The Dark Knight Nolan Describes TDK Plot as 'Grim.'

[Miranda Fox]

Source: http://www.eventguide.ie/articles.elive?session_id=1163428283107475&sku=061113142724

A man who notoriously likes to keep his cards close to his chest, Nolan isn’t revealing much about his plans for ‘Dark Knight’, the Batman sequel he’s planning to start shooting in the New Year. When Michael Caine – who plays Bruce Wayne’s loyal butler, Alfred - asked him about the plot, Nolan simply replied with one word; “Grim”. So, can we confirm, at least, that Heath Ledger is on board as The Joker? “Yes, he is.”

Rumours too, about Ryan Philippe playing Two-Face, which will no doubt delight his ex-, Reese Witherspoon. “No, Heath Ledger’s the only casting news we’ve announced, because we’re still working on the script. Heath got what I was doing with the character, and it was a unique opportunity, so, we jumped on it. And that, my friend, is all I’m going to tell you about it.”

This stuff just makes me more and more curious about the plot...

 

[Ronny Shade]

"Grim" is a good word.

 

[batmaluco]

Yes.

 

[Ronny Shade]

BOOORING.

 

[Retroman]

Wow, Chris stop spoiling us please. lolt:

 

[batmaluco]

...with all those secrets and almost monosyllabic comments
t:

 

[Miranda Fox]

Wow, Chris stop spoiling us please. lolt:

Heh, last time when he was asked about the plot, he wouldn't even give us that much. Guess Michael Caine is special or something.

 

[Retroman]

He sure is.
I think Nolan is just getting sick and tired of been asked about TDK while he'd rather talk about the film he's promoting - The Prestige. I imagine just about every journalist has asked him a barrage of questions on the subject. After a while it gets kind of annoying. I guess that comes with the territory.

 

[Batman]

I think Nolan's following the Batman movie tradition of basing the atmosphere of the story to fit a specific of Batman's career in the comics. It's what every major Batman film has done thus far. I mean, think about it:

Batman - 1930's era Batman (He used machine guns, killed criminals, and was more of a grim creature of the night)

Batman Returns - 40's era Batman (This Batman was pretty much the same, except for that it began to go 'out there' in some respects.)

Batman Forever - 50's era Batman (The first real era where Batman did outrageous things, like visit Mars and turn into Giant Apes. While this Batman didn't do that, the sets and the situations speak for themselves)

Batman & Robin - 60's era Batman (Batman and Robin being public figures, over the top villains and situations, ect... Need I say more?)

Batman Begins - 70's era Batman (The era where Batman regained his darker roots, Began journeying outside of Gotham City, and acknowledging a real world outside of Gotham. Also where Ra's Al Ghul first appeared)

So... that said... it's possible TDK will be in line with the 80's era of Batman. Which is damned good, as far as I'm concerned, considering the 80's brought us Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, and The Killing Joke, aswell as the first journeying into Bruce's psychosis.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if TDK was intentionally darker, and Batman was a little meaner in this one. That combined with the characterisations of The Joker by both Alan Moore and Frank Miller of that era is getting me pumped for this, provided my theory is true. (Which I think is in part of Micheal Ulsan producing these films. He's the one that first brought this to my attention in interviews on the B89 special featurettes.)

 

[Negative Creep]

 

[Ronny Shade]

I think Nolan's following the Batman movie tradition of basing the atmosphere of the story to fit a specific of Batman's career in the comics. It's what every major Batman film has done thus far. I mean, think about it:

Batman - 1930's era Batman (He used machine guns, killed criminals, and was more of a grim creature of the night)

Batman Returns - 40's era Batman (This Batman was pretty much the same, except for that it began to go 'out there' in some respects.)

Batman Forever - 50's era Batman (The first real era where Batman did outrageous things, like visit Mars and turn into Giant Apes. While this Batman didn't do that, the sets and the situations speak for themselves)

Batman & Robin - 60's era Batman (Batman and Robin being public figures, over the top villains and situations, ect... Need I say more?)

