The Dark Knight (2008) Movie and Film Photos and Desktop
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The Dark Knight is a 2008 American superhero film co-written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins. Christian Bale reprises the lead role. The plot of the film focuses on Batman's fight against a new villain, the Joker (Heath Ledger) and his relationships with district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and his old friend and love interest assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal). For his conception of the film, Nolan was inspired by the Joker's first two appearances in the comics and Batman: The Long Halloween. The Dark Knight was filmed primarily in Chicago, as well as in several other locations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong. He used an IMAX camera to film some sequences, including the Joker's first appearance in the film. Warner Bros. created a viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, developing promotional websites and trailers highlighting screenshots of Ledger as the Joker. After Ledger's death in January 2008, however, the studio refocused its promotional campaign. The film was released on July 16, 2008 in Australia, on July 18, 2008 in North America, and on July 24, 2008 in the United Kingdom. Prior to its box office debut in North America, record numbers of advance tickets were sold for The Dark Knight. The film broke multiple box office records and was greeted by critical acclaim upon release.
The film begins with the Joker robbing a mob-owned bank with his accomplices, whom he tricks into killing each other before killing the last one himself. That night, a trio of Batman impersonators interrupts a meeting between mobsters and the Scarecrow. The real Batman appears and apprehends all of the criminals and impostors, but suffers injuries from dog bites, leading him to re-design his batsuit. Batman and Lieutenant James Gordon contemplate including new district attorney Harvey Dent in their plan to eradicate the mob, as he could be the public hero Batman cannot be. While hosting a fund raiser for Dent, Bruce Wayne discovers that the new D.A. is dating Rachel Dawes.
When mob bosses meet to discuss Batman, Gordon, and Dent, a Chinese mobster accountant, Lau, informs the gang leaders he has hidden their money to pre-empt a plan Gordon has hatched to seize the mobsters' funds. The Joker arrives unexpectedly, offering to kill Batman for half of their money, but the offer is refused. After Batman successfully abducts Lau in Hong Kong and delivers him to the Gotham City police, the mobsters agree to hire the Joker. The Joker tells Gotham that if Batman does not turn himself in to the police and publicly reveal his identity, people will die each day. When Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb and the judge presiding over the mob trials are murdered, Bruce decides to reveal his identity. Before he can, Dent announces that he himself is Batman and is arrested as part of a plan to draw the Joker out of hiding. The Joker attempts to ambush the police convoy carrying Dent, but Batman and Gordon intervene and arrest him; in recognition of his actions, Gordon is appointed police commissioner.
At the police station, Batman interrogates the Joker, who reveals that Dawes and Dent have been captured by corrupt police and placed in warehouses rigged with explosives on opposite sides of the city; they are far enough apart that Batman cannot save them both. Batman leaves to save Dawes, while Gordon and the police head after Dent. With the help of a bomb planted at the police station, the Joker escapes with Lau. Having been deceived by the Joker, Batman arrives at Dent's location in time to save him, but the left side of Dent's face is burned in the explosion. Gordon does not arrive in time to save Dawes and she perishes. In the hospital, Dent is driven to madness over the loss of Dawes. The Joker frees Dent from the hospital and convinces Dent to exact revenge on the corrupt cops and mobsters responsible, as well as Batman and Gordon.
Dent, calling himself "Two-Face," goes on a personal vendetta confronting the cops and mobsters one by one, and deciding their fates with the flip of a coin. The Joker burns Lau along with his half of the mob's money, and announces to the public that anyone left in Gotham at nightfall will be subject to his rule. With the bridges and tunnels out of the city closed due to the Joker's bomb threat, the authorities begin evacuating people by ferry. The Joker places explosives on two of the ferries—one ferry with convicts, the other with civilians—telling all the passengers the only way to save themselves is to trigger the explosives on the other ferry; otherwise he will destroy both at midnight.
