With only 22 days left to go, we've got 39 High Rez images including posters and productions stills from the film plus some details on the production and a few words from director Christopher Nolan and Batman himself Chrisitan Bale!
For easier reading, I've broken down the production details into my questions as a moviegoer and the production details that were released. This isn't a Q&A or anything, I just found it easier to read by breaking it up into different "issues."
Enjoy!
WHERE IS BATMAN RESIDING?
Bruce and Alfred have taken up residence in the penthouse because Wayne Manor is still under construction after it was destroyed in a fire. Nolan comments, At the end of Batman Begins, Bruce says hes going to rebuild Wayne Manor brick by brick. That would take a long time, so it would be pretty unrealistic for him to be already moved back in. And there was also a period in the comic books where Bruce Wayne did live downtown in a penthouse, so we took that as a jumping-off point. We wanted to have him in the city because this is very much a story of a city and we felt it was important to put Bruce in the middle of that.
THEN WHAT ABOUT THE BATCAVE?
Crowley notes that as long as his home was in the city, Batman needed a new headquarters. He cant go to his Batcave, so we came up with the idea of a bunker that ties back to the architectural theme of the penthouse in that its vast but very plain. It is essentially a large concrete box where everything comes out of the walls and then goes back. But it still had to be visually interesting. It was all about proportion and perspective, which was actually great fun to do.
DOES THE FILM ONLY TAKE PLACE IN GOTHAM OR ARE THERE INTERNATIONAL LOCATIONS LIKE IN THE FIRST ONE?
The Dark Knight sends Batman to the Far East on a mission to bring down an international financial magnate, who is manipulating Gotham Citys most powerful crime cartels. I liked the idea of sending Batman someplace more exotic, says Nolan. We had done that with Bruce Wayne in the first film, before he became Batman, but I really wanted to show the character of Batman outside the realm of Gotham City. I had been to Hong Kong many years ago at a film festival, and remembered it as a great location. Its an incredibly visual place, which makes it ideal in cinematic terms.
SO WHERE DOES THIS FILM PICK UP AFTER THE FIRST ONE?
In The Dark Knight, Nolan says he focused more on how Batmans very existence has changed Gotham City
and not, at least initially, for the better. At the end of Batman Begins, we hinted at the threat of escalationthat in going after the citys crime cartels and attacking their interests, Batman could provoke an even greater response from the criminal community and now that has come to pass. There are some very negative consequences of his crusade brewing in Gotham City.
Producer Charles Roven offers that the issue extends beyond Gothams resident criminals. On the one hand, Batman has begun to rid Gotham of the crime and corruption that has plagued the city, but, ironically, the vacuum he created draws in an even more powerful criminal element, who see it as their chance to take over the city.
HOW DOES BATMAN VIEW HIS ARCH VILLAIN THE JOKER?
The Joker is somebody without any rules whatsoever, Bale states. How do you fight somebody who is bent on destruction, even if it means self-destruction? Thats a formidable foe. The actor goes on to say that The Jokers total lack of morality is one of his most potent weapons in his war with Batman because, conversely, Batman has a very strict moral code for what he will and wont do, and The Joker can use that to his advantage. Batman still has this huge reserve of anger and pain and knows he could easily go too far, so he must not cross that line. He has to be sure that in chasing a monster, he doesnt become a monster himself. Chris Nolan has raised interesting ethical questions in this movie about the complications of having power versus aspiring to power.
WHAT ABOUT NEW CHARACTER HARVEY DENT?
While The Joker wreaks chaos and fear, the crusading District Attorney Harvey Dent is the new face of law and order in Gotham City. Harvey is a man of the people. Hes an all-American hero in a very different way from Batman, says Nolan. So now you have the triumvirate of Batman, Harvey Dent and Lieutenant Gordonthe justice system, the police and a vigilanteforming an alliance to bring down crime. Using Batman gives them an edge over the criminals, but it is still the police who will arrest them, and then they will be tried through the justice system. But what comes up is the question of whether you can bend the rules without breaking them. And that becomes the underlying theme of the story.
AND THEN THINGS GO SOUR...
The dynamic between the three crime fighters changes abruptly when an unforeseeable turn of events destroys the steadfast DA Harvey Dent and gives rise to the vengeful villain Two-Face. Nolan comments, The hope that Harvey represents to Gotham City and then the tragedy of what happens to him and his transformation into Two-Face
its a remarkable story.
The director observes, The Joker is the more flamboyant villain, so he commands attention. But in some ways Harvey Dent/Two Face is the more compelling character because he has such an amazing arc. Our Joker has no arc, per se; hes just hell-bent throughout. The Joker and Harvey Dentthese are two of the most fascinating characters from the Batman comic books. They have an almost mythic quality and it was exciting to view them through the prism of the world we created.
WHY HEATH LEDGER FOR THE JOKER?
Heath Ledger plays the role of The Joker, the malevolent clown who is arguably the most recognizable of Batmans arch-nemeses. In casting the part, Nolan says that the defining quality he was looking for was fearlessness. I needed a phenomenal actor, but he also had to be someone unafraid of taking on such an iconic role. Heath created something entirely original. Its stunning, its captivating
its going to blow people away.
SO WHERE DID THE JOKER COME FROM?
