The Dark Knight "Dent, Damnit!", Dent casting "may not be considered conventional"

[Keyser Sushi]

You're like that

True. *sighs wistfully*

No, wait...

*stoically says nothing*.

 

[L0ngsh0t]

Heath Ledger has the ability to change what he appears to be when he dons a specific role. Jamie Foxx does not. Having Jamie Foxx in Batman is like having Tom Cruise in Batman. Cruise is a great actor and an excellent producer, but he ALWAYS comes across as Cruise. It's always Cruise playing the role, not the role. Same with Foxx.

what movie other then brokeback mountian has ledger changed who he was?

i've got two for foxx, the flamboyent cocky comedian turned himself into a quite nervous train wreck who compulsivly lies to his mother in Colatteral (which he was nominated for best supporting actor) and he transformed himself into Ray Charles in Ray (which he won best actor) i'm a ledger fan but i say beat that

 

[FaT_tONle]

Ledger will own this role... no mistake about it... and Foxx is decent no one is denying that... but Foxx/aka Harvey Dent??? cmon.... Someone else said it perfectly... if its Cruise playin the role its Cruise.... if its Foxx its Foxx... but you never associate those two names with a character they play... Foxx can't play Dent... no one expected Ledger but the more we see and read... you know he was a slam dunk and thats why so many ppl loved that pick

 

[L0ngsh0t]

Ledger will own this role... no mistake about it... and Foxx is decent no one is denying that... but Foxx/aka Harvey Dent??? cmon.... Someone else said it perfectly... if its Cruise playin the role its Cruise.... if its Foxx its Foxx... but you never associate those two names with a character they play... Foxx can't play Dent... no one expected Ledger but the more we see and read... you know he was a slam dunk and thats why so many ppl loved that pick

who can play dent then, it seems there is no actor good enough for anyone, this isn't Lester Burhman and Spacey is the only man on the planet who could do that role the way its supposed to be done

Tommy Lee Jones was fine as two-face under different direction it may have even been everything you would want in dent/two face

and the if foxx is playing the role its foxx thing is b.s. because Ray isn't Jamie Foxx, that is nothing like foxx is like, and the person he is in collateral, is not even close to anything that jamie foxx does, even in Jarhead, its not like jamie foxx is a hardass on a day to day basis

Ledger has one role that is different and all of a sudden he is god of method acting, when that is just not true, he is a very good actor who Nolan saw fit what he was trying to do with the role of the joker

i'm not saying foxx is the perfect fit for Dent, but if he where to be cast, it would be because Nolan met with him, he noticed he was a very good actor, and he fit the role that Nolan wants to fit

this isn't who you people think is the best actor for Dent, because if it where 6 months ago The roles would be cast with Schriber and Bettany

this is about what Nolan percives as the best fit for his movie

he could honestly cast rob schnieder for all i care if that is who nolan truely believes is the best fit for his show

 

[Dark Knight]

Denzel could be considered....but I just don't think he is right for the role. To big of a name and Dent/Two Face is not black in the comics. Thats like casting a black actor to play Batman. Does it make sense? Then again....unconventional can mean anything...so it is possible....but unlikely IMO. I don't think Nolan would want to take on the baggage with Foxx.....plus Foxx seems to be a one trick pony to me with his role in Ray.

 

[L0ngsh0t]

Denzel could be considered....but I just don't think he is right for the role. To big of a name and Dent/Two Face is not black in the comics. Thats like casting a black actor to play Batman. Does it make sense? Then again....unconventional can mean anything...so it is possible....but unlikely IMO. I don't think Nolan would want to take on the baggage with Foxx.....plus Foxx seems to be a one trick pony to me with his role in Ray.

he is very dark skinned, he definatley isn't white thats forsure, at least originally, and even i think in recent stuf like TLH he still has an almost olive tinted skin

but yeah he definatley is darker skinned then most people assumed, that is one of the main reason the very first choice for district attorney harvey dent went to Lando

 

[WeaponXProject]

Ledger has one role that is different and all of a sudden he is god of method acting, when that is just not true, he is a very good actor who Nolan saw fit what he was trying to do with the role of the joker

I been saying that from the get go. His resume is not impressive but I decided to give him a chance. I don't hate Ledger I just think people overrate his ability.