Batman locates the Joker and prevents him from destroying the ferries after the passengers on both decide not to destroy each other. The Joker acknowledges that Batman is truly incorruptible, but that Dent was not, and his madness has been unleashed upon the city. After Batman subdues the Joker and leaves in search of Dent, the SWAT team arrives and arrests the Joker. At the remains of the building where Dawes died, Batman finds Dent holding Gordon and Gordon's family at gunpoint. Dent proceeds to judge the innocence of Batman, himself, and Gordon's son through coin tosses. He shoots Batman in the abdomen, but before Dent can determine the boy's fate, Batman tackles him, both falling over the side of the building. As Dent lies motionless on the ground, Batman and Gordon realize the loss of morale the city would suffer if Dent's acts of murder were to become known. Batman convinces Gordon to preserve Dent's image by holding Batman responsible for the murders. Gordon destroys the Bat-Signal, and a manhunt for Batman ensues.
Cast and characters:
Christian
Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman: A billionaire who has
dedicated himself to protecting Gotham City from the
criminal underworld as the “Dark Knight”, he is the
film’s continuing hero. Bale was confident in his choice
to return in the role because of the positive response to
his performance in Batman Begins. He trained in the Keysi
Fighting Method, and performed many of his own stunts. He
did not gain as much muscle this time, because of the
storyline in which Batman builds a new suit that allows
him to move with more agility.
The actor described Batman’s dilemma as whether his
crusade is something that has an end? Can he quit and have
an ordinary life? The kind of manic intensity someone has
to have to maintain the passion and the anger that they
felt as a child, takes an effort after awhile, to keep
doing that. At some point, you have to exorcise your
demons.” He added, “Now you have not just a young man
in pain attempting to find some kind of an answer, you
have somebody who actually has power, who is burdened by
that power, and is having to recognize the difference
between attaining that power and holding on to it.”
Reportedly, Bale felt that because Batman’s personality
was strongly established in the first film, it was
unlikely that the character would be overshadowed by the
villains: “I have no problem with competing with someone
else. And that’s going to make a better movie.”
Heath
Ledger as The Joker: Heath Ledger described the Joker
as a “psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown
with zero empathy”. Director Christopher Nolan had
wanted to work with Ledger on a number of projects in the
past, but had been unable to do so. When Ledger saw Batman
Begins, he realized a way to make the character work in
that film’s tone, and Nolan agreed with his anarchic
interpretation.
To prepare for the role, Ledger lived alone in a hotel
room for a month, formulating the character’s posture,
voice and psychology. While he initially found it
difficult, Ledger was eventually able to generate a voice
that did not sound like Jack Nicholson’s take on the
character in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman film. He started a
diary, in which he wrote the Joker’s thoughts and
feelings to guide himself during his performance.
He was also given Batman: The Killing Joke and Arkham
Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth to read, which he
“really tried to read and put it down”. Ledger also
cited inspirations such as A Clockwork Orange and Sid
Vicious, which were “a very early starting point for
Christian Bale and I. But we kind of flew far away from
that pretty quickly and into another world altogether.”
“There’s a bit of everything in him. There’s nothing
that consistent,” Ledger said, adding that “There are
a few more surprises to him.”
Bringing the Joker back to the big screen invited a wave
of speculation over his depiction. Before Ledger was
confirmed in July 2006, Paul Bettany, Lachy Hulme, Adrien
Brody, Steve Carell, and Robin Williams publicly expressed
interest in the role. Jack Nicholson jokingly expressed
anger at not being invited to reprise the part: “You
can’t believe the reasons things do or don’t happen.
Not asking me how to do the sequel is that kind of
thing,” he said. “Maybe it’s not a mistake. Maybe it
was the right thing, but to be candid, I’m furious.”
After the trailer was released, director Guillermo del
Toro and comic book writer Jeph Loeb lavished praise upon
Ledger, while Batman: The Animated Series co-creator Paul
Dini said, “He seems more street than any other version
of the Joker. His attitude is mordant and sardonic as
opposed to manic,No goofy gags or puns for him. This Joker
doesn’t split sides: he splits skulls.” Mark Hamill,
who voiced the part on The Animated Series, said “The
balls-out debauched psycho approach seems like a great way
of reinventing everyone’s favorite scary (and scar-y)
clown.” After filming had already ended, Ledger died, on
January 22, 2008.