In The Dark Knight, The Joker arrives on the scene without warning and climbs ruthlessly to the top of Gotham Citys criminal food chain. We never wanted to do an origin story for The Joker in this film, but we wanted to show the rise of The Joker, Nolan maintains. In a sense, The Joker is the logical response to Batman, who has instigated this kind of extremity of behavior in Gotham.
Bale adds, The Joker wants to break Batman, to prove that everybody has a price and even Batman can be leveraged in such a way that he would compromise his principles. I actually think hes delighted to find that Batman wont do that, and it creates for The Joker an even better opponent in this game hes playing. Hes a fascinating character, and Heath did an extraordinary job with it. I dont think the movie would have worked as well if we hadnt had an actor of the caliber of Heath Ledger, who was able to really up the ante, much as The Joker does in Gotham.
We wanted The Joker to represent pure, unadulterated evil, in the sense that he has no logical motivation for his actions. That is what we wanted to unleash on the city of Gotham. He is an absolute, Nolan sums up simply.
WHO IS HARVEY DENT AND WHY AARON ECKHART?
Harvey has charged himself with tackling organized crime and cleaning up the streets. He is the shining new hope of Gotham City, the White Knight, as he is called. He starts out full of optimism and enthusiasm
where he ends up is
somewhere completely different, he hints. Its a great role and Im a big fan of Chris Nolans, so when he approached me about doing the film, it was a no-brainer. Nolan says that while Eckhart looks every inch the part of the handsome and charismatic DA, his reasons for casting the actor ran deeper. We were looking for somebody who could embody that All-American charm because you have to invest in him as a very attractive, heroic figure at the beginning of the movie. But he also had to have an edge; he had to suggest this undercurrent of anger and darkness that Harvey Dent needed to have, so where he goes in the story is believable. You cant present a character like this as simply a heroic figure with no flaws, no dark side. Aaron captured all of those qualities very, very well.
IS DENT ENVIOUS OF BATMAN?
As the new Gotham City DA, Harvey Dent not only has to contend with a rise in crime, but also with a masked vigilante known as Batman. Its an interesting dynamic, Eckhart remarks, because Harvey sees Batman fighting crime in a way that he would like to but cannot. Harvey has to stay within the boundaries of the law. He has to do overtly what Batman is doing covertly. He admires Batmans intentions, even if he cant publicly support his methods. But what he thinks of Bruce Wayne is quite different. He sees Bruce as nothing more than a playboy about town without any real credibility.
Harvey thinks Bruce is a complete upper-class twit, Nolan affirms. It would astonish him to find out he is really the man behind the mask.
SO HOW DOES DENT GO FROM WELL INTENTIONED D.A. TO TWO-FACE?
...that all changes in an instant when a shocking incident transforms the once redoubtable Harvey Dent into the horribly deformed Two-Face, who is now bent on one thing: revenge. Something terrible happens that alters everything in his life and rage takes over, says Eckhart. He takes strength from his grief and his pain and sets out to kill the bad guys
or those he now perceives as the bad guys. He still wants justice, but now he pursues it outside of the law he once lived by. I dont think of him purely as a villain in the way The Joker is. But at the point that Harvey becomes Two-Face, his outlook is so twisted that he starts to see The Joker as a kindred spirit
and The Joker knows he has Harvey where he wants him. Its a great scene, and Heath did such a wonderful job. As an actor, it was exciting to work with him. Heaths performance made this Joker an indelible screen character. He was everything you could want in an arch-villain as infamous as The Joker, and yet he was completely original.
WHERE IS LEIUTENANT GORDON IN ALL THIS?
In The Dark Knight, Lieutenant Gordon is facing mounting pressure from all sides in the wake of the recent escalation of crime, but as a career cop, he knows his first, best option is to follow his gut instincts, which tell him to trust Batman. He understands that Batman now poses some danger to Gotham, but he believes Batman may ultimately be its salvation, especially with the arrival of The Joker. The police have never encountered anything like The Joker, says Oldman. Hes not interested in money or even power, in the usual sense of the word. The Joker is all about chaos; he does what he does for the fun of it. How do you police someone like that?
Thomas adds that in addition to being tested because of Batmans efforts and the effect they are having on his city, Gordon doesnt entirely trust Harvey Dent yet because there has never been a politician in Gotham City who wasnt corrupt in some way. He knows something must be done and decides Batman is his best bet because he knows Batmans intentions and has faith that things will get better in the long run.
ANYONE ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT? THE SCARECROW IS BACK...
The films main cast also includes Eric Roberts as Maroni, one of the heads of Gotham Citys crime cartel; Chin Han as Lau, an Asian business mogul, who makes Gothams crime syndicate an offer they cant refuse; Nestor Carbonell as the Mayor of Gotham City; and Anthony Michael Hall as a television news reporter. Cillian Murphy also makes a return cameo appearance as Scarecrow.
FINAL THOUGHTS FROM NOLAN?
Nolan concludes, For me, Batman has an enduring appeal and endless fascination because he is a relatable character. He is referred to as a superhero, but actually he is a self-invented superhero. And I think the fantasy of a man who, through sheer will and self-discipline, has turned himself into more than just a man, into a heroic figure
thats just a very compelling myth.
THE DARK KNIGHT opens in theaters July 18th!
HOLY ......... I can't wait man . This movies going to own The Summer 
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