The Dark Knight Jonathan Nolan: Creative Screenwriting Interview!

[Harrygucha]

You can download it here!

http://creativescreenwritingmagazine.blogspot.com/

 

[Aidan2209]

Thanks. I'll have to listen to it after I get home. You know, after seeing The Dark Knight again.

 

[Harrygucha]

Jonah mentions 'Brother Eye" as an influence on the sonar scene in TDk. Can someone elaborate on that story?

 

[Crook]

Jonah mentions 'Brother Eye" as an influence on the sonar scene in TDk. Can someone elaborate on that story?

http://en.dcdatabaseproject.com/Brother_Eye

 

[the_monk]

Thanks for this! I always enjoy the Creative Screenwriting interviews and Jonathon Nolan is one of the best writers out there now.

 

[Harrygucha]

http://en.dcdatabaseproject.com/Brother_Eye

Thanks for this. I still feel like TDK violated its strict code of realism in that third act. That sonar thing just looked so fake. I think if it looked real, looked good, the technology becomes believeable. I just feel like the computer effects guys got lazy in that sequence. And I am surprised Nolan used so much of that disastrous CGI in that sonar scene. What happened to realism??

 

[Terminator]

How was he supposed to do it realistically? Put everything through a blue filter?

You're complaining about that CG? It's not like the truck flipping was CG or something. Sonar being CG is obvious.

Wasn't Brother Eye a part of the Justice League script?

 

[DoesItDepressU]

Thanks for this. I still feel like TDK violated its strict code of realism in that third act. That sonar thing just looked so fake. I think if it looked real, looked good, the technology becomes believeable. I just feel like the computer effects guys got lazy in that sequence. And I am surprised Nolan used so much of that disastrous CGI in that sonar scene. What happened to realism??

The CGI thing Nolan has deals with using CG in place of practical stunts and effects. In other words CG is limited to applications where there's no other alternative. It doesn't mean no CG.

Same thing with realism. What will it take for you people to understand? How many interviews with Nolan do you need to watch before you get what he's saying? He wants things grounded in reality such that liberties can be made that encompass what he's doing as acceptable. It doesn't mean everything has to be proven beyond doubt that it is real.

 

[Octoberist]

Nolan can do whatever he feels fit, and honestly his 'realism' doesn't have a 'strict code'. give a break, harrygucha.

 

[Anita18]

This was an awesome interview.

Jonah was saying how he likes to think of the Joker as being "conjured out of thin air" right before we see him on that street corner. That's a very cool analogy to make, IMO.

As for the realism thing, Nolan's films "feel" real because all of the character motivations are completely plausible. The Joker is totally off his rocker, but you can comprehend why he feels the way he does. The typical superhero genre villain usually wants to kill the hero for some ambiguous reason, or take over the world or whatnot, and that does not feel real. The Joker aims for something else, something deeper that we can relate in all of us.

 

[Mr.Terrific]

I'm suprised no one has noticed that he basically CONFIRMS Two-Face is dead during this.

 

[Anita18]

I'm suprised no one has noticed that he basically CONFIRMS Two-Face is dead during this.

I already figured. I'm surprised so many are still in denial.

Someone with the production art book with the script, confirms that Two-Face broke his neck during the fall and is "DEAD" (in all caps, although in a script that's just a placemarker for people who are skimming.)

 

[slickrick2k1]

bump

this is a great listen, everyone in this forum needs to hear this!

 

[the_monk]

I pointed it out in the The Fate of Two-Face thread a couple days ago, Mr. Terrific.

It was met with skepticism.

 

[GhostPoet]

The CGI thing Nolan has deals with using CG in place of practical stunts and effects. In other words CG is limited to applications where there's no other alternative. It doesn't mean no CG.

Same thing with realism. What will it take for you people to understand? How many interviews with Nolan do you need to watch before you get what he's saying? He wants things grounded in reality such that liberties can be made that encompass what he's doing as acceptable. It doesn't mean everything has to be proven beyond doubt that it is real.

So he doesn't want Batman flipping up into the air and landing on top of a semi from the ground while it's in motion...utilizing all CG.

 

[DACrowe]

Wow, that was REALLY fascinating. I just enjoyed hearing how they came up with the story and the process the brothers Nolan and David Goyer go through. It was interesting Nolan had to be convinced by Goyer to do another one which leads me to believe that TDK really is stand alone no set-ups for the next one (Two-Face being "secretly alive" for example). I really found that fascinating. I also loved Jonah referencing The Golden Age Joker/Two-Face, Year One, Batman: TAS, talking FAVORABLY about Batman'89, including Jack's Joker, and most of all his use and discussion of The Long Halloween and The Killing Joke inparticular. It is nice to know they are so well versed in the comics and the ideas they considered for fleshing out hte characters.