 

[CConn]

he is very dark skinned, he definatley isn't white thats forsure, at least originally, and even i think in recent stuf like TLH he still has an almost olive tinted skin

but yeah he definatley is darker skinned then most people assumed, that is one of the main reason the very first choice for district attorney harvey dent went to Lando

Not that I'd have any problem with him being played by a black guy in a movie, but in the comics he's definitely white. Some colorists may have his actual skin tone vary, but he's most certainly white.

 

[L0ngsh0t]

I been saying that from the get go. His resume is not impressive but I decided to give him a chance. I don't hate Ledger I just think people overrate his ability.

i agree, and i don't even have a problem with it, i think he is a very good actor, but i also think jamie foxx and will smith are good actors (the two in question that brought this up) and out of the three actors, Ledger has probobly the least impressive resume of all of them, he has one movie, and then Chris Nolan comes riding in on his golden chariot and chooses him to play one of the most famous villans in all of media, and people just assume Ledger is out of this world the best actor on the planet, when he really just fits what nolan wants to portray

which will be the same with the casting of dent whomever it maybe

 

[L0ngsh0t]

Not that I'd have any problem with him being played by a black guy in a movie, but in the comics he's definitely white. Some colorists may have his actual skin tone vary, but he's most certainly white.

i'm pretty positive early on he was darker skinned i think more recently via the cartoon he became more of a caucasian then the like almost sicillian skinned guy he was

btdub, Plus 44 rules

 

[7Hells]

Longshot how many of Ledgers movies have you watched?
It sounds like maybe three
Granted he doesnt pick the best of movies to be in but he rarely plays a role that isnt challenging.

 

[L0ngsh0t]

Longshot how many of Ledgers movies have you watched?
It sounds like maybe three
Granted he doesnt pick the best of movies to be in but he rarely plays a role that isnt challenging.

Brokeback, First Knight, 10 things i hate about you, the patriot, lords of dogtown (which was pretty cool) Brothers grimm (which sucked) Monsters Ball (good but not because of heath) Casanova (which was subpar)

 

[Crooklyn]

i'm pretty positive early on he was darker skinned i think more recently via the cartoon he became more of a caucasian then the like almost sicillian skinned guy he was

btdub, Plus 44 rules

You have it backwards. He started off as caucasian, and it wasn't UNTIL the cartoons that they made him darker.

 

[Nepenthes]

It dosn't matter what his race is one bit. It plays no part in his character whatsoever, so the whole debate is moronic imo. If people can't see a character underneath the skin well then forget em. As Keyser has said elsewhere if you make a movie for morons then that's what you'll get. The right acting ability is all that matters.

 

[Dark Knight]

It dosn't matter what his race is one bit. It plays no part in his character whatsoever, so the whole debate is moronic imo. If people can't see a character underneath the skin well then forget em. As Keyser has said elsewhere if you make a movie for morons then that's what you'll get. The right acting ability is all that matters.

What if a black actor was cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman? Would it be right or wrong? What if the Blade role ended up going to a white actor?? Just wouldn't seem right correct....same goes with the Dent role.

 

[Crooklyn]

To completely disregard aesthetics when you're adapting a visual medium/ such as comic books is the moronic move. When we're translating novels to film, then ok, some artistic merit is obviously going to be taken when bring those characters to life. But for comic books, especially this franchise which has lasted a very long time where we actually see the characters, I think a somewhat faithful representation of their appearance is not too much to ask.

NO, skin obviously is NOT the deciding factor. But a lot of you make it seem like it has to be a brilliant black actor, and a subpar white actor going for this role. Go for the best person, which has both. Period.

 

[Dark Knight]

It dosn't matter what his race is one bit. It plays no part in his character whatsoever, so the whole debate is moronic imo. If people can't see a character underneath the skin well then forget em. As Keyser has said elsewhere if you make a movie for morons then that's what you'll get. The right acting ability is all that matters.