Batman Begins - 70's era Batman (The era where Batman regained his darker roots, Began journeying outside of Gotham City, and acknowledging a real world outside of Gotham. Also where Ra's Al Ghul first appeared)

So... that said... it's possible TDK will be in line with the 80's era of Batman. Which is damned good, as far as I'm concerned, considering the 80's brought us Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, and The Killing Joke, aswell as the first journeying into Bruce's psychosis.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if TDK was intentionally darker, and Batman was a little meaner in this one. That combined with the characterisations of The Joker by both Alan Moore and Frank Miller of that era is getting me pumped for this, provided my theory is true. (Which I think is in part of Micheal Ulsan producing these films. He's the one that first brought this to my attention in interviews on the B89 special featurettes.)

Does that mean BB3'll be like TAS?

 

[Batman]

Does that mean BB3'll be like TAS?

TAS took from a combination of the 70's era of Batman and Burton's films. It's possible, but I'm thinking stories like Knightfall, No Man's Land, Haunted Knight, The Long Halloween, and Dark Victory before I'm thinking about that.

 

[ultimatefan]

Actually, Nolan´s take comes from a lot of different Batman sources, if you look at BB, there´s YO, there´s stuff from the seventies, there´s some Bill Finger era stuff, there´s Animated Series, there´s DKR, there´s Jeph Loeb... I believe the same will be true about TDK.

 

[Ronny Shade]

The popular comics aesthetic from the nineties (aside from the gem artists like Jim Lee and Tim Sale) I never really liked all that much. Too much of the thin-outline-no-blacks-weird color choices.

 

[LadyMoira]

Gee that's what we all hate about Nolan...he just gabs on and on about what's going to happen and he ruins it for everyone!

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if TDK was intentionally darker, and Batman was a little meaner in this one. That combined with the characterisations of The Joker by both Alan Moore and Frank Miller of that era is getting me pumped for this, provided my theory is true. (Which I think is in part of Micheal Ulsan producing these films. He's the one that first brought this to my attention in interviews on the B89 special featurettes.)

I'm praying that you're right-it certainly seems like he might be heading in that direction from what we saw in BB and also because Christian Bale has said that the only way he knows how to play Batman, without feeling ridiculous in the suit is to make him a savage beast.

 

[Batman]

Actually, Nolan´s take comes from a lot of different Batman sources, if you look at BB, there´s YO, there´s stuff from the seventies, there´s some Bill Finger era stuff, there´s Animated Series, there´s DKR, there´s Jeph Loeb... I believe the same will be true about TDK.

Well, I'm just speaking in terms of what the main atmosphere is based off of. Not just that era and nothing else. Batman 89 also had elements of DKR, Batman Returns has elements of... Well that one is moreso Burton's than the Batman of the comics, Batman Forever's Bruce Wayne is more inlined with the 80's and TAS, Batman and Robin has some elements of BTAS for Mr. Freeze's backstory, and Batman Begins, as you said, takes from many other periods aswell.

But I think that, more than those elements, it has a certain era in mind overall in terms of how it's presented. I think Nolan's was more in line with Denny O'Neil's Batman than any other, despite obvious homages to Loeb's and Miller's.

What that means for TDK is, I think there'll be more elements of Moore and Miller than O'Neil's, Loeb's, and others, even though I'm sure there'll be elements from those writers aswell. (Hell, Nolan and Ledger have already said they'll also take from The Joker's first two appearances in the 30's-40's.)

 

[Fenrir]

"Grim"? Hmm, suddenly my prediction about The Dark Knight having a tragic ending appears a lot more plausible now.

 

[Ronny Shade]

"Grim"? Hmm, suddenly my prediction about The Dark Knight having a tragic ending appears a lot more plausible now.

Um...remember when David Goyer said in a press release that TDK was going to have a tragic ending?

 

[Fenrir]

Um...remember when David Goyer said in a press release that TDK was going to have a tragic ending?

He did? When?

 

[Ronny Shade]

long time ago. He said that harvey was gonna get scarred at the end of 2. That's pretty tragic.

 

[Fenrir]

long time ago. He said that harvey was gonna get scarred at the end of 2. That's pretty tragic.

