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Source: http://www.wizarduniverse.com/movies/dark_knight/006035280.cfm
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SHEDDING LIGHT ON THE DARK KNIGHT
Get the first word on Heath Ledger as the Joker, the return of Two-Face and the early footage broken down frame-by-frame
By Rickey Purdin
Posted October 1, 2007 9:50 AM
If it was up to me, you wouldnt see anything until the movie came out, said Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan without any hint of apology. As he introduced a super-secret clip of the film to 1,200 screaming fans at Wizard World Chicago during an exclusive Dark Knight panel, Nolan made sure the audience knew just how special the viewing was. Considering Nolan went to great lengths to keep the film protected from prying, spoiler-hungry eyes (the production was once codenamed Rorys First Kiss to lessen attention), it was clear Nolan wasnt comfortable exhibiting an unfinished product.
Please be kind, added the anxious director as security guards crept into the aisles with infrared night-vision gear to catch attendees attempting to record the footage. This is a rough, rough cut.
What followed, despite only shooting for nearly four months in Chicago, was about two minutes of pure Bat-fan-gasm, filled with plenty of Heath Ledgers Joker, tons of action and the worlds first glimpse at the films other villainAaron Eckhart as Two-Face.
The director has every right to be secretive. The sequel to 2005s Batman Begins doesnt open until July 18, 2008, after all. Plus, if it werent for Nolans fresh, practical, cinematic approach to the Bat-mythos, the worlds last memories of a big-screen Bruce Wayne wouldve been lost in a sea of Bat-nipples thanks to a sputtered-out 90s franchise. Hes earned the right to dictate what people see and when.
But its time to lift that leathery cowl and explore the elements of The Dark Knight that will make it DC Comics biggest blockbuster yet.
JOKERS WILD
Moments before Batman Begins ended, Jim Gordon (played by Gary Oldman) approached Christian Bales Batman about a new thug in town, and in every theater across the land, the flashing of the joker playing card sent movie-goers into unbridled fits of hoots and hollers.
We found a way of looking at the character and saw what role he could play in the film, explained Nolan. The joker card at the end of the first film created the right kind of feeling. That was the hook that got us thinking about the next one.
Nolans writing partner (and younger brother) Jonah pointed the director toward the Jokers first two comic book stories, both of which took place in 1940s Batman #1. Weve come around to something thats eerily close to those first two appearances, revealed the director.
In the issue, the Joker appears as a grinning mastermind who predicts his murderous crimes over the radio before meticulously carrying them out. Each cold-blooded, calculated killing ultimately ends with the victims face frozen into a solid, monstrous grin. If the film version follows closely, as the writers have said it will, expect plenty of chilling death scenes.
Once we established Batman Begins, it was one take on Batman, explained screenwriter David S. Goyer. We had to decide, How does the Joker fit in this world?
Part of that problem was solved when actor Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain) joined the cast in July 2006. One of the premier actors of his generation, Ledger dove into the role with an understanding of what he didnt want to convey in the film.
Im not going for the same thing [Jack Nicholson] went for, Ledger said in interviews. That would be stupid. Tim Burton did a more fantastical kind of thing and Chris Nolan is doing nitty-gritty handheld realism. I love what [Nicholson] did, and that is part of why I want to do that role. But it would obviously be murder if I tried to imitate what he did.
What Heath is doing, Oldman triumphantly stated in Chicago, searching for the right words to finish his thought, hes going to knock everyone out of the park.
Oldmans words came true moments later during the screened footage. Flashing between scenes of the Joker robbing a bank and taking a Batman-administered body-slam in a police station, the teaser hit its Joker crescendo when a tired, emotionless Joker steadily opened machine gun fire on Gotham. Empty, deranged and angry, this was the Joker the audience was waiting for, and their wall-shaking screams confirmed it.
But it was the unexpected cameo of another villain that brought down the house.
TWO-FACE RETURNS
In Batman Begins, mob kingpin Carmine Falcone rules Gothams underground. When good guy District Attorney Carl Banks sticks his nose in Falcones business, he finds himself on the receiving end of a gangland shooting. Fast-forward shortly afterwards and Harvey Dent arrives on the scene.
Dark Knight promotional art features Dent running for DA, and like his comic counterpart, he wins the election. Vowing to clean up the citys rampant crime rate, Dent takes a no-nonsense, Eliot Ness stance and mows down the street scum at the court level behind Lt. Gordons growing arrest record. Of course, that justice crusade comes with a price.
While the exact details leading up to Dents disfigurement havent been made public, comic fans can tell you Dent suffered acid burns over half his face during a court case. The attack sent Dent into a psychotic fit, resulting in the birth of the unhinged Two-Face. As soon as Eckhart was announced as Dent in February 2007, fans wondered if the actor might pull double duty as Two-Face, too. The footage in Chicago, along with comments made by Eckhart in interviews, put those questions to bed.
In the final moments of the clip, as explosions and sightings of the Joker resonated in the brains of the audience, a half-dollar spins wildly onto a barroom table. Two-Face plops down in a bar stool on screen with his back to the camera.
A bartender timidly pours a shot while staring up at Two-Face, crimson-maroon scar tissue running down the left side of the villains neck below slightly discolored hair. Dent? the jarred man screams in disbelief. I thought you were dead!
Then Two-Face speaks for the first time, saying only one word with a gravel-filled but glib voice: Half.
Batman is a complex character, and Two-Face comes a little bit from the same world, Eckhart explained in interviews. Im looking for the tension between the two, the similarities between the two. I want to find whats similar to Batman and then find whats opposite to him.
BAT-PLOT
The title The Dark Knight provides a bigger clue to the movies plot than you might think. Just like Batman Begins explored the beginnings of Batman, Dark Knight looks to explore the Caped Crusaders full-on immersion into protecting Gotham from its own shadows.
