When Michael Jai White first signed on to a Batman Begins sequel The Dark Knight, he had no idea the superhero flick would go down in film history as one of the greats.
A decade ago, it was a small miracle if a comic book movie was good let alone great. After all, this was the time of jazz-dancing emo Spider-Man and Im the juggernaut, b***h being an actual line dialogue from an X-Men film. If you didnt come out of the cinema emotionally scarred after watching Reed Richards perform a two-minute boogie in Fantastic Four, that was considered a victory.
Little did audiences know that by the end of summer 2008, the movie landscape would be irrevocably changed.
Marvels first instalment in its now iconic cinematic universe Iron Man dropped in May 2008, with a career-saving performance from Robert Downey Jr in a flick that no one expected to be as excellent as it was. Just two months later in July, DCs call and response was The Dark Knight: a film that surpassed excellent and became classic.
I had no idea what it would become, Michael Jai White tells Junkee, having signed on to the movie when its title was just Batman Begins sequel. I had my particular part, but youre not really connected to everything else thats going on. I knew it was a massive movie, but I had no idea it would be that successful.
The Making Of Jai White
White had been on big movies before: he was the first African American to play a superhero in a comic book blockbuster, with Spawn in 1997. But like a handful of its peers Darkman, The Phantom, Tank Girl, The Crow, Blade Spawn was treated more as a cult film than mainstream hit.
A martial arts expert and stunt choreographer, the 50-year old made a name for himself in the industry by leaning into his area of expertise. As well as parts in action gems like Universal Soldier and Exit Wounds, his massive frame had seen him play Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali in the lead up to landing The Dark Knight. He was also somewhat of a DC superhero vet, having voiced everyone from Superman villain Doomsday to Green Lantern John Stewart in various animated projects for the company
When he got offered the part of Gambol by director Christopher Nolan I didnt audition it was a world that White was already very familiar with. A rival gangster to the Jokers anarchic uprising in the criminal underworld, his role was a tough character in a movie full of tough characters, which he says was part of the appeal.
The Dark Knight is dark, he laughs. Theres certain movies where people can live vicariously through really dark and tough characters. Thats why movies from the Charles Bronson days endure, where you have these iconically great characters.
Him And Heath
And no character was more iconic or darker than Heath Ledgers infamous turn as the Joker. All of Whites scenes in The Dark Knight were shared with Ledger, which he said was a coup given that even at 28, the Aussie was such an established actor.
Heath was a really nice guy, he was so generous and open, says White. He actually asked my opinion of different takes that he did, which was really unique.
The scene where the Joker first mutters the phrase why so serious was one that relied heavily on the chemistry between Ledger and White. After an earlier encounter where the Joker disposes of one of Gambols henchmen with a macabre magic trick, theres a price on the Batman villains head: one that the clown price of crime uses as a way to slip through Gambols defences.
On paper it would be hard to believe that Ledgers sinewy frame could be intimidating to someone of Whites six foot, 100kg stature, so to make the tension palpable it all came down to how they were able to bounce off each other.
There was this one modulation of his voice that he did where I said to him wow, that is really creepy I dont have to act much with that, says White.
When you go to that register, it makes me really wonder where the hell did this guy come from? He said oh, you think so?. I replied yeah, I like that Heath. That was the take they used in the movie. He was really playful and really tried experimenting with the way he was doing the character: it was quite fun to watch him do that.
On camera his character might have been insane, smeared in face paint and dripping with malice, but off camera White says the cast and crew saw a different side of Ledger.
There were moments when we would cut and the cameras would turn off and he was just clowning around. In actuality, I was kind of an amateur magician at the time and so was he. We would be doing card tricks between takes or trying to show each other sleight of hand techniques.
From magic tricks to skateboarding around on set, Ledger was a unique presence on The Dark Knight and one that couldnt have been further from the movies grim narrative.
The Dark Knights Legacy
The Dark Knight became the first superhero movie to truly penetrate on a critical scale. It broke box-office records a victory for any studio but it also changed the Academy Awards forever.
When the nominations were announced at the start of 2009 and The Dark Knight wasnt listed among the best picture nods despite scoring nominations in nine other categories there was an uproar so loud the Academy eventually broadened the Oscars main category field. They made it so that anything from five to ten films could be nominated for best picture any given year, in something punters dubbed The Dark Knight effect.
At the time, legendary film critic Roger Ebert said the film could redefine the possibilities of the comic book movie.
Although he didnt have any sense of the films significance during the shoot, White says hes not surprised by The Dark Knights enduring legacy as it comes up to films tenth anniversary.
It was tremendous, he says of the finished product. Just the structure of the movie and everything, what Heath did in counter balance to Christian Bale, I mean, those two guys
how could you not watch that over and over? It was a classic kind of pairing.
Of course Heath played one of the best bad guys ever. Sometimes your movie is as good as the bad guy and that? Well, it was one of the best bad guys ever.