“It was tremendously emotional, right when he passed,
having to go back in and look at him every day,” Nolan
recalled. “But the truth is, I feel very lucky to have
something productive to do, to have a performance that he
was very, very proud of, and that he had entrusted to me
to finish.” The film will be dedicated to him.
Aaron
Eckhart as district attorney Harvey Dent / Two-Face:
Dent’s battle with the Joker turns Harvey Dent into a
murderous disfigured vigilante called “Two-Face”.
Producer Charles Roven described Dent as initially the
“white knight of the city”. Wayne sees Dent as his
heir, which comes back to the theme of him realizing that
being Batman will be a lifelong mission, and the tragedy
that follows when Dent is corrupted.
Whereas Two-Face is an evil villain in the comics, Nolan
chose to portray him as a twisted vigilante to emphasize
his role as Batman’s counterpart, and Eckhart, who has
played corrupt men in films such as The Black Dahlia,
Thank You For Smoking and In the Company of Men, notes:
“He is still true to himself. He’s a crime fighter,
he’s not killing good people. He’s not a bad guy, not
purely”, while admitting: “I’m interested in good
guys gone wrong.”
Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer had originally
considered using Dent in Batman Begins, but they replaced
him with the new character Rachel Dawes when they realized
they “couldn’t do him justice”. Before Eckhart was
cast in February 2007, Liev Schreiber, Josh Lucas, and
Ryan Phillippe had expressed interest in the role. Nolan
went with Eckhart, whom he considered for the lead role in
Memento, citing his resemblance to Robert Redford and
embodying a “chiselled American hero”.
Maggie
Gyllenhaal as assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes: A childhood
friend of Bruce Wayne, she is one of the few people who
know that he is Batman. Gyllenhaal has acknowledged that
her character is a damsel in distress to an extent, adding
that Nolan had sought ways to empower her character so
that “Rachel’s really clear about what’s important
to her and unwilling to compromise her morals, which made
a nice change” from the many conflicted characters whom
she has previously portrayed.
In August 2005, before the casting of Gyllenhaal, producer
Charles Roven had reported that actress Katie Holmes (who
portrays Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins) was going to play
the role of Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight. However, in
January 2007, Holmes turned down the offer to reprise her
role as Rachel Dawes due to scheduling conflicts, and, by
March 2007, Gyllenhaal was in “final talks” for the
part.
Additional characters include:
Michael
Caine as Alfred Pennyworth: Bruce Wayne’s trusted
butler and father figure who tends to Wayne Manor.
Gary
Oldman as Lieutenant James Gordon: One of the few
uncorrupt members of the Gotham City Police Department.
Morgan
Freeman as Lucius Fox: The recently-promoted CEO of
Wayne Enterprises who supplies Bruce Wayne with the gear
necessary to carry out Batman’s mission. Eric
Roberts as Sal Maroni: The gangster who now leads
Carmine Falcone’s mob family. Bob Hoskins and James
Gandolfini were reported to have also auditioned for the
part.
Michael Jai White as Gambol: A gang leader at war with
Maroni. David Banner also auditioned for the role.
Nestor Carbonell as Mayor Anthony Garcia.
Cillian
Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow: The former
director of Arkham Asylum, who poisoned the Gotham water
supply with fear hallucinogen in Batman Begins.
William
Fichtner as Gotham National Bank Manager: A bank
manager working for the mafia, confronted by the Joker in
the film’s opening. Fichtner’s casting was “a bit of
a nod” to Fichtner’s role in Michael Mann’s 1995
film Heat. Musician Dwight Yoakam was approached for the
role, or to play a corrupt cop, but he chose to focus on
his album Dwight Sings Buck.
Winston Ellis as Gator: A villain who serves as
Gambol’s bodyguard along with actor Chucky Venice. He is
confronted by the Joker in the first full-length trailer.
Monique Curnen as Detective Ramirez: A member of the GCPD.
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