Batman Begins was an origin story, and the important thing was to move the story forward, described Nolan of the first films themes. In [Dark Knight], the detective [elements] will help move the story along.
Reports indicate Dark Knight takes place shortly after the end of Batman Begins with Gordon still trying to clean up the Gotham streets after his promotion to lieutenant, Bruce Wayne rebuilding his family home with trusty butler Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) and Batman refining his crimefighting methods when new baddies hit town.
After Bats took down Falcone in the last film, a criminal power vacuum sucks countless thugs and gangsters into Gotham with plans to control the city. This, of course, summons plenty of the eccentric villains Gotham is known for, and as more and more fill the streets, Batman, Gordon and Dent scramble to keep the peace. The influx of new bad guys also pushes Bats to develop new gadgets, including a streamlined bodysuit complete with projectile glove blades and a Batpod motorbike packing grappling hooks, cannons and machine guns.
Meanwhile, according to the teaser trailers, the lower criminals start to side with a single leader in desperation as the mobsters begin picking each other off. In the clip, Bruce Wayne and Alfred discuss the crime wave before Alfred lays the situation out on the line.
You hammered them, and in their desperation, they turned to a man they didnt fully understand, he says, referring to the Joker. Some men arent looking for anything logical. They cant be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
The Chicago footage echoed that sentiment as scenes of Gotham cars and buildings literally on fire littered the clip, proving the power struggle mutates into a gang war at one point. As for Joker plot specifics, Ledger points to one comic in particular.
The Killing Joke was the one that was handed to me, admitted the actor in interviews. I guess that book explains a little bit of where [the Jokers] from, but not too much.
The Killing Joke, written by Alan Moore with art by Brian Bolland, explores the origins of the man who would become the Jokera loser comedian caught up in a crime and then accidentally disfigured after his wife and baby die in an unconnected mishap. And even if the details are different, a similar, sympathetic glimpse into the slow, tortured birth of the Joker may be present in Dark Knight.
LAW AND LOVE
Aside from the fact that Dark Knight marks the first time a Batman film hasnt featured the heros name in the title, its also the first film to feature a returning love interest for the characterkinda.
In Batman Begins, Katie Holmes played Bruce Waynes childhood friend Rachel Dawes, who becomes Gothams assistant DA. Later in the film, Dawes and Wayne begin sharing a slim romantic link after she discovers hes Batman.
In January 2007, reports of Holmes leaving the cast surfaced. Her reps revealed the actress had joined the cast of Mad Money, a buddy film with Queen Latifah and Diane Keaton with a conflicting shooting schedule that would keep her from appearing in both films. In March 2007, Maggie Gyllenhaal (Stranger Than Fiction) was announced as her replacement.
Im not thinking of it as a role that anyones played before, related Gyllenhaal to sources. Im not walking into Katie Holmes performance. Im thinking of it as an opportunity to play somebody whos alive and smart. Chris asked me to do this because he wanted me, not because he wants some generic lady in a dress.
Doing Batman has shocked me at every turn, noted the actress. When I started, I thought, Well, its a huge movie, Ill just do my best to put what I can into it. But, in fact, theyve been really hungry for my ideas.
In Dark Knight, expect Dawes and Dent to spend some quality time together as Dent takes over the DAs office. A love triangle has even been hinted at involving Wayne, and the Chicago clip teased a freaky scene with the Joker holding a knife to Dawes shivering neck as he slowly spins her around a room.
But these arent the only new players in Gotham.
BAT-CAMEOS
Everyone knows about the major villains plowing through Dark Knight, but what about the surprising stars flying under the radar?
For starters, Eric Roberts, the Oscar-nominated actor who appeared in five episodes of NBCs Heroes last season, plays Salvatore Maroni, a rising mob boss. In the comics, Maroni is responsible for scarring Harvey Dents face with acid, creating Dents Two-Face persona.
Spawn star Michael Jai White beat out hulking rapper David Banner among others for the role of Gamble, a new mobster who bumps heads with Maroni and other mob elements.
But not just ordinary underworld figures are set to appear. Early spy reports from the Dark Knight set in downtown Chicago surmised that the Scarecrow would pop up in the film. Amateur video caught a man in a brown hood and suit (the costume worn by actor Cillian Murphy as the Scarecrow in the first film) backed by a gang and arguing with another group of people during a scene in a parking garage. The report jells with the plot, as it would make sense for Scarecrow to make a play for the Gotham underworld.
Murphy wouldnt comment when approached about the report, but did tell sources just after Batman Begins bowed that he was signed to do more than one Bat-film. Hes not the only speculated super-cameo, though.
Anthony Michael Hall (The Dead Zone) told sources in May 2007 hed also joined the cast, but couldnt specify his role.
I signed a confidentiality agreement, and I cant say which part Im playing because it affects the story, said the actor. I cant give away the suspense. Its a $200 million surprise, and I dont want to be the guy to ruin it.
Online gossip pegged Halls expensive secret as the Riddler, a Batman foe obsessed with puzzles. Other reports indicate Hall plays a Gotham journalist obsessed with Bruce Wayne. Whatever the secret is, its not a stretch to imagine comic book Easter eggs hidden all over the film. After Arkham Asylum, home to many Gotham villains, was partially destroyed in Batman Begins, dont be surprised to see more Bat-rogues lining up for a slice of the crime spree pie in Dark Knight or even a possible third movie.
The script leaves room for a very interesting follow-up, Bale admitted to sources. I think we could take it somewhere else.
As long as the secretive Nolans onboard, expect that somewhere else to be the top of the box-office charts.
Source: http://www.wizarduniverse.com/movies/dark_knight/006035280.cfm
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