best short film of the year at the Great Lakes International Film Festival and being screened at the University Film and Video Conference in Boston at Emerson College in 2011, at the same time he was scheduled to be on set to film the scene for The Dark Knight Rises. When asked about this in an interview he stated, "I really would have really enjoyed the opportunity to work in any film by Christopher Nolan.".