Also..what if Nolan cast a white or latino actor to play Lucious Fox for example? Wouldn't seem right....thats all.

 

[Cаrter]

What if a black actor was cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman? Would it be right or wrong? What if the Blade role ended up going to a white actor?? Just wouldn't seem right correct....same goes with the Dent role.

Nah, because Batman is the main character.
Supporting characters and villains can be altered.

Dent could be black. No problemo.
Bruce Wayne, no. Why? Because it's been established time and time again that he's white.

But in Batman '89 he was black.
And I'll be damned if he wasn't at least half black in Batman TAS

 

[Cаrter]

Also..what if Nolan cast a white or latino actor to play Lucious Fox for example? Wouldn't seem right....thats all.

Only because Lucious Fox just sounds black

 

[Nepenthes]

Same deal goes for Lucius Fox imo (although in this case, you could argue that casting a white guy for Lucius is cutting out a minority appearance in the film. Gotham is a racially diverse city, so if the characters supposed to be black, then keep him black)

As for you're earlier comment Dark Knight, about casting Bruce Wayne as black.....well it's comments like that just make morons out of you AND me. Please try to see my arguement and not some ridiculous extension. Bruce is the lead. It would seem like a desperate movie for attention by the producers of the film. It would dominate press coverage and audience reactions. I think you know that I'm not talking about Bruce here.


Crooklyn - I get what you're saying but I think i just generally disagree. Portraying the characters properly is more important than the aesthetic imo. Though I agree that we don't a need a 'brillaint black actor', just a brilliant actor in general, whoever he is.


So where do we stand on the fact that neither Liam Nesson nor Wantanabe are not actually Arabs? Ra's is supposed to be an Arab. Does this matter? No, because there was actually a valid reason for making the switch. In the case of Dent however there is no valid reason expect for whether an actor matches Nolans vision of the Dent role.

 

[Tojo]

Ledger has not done anything in his career thus far to suggest he'd make a good Joker. Did he even screen test?

I have no idea why he was cast, although he was amazing in Brokeback, but that's hardly going to suggest to someone that he can play this crazy bastard

 

[Babs Gordon]

er... screentests?

 

[Ronny Shade]

bring 'em on!

lol wouldn't that be goddamn hell for the producers if they released screentests to the fans to see how they reacted. just imagine the insanity.

 

[outsider101487]

Ledger has not done anything in his career thus far to suggest he'd make a good Joker. Did he even screen test?

I have no idea why he was cast, although he was amazing in Brokeback, but that's hardly going to suggest to someone that he can play this crazy bastard

But wasn't that the main reason Nolan cast him? Because he hadn't done a role like the Joker? I am not saying I fully agree with this. I can see how taking an actor out of his normal range and throwing him into a different kind of role would make for, if done well, a visually exciting movie. For an audience, it could bring about two things (again, if done correctly). In Ledger's case, there will first be that obvious feeling of surprise, like "WTF is he doing in this role?" like many of us are already experiencing. But if Ledger nails the Joker, there will be a feeling of awe in watching their beloved "pretty boy" actor turn into total psychopath. People will step back and say, "That... was... Ledger???!!!"

That's what I'm hoping we'll get. Obviously his past movies don't indicate he can do this, but I guess Nolan thought that was a good thing, seeing that Ledger is a good actor, and wanting to transform him into something else.

Bringing it back to the topic, my ultimate faith in the movie lies in the casting of Dent's character. While he is only a supporting character, he will be significant enough in this and the next film that we'll need a damn good actor for him, black, white, red, blue, yellow, WHATEVER. If Nolan pulls out another actor he wants to "experiment" with, I don't know. Ledger's casting was interesting, but this "unconventional" thing doesn't sound too appetizing..

 

[L0ngsh0t]

You have it backwards. He started off as caucasian, and it wasn't UNTIL the cartoons that they made him darker.

you maybe right, in that case i am wrong