Actually, here's what Goyer said:

“The next one would have Batman enlisting the aid of Gordon and Dent in bringing down The Joker...but not killing him. In the third [movie], The Joker would go on trial, scarring Dent in the process."


If TDK is going to have a tragic ending, it might be something else, NOT Dent's scarring.

 

[Miranda Fox]

Actually, here's what Goyer said:

“The next one would have Batman enlisting the aid of Gordon and Dent in bringing down The Joker...but not killing him. In the third [movie], The Joker would go on trial, scarring Dent in the process."


If TDK is going to have a tragic ending, it might be something else, NOT Dent's scarring.

Agreed. I think it'll be more the aftermath of the Joker that'll be the tragedy. By the sounds of things, he's going to do some truly terrible things.

There's also the possibility of Rachel dying, which I have mixed feelings about - if it's done right, I'd be fine with it but it feels such an obvious way to go with the plot.

 

[Shoemeister]

I think Nolan's following the Batman movie tradition of basing the atmosphere of the story to fit a specific of Batman's career in the comics. It's what every major Batman film has done thus far. I mean, think about it:

Batman - 1930's era Batman (He used machine guns, killed criminals, and was more of a grim creature of the night)

Batman Returns - 40's era Batman (This Batman was pretty much the same, except for that it began to go 'out there' in some respects.)

Batman Forever - 50's era Batman (The first real era where Batman did outrageous things, like visit Mars and turn into Giant Apes. While this Batman didn't do that, the sets and the situations speak for themselves)

Batman & Robin - 60's era Batman (Batman and Robin being public figures, over the top villains and situations, ect... Need I say more?)

Batman Begins - 70's era Batman (The era where Batman regained his darker roots, Began journeying outside of Gotham City, and acknowledging a real world outside of Gotham. Also where Ra's Al Ghul first appeared)

So... that said... it's possible TDK will be in line with the 80's era of Batman. Which is damned good, as far as I'm concerned, considering the 80's brought us Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, and The Killing Joke, aswell as the first journeying into Bruce's psychosis.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if TDK was intentionally darker, and Batman was a little meaner in this one. That combined with the characterisations of The Joker by both Alan Moore and Frank Miller of that era is getting me pumped for this, provided my theory is true. (Which I think is in part of Micheal Ulsan producing these films. He's the one that first brought this to my attention in interviews on the B89 special featurettes.)

Hmmm... this is certainly an interesting pattern. I wouldn't go as far to say that Nolan (or Burton or Schumacher) were ever trying to deliberately cover every period (in chronological order, yet), but it is intriguing nonetheless. I never really put 2 and 2 together on this one. Good post.

 

[Cinemaman]

I think Nolan's following the Batman movie tradition of basing the atmosphere of the story to fit a specific of Batman's career in the comics. It's what every major Batman film has done thus far. I mean, think about it:

Batman - 1930's era Batman (He used machine guns, killed criminals, and was more of a grim creature of the night)

Batman Returns - 40's era Batman (This Batman was pretty much the same, except for that it began to go 'out there' in some respects.)

Batman Forever - 50's era Batman (The first real era where Batman did outrageous things, like visit Mars and turn into Giant Apes. While this Batman didn't do that, the sets and the situations speak for themselves)

Batman & Robin - 60's era Batman (Batman and Robin being public figures, over the top villains and situations, ect... Need I say more?)

Batman Begins - 70's era Batman (The era where Batman regained his darker roots, Began journeying outside of Gotham City, and acknowledging a real world outside of Gotham. Also where Ra's Al Ghul first appeared)

So... that said... it's possible TDK will be in line with the 80's era of Batman. Which is damned good, as far as I'm concerned, considering the 80's brought us Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, and The Killing Joke, aswell as the first journeying into Bruce's psychosis.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if TDK was intentionally darker, and Batman was a little meaner in this one. That combined with the characterisations of The Joker by both Alan Moore and Frank Miller of that era is getting me pumped for this, provided my theory is true. (Which I think is in part of Micheal Ulsan producing these films. He's the one that first brought this to my attention in interviews on the B89 special featurettes.)

Hmmm... intersting theory

 

[Cinemaman]

Grim? I would like to hear something more exciting, but I will wait for it