The Dark Knight Rises Sarah Essen

[protoctista]

Following successful breakthrough in the hunt for Batman, Gordon calls Essen into his office. It's the sort of scene where, normally, he would congratulate her and discuss capitalising on the success, but instead, of course, he wants to dissuade her without being overtly abraisive to the official stance. Great conflict already, but add on top of that the fact that she seduces him, and that they are people that naturally attract, but idealogically conflict.

It'd be a 2 minute scene integral to the plot, but charged with all kinds of drama. Like Gordon discussing with Harvey Dent early in TDK (one of my favourite scenes)

 

[Ronny Shade]

And then Joker breaks out of prison and kills her!

 

[mavsmaniac21]

Rene Russo would b perfect

 

[Ronny Shade]

and then the joker rapes her and pees on her

 

[ThePoisonPuppet]

and then the joker rapes her and pees on her

That would really get the plot rolling....

 

[Mee]

I'd say keep her out of it. She doesn't really serve a purpose.

Yeah, Gordon is kinda the one pure guy in Gotham, in Nolan's movies...and Essen kinda messes that up. The next movie is obviously gonna be about redemption, not corruption, (like cheating on your wife) like TDK was.

 

[The Guard]

Essen's always been younger than Gordon. A 30's version wouldn't matter much in this case. The solution to introducing Essen would be to have Barbara Gordon either having already left Gordon in the franchise because she couldn't take the life (a relatively realistic element of police work and it's impact on some families), or having her leave during the course of it.

 

[chicagobat]

Been done...

In the fanfilm "Dark Knight Project"

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"The character of Detective Sarah Essen, portrayed by Beatrice Schneider, made her first appearance in Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli's seminal comic book mini-series, "BATMAN: YEAR ONE". While not visible in Christopher Nolan's films, it was decided to include Sarah as a link to the comic books and to introduce a character that probably is operating in Nolan's universe. Sarah and Jim Gordon eventually married after Gordon's marriage to his wife Barbara fell apart."[/FONT]

More trivia.

 

[protoctista]

TDK had such a high relevance of Gordon's family - the importance it has to him, by presenting it as the ultimate risk - and, although their screen presence was small, it was emotionally connecting to the audience.

So to completely tear that down would be a confusing kick in the teeth.

But to have Gordon dip his feet in the water - not physically, but mentally. To find himself feeling an adulterer, because of the way he feels, but not to actually consumate an affair, wouldn't do this. It would show the strain that his profession is putting on the concrete foundation of his existence - his family life.

It's a different, unique method of putting at risk everything that Gordon holds most important.

 

[The Guard]

It's an element that if they wanted to use...they should have been considering this element of Gordon's life from the get-go. It's obvious they weren't. If we see her, we won't see a faithful version of their relationship and interactions.

 

[alexdunn]

When reading Year One I always thought there was some resemblance to Kate Blanchett.

 

[Laderlappen]

Sure she looks like her but they wouldnt cast the best actress in the world for a role like Sarah Essen.

 

[protoctista]

Cate Blanchett wouldn't suit this role at all. Essen has a raw, almost masculine hard-working attitude. Blanchett has an ethereal beauty - she is always aloof in her roles. Essen has to be relateable (the opposite of ethereal) and she has to be sympathetically down to earth (the opposite of aloof).

 

[Ronny Shade]

Cate Blanchett can do anything

 

[I Am The Knight]

I think it's an option to consider. Obviously, they are going to need a female lead...For starters. I don't think we should see a family/love triangle dilemma, though, but rather hint at it happening in the time between TDK and this new movie.

 

[The Guard]

When reading Year One I always thought there was some resemblance to Kate Blanchett.

Yeah...no.

 

[Laderlappen]

Cate was the villian in Indy4(unless Im mistaken, I havent seen it). This is the love interest to one of the supporting characters. Huge difference. If the role was cast, it would be someone closer to Melinda McGraw's league.

 

[protoctista]

You don't put stars in supporting roles unless the lead roles shine bright enough not to be outdone.

In Indy 4, Harrison Ford's long-awaited comeback as an iconic screen hero was more compelling than a fantastic actress playing pantomime. So she was fine as a supporting actress.

But in a sequel to the Dark Knight, the compelling faces will be the ones we haven't seen before - the 'who've they got for this one?' faces. It's a curse of sequels that the returning characters aren't the ones people are looking out for. If you have Cate Blanchet as a support to a supporting role, you're distracting from the supporting role, and distracting from the lead role. Her star status would increase this massively. Sarah Essen would have to be a bigger character if Blanchett was involved because she'd attract too much attention to herself.

Example, the Chechen. Great character. Really nailed his performance, could easily have been the central antagonist of another movie - but no-one came out of the theatre thinking, 'I wonder why they didnt develop the Chechen?'. People were remembering how the Joker dealt with him, or how the Joker compared to him. short, he fulfilled his role of supporting a supporting character (The Joker).

Now imagine that he was played by Robert De Niro. The Chechen's performance had many Robert De-Niro-esque mannerisms, so it's fair to say that Robert De Niro would suit the role. But De-Niro in exactly the same role would ruin the character - not because he couldn't get the performance right (I think the fact that he could is unequivocal) - but because everyone would be thinking; "what's gonna happen with De-Niro", and feel dissapointed walking out of the film because they didn't get to see enough of him.


In the same way, Cate Blanchett in a role that is supporting a supporting character would be equally as distracting. Sarah Essen (were she included) would be meant to support the portrayal of Gordon - she's there to develop him as a character, not to shine as a brilliantly conceived character on her own.

 

[Laderlappen]

Yes you do end up dissapointed with a great actor having a small role. I remember seeing Children of Men and was dissapointed about Julianne Moore had a smaller role than I expected.

 

[protoctista]

CHILDREN OF MEN SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!

Spoiler

^ Julianne Moore's role in Children of Men was a really clever subversion of what I stated above. Cuaron knew that with a 'name' actress in the role, we'd be expecting to follow her character past the expository stages, and so her aborted role was all the more shocking a death.