I also thought the most interesting thing was his discription of the Joker and his love of "I like to have multiple choice" for his backstory and how the Joker has always been there and was conjured out of thin air before the movie began or the Joker is always there since time began and has no end or beginning. How the Joker is an idea and a force of anarchy. I also loved his reasoning for what was Joker's ultimate prank, the switching of the locations on Batman of Harvey and Rachel as his ultimate joke.

I also liked hearing how he came up with the ferry "social experiment" at the end and just it made me appreciate even more how smart the script and story is to this movie the most intriguing than most. I also enjoyed his dig at Spider-Man 1.

It was just such a great listen and I think any Bat-fan should listen to this.

 

[bkey]

I think its funny the interviewer said "The Dark Knight Shines" and the "Legion of Shadows" instead of "The Dark Knight" and "League of Shadows"

 

[DACrowe]

I think the former is a compliment and not the name of the movie.

I also wanted to add that Jonah pretty much confirmed they had Batman break his one rule and kill Dent. That is an interestingly huge departure from the comics.

 

[Joker'sHenchman]

I am a subscriber to Creative Screenwritings podcast and I have listened to easily twenty or thirty screenwriting podcasts and I can honestly say this was the worst one.. Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie and thought the dialogue was fresh and inventive, but his interview about the screenplay was terrible. He didn't elaborate on any of the firsts drafts, his writing habits or any specific details about any versions of the screenplay. He mostly spoke theory. Theory about why Joker does what he does and how that affects batman and batman's decision. I'm sorry if that makes me a little frustrated, but I've heard all that **** before. Some of the stuff Jonah takes times to explain in great details is even outwardly spoken. I was stoked for this podcast and I walked away feeling like I had just wasted 50 mins. of my time.

 

[breyfogle_rules]

Can anyone else believe what tool this interviewer is?

 

[The Battousai]

I think the former is a compliment and not the name of the movie.

I also wanted to add that Jonah pretty much confirmed they had Batman break his one rule and kill Dent. That is an interestingly huge departure from the comics.

Absolutist?

 

[DACrowe]

The interviewer asked about him breaking his one rule at the end and Nolan talked about all characters sacrificing into ambiguity to deal with Joker and said "Harvey paid the price" at the end. Of course you could infer he is really alive because he didn't say "Dent is dead," but he did not deny him breaking his rule, which is a major insinuation in the film.

 

[Man-E-Toys]

weird...no english accent. where he and chris separated, adopted?!?!

 

[ShadowBoxing]

The interviewer asked about him breaking his one rule at the end and Nolan talked about all characters sacrificing into ambiguity to deal with Joker and said "Harvey paid the price" at the end. Of course you could infer he is really alive because he didn't say "Dent is dead," but he did not deny him breaking his rule, which is a major insinuation in the film.

I think most agree here the ending was ambiguous. Even I think he's alive, and still voted "the ending is ambiguous" in the poll we offered, and Ta Da! the writer gives an ambiguous answer, which falls totally into fueling the debate. He said "Harvey Dent paid the price", which he did, regardless of whether he is dead or not. He didn't deny Batman breaking his one rule, which if he did, would end the debate of the end right there.

I think when looking at the end you have to realize that all writers and filmakers have to give you a reason to come back and want more. If Two-Face just causally walks away it gives no incentive to follow him to the next film. They can't just leave you with nothing to talk about at the end.

 

[DACrowe]

This movie is so dense and richly layered with great characters, subtexts and competing philosophies and ideologies that leaving a central crux to the climax unresolved or ambiguous would add little to what there is to talk about.

But you may have a point. I still think Two-Face is deader than a door nail and if we had seen a coffin, with his body in it and Nolan walking up on the stage and saying "Yo, Dent is dead and not coming back" there would still be a large fan movement that insisted he was alive and that it was a lookalike that was buried. Because there are so many people that look like Two-Face walking around.

With that said I understand your point of view. But I disagree with it and have said enough in that thread focused on it.

With that said despite the fawning the interviewer had for the film, I thought the insight of this movie was really given by Mr. Nolan in it. It fleshed out how the movie was conceptualized and things I missed. Hence my big recommendation of the interview.