After all these years, it's easy to assume we've learned everything there is to know
about director Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy but just like Batman himself, these
movies are very good at keeping their secrets.
Batman and Superman are often presented in stark opposition to one another. One is a
dark figure who triumphs through technology and intimidation; the other is a bright hero
who triumphs through superpowers and inspiration. With that in mind, it might be surprising
to hear that Christopher Nolan's Batman actually owes quite a bit to the Man of Steel.
Nolan has said that, like many people, he was blown away by Richard Donner's Superman:
The Movie in 1978. Among its many brilliant features, he appreciated that it told the
full story of Superman's origin. Nolan contrasted this with Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film, in
which the character is fully formed by the time the movie starts, and saw Batman Begins
as his chance to do Batman in the style of Superman '78: a movie where he could start
with a more recognizable setting grounded in reality with a single extraordinary figure
in it, and, as the title implies, explore that hero's beginnings. While the shape of
the current slate of modern DC films comes from the clash between Batman and Superman,
Nolan's masterful trilogy could never have started without the inspiration of the big
blue Boy Scout.
"Well, I certainly hope this little incident hasn’t put you off flying Miss. Statistically
speaking of course, it’s still the safest way to travel."
One of the most notable aspects of Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy is how much Christian
Bale made the character his own. He was, after all, the seventh actor to don the costume
for the big screen going all the way back to the '40s, and he knew it was inevitable
that he'd be compared to previous Batmen. All of which makes it that much more fascinating
that when Bale auditioned for the role of Batman, he did so while wearing Val Kilmer's
old Batman suit from Batman Forever.
In fact, Nolan made every prospective Batman actor wear the old suit. Why go through all
the trouble? According to the director, being Batman onscreen transcended concepts such
as "chemistry" or simple "acting ability." Instead, he needed an actor who would be believable
and compelling without being overshadowed by the iconic imagery that made Batman who
is is. Or, in other words, he really just needed a guy who looked good in the suit.
No wonder Bale did so many push-ups.
Without a doubt, viewers' first glimpse of Harvey Dent's burned face is appropriately
grisly.
"I'm sorry, Harvey"
"No. No you're not."
The amount of damage is horrifying, and it gives us a powerful glimpse of the monster
he's become as he dispenses his brand of random, coin-based "justice" against those who've
wronged him. Because of how utterly gross Two-Face ended up looking, it's surprising
to hear Christopher Nolan admit that he was originally going to be even more repulsive.
In an interview, Nolan characterized the final choice for Two-Face's appearance as one of
the ones least likely to disturb fans. Why is that? Call it the Uncanny Valley effect.
According to Nolan, they tried versions that were a little less gory, but they wound up
being too realistic, and way too disturbing. He made the apt comparison to the Pirates
of the Caribbean movies, noting that the way the undead were rendered in those films used
a less realistic, more exaggerated style that ultimately made the imagery, quote, "more
powerful and less repulsive."
In the The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger gave such a powerful and singular performance as
the Joker that it's still difficult to imagine anyone else in the role, even after seeing
Joaquin Phoenix's compelling performance in Joker. Nonetheless, even Ledger's performance
had its precedents: much of the Dark Knight trilogy selectively draws from comics lore,
and for The Dark Knight, one major element of the Joker's plan is taken from The Killing
Joke, by comics legends Alan Moore and Brian Bolland .
"And here...we...go."
That comic is infamous for a number of reasons. The Joker paralyzes and assaults Barbara Gordon
and kidnaps Commissioner Gordon, taking him to a demented funhouse where he's tortured
with images of what the Joker's done to his daughter. Why do all this? To break Batman's
most dedicated ally, proving that everyone is only one disastrously bad day away from
becoming as twisted as he is.
Sound familiar? It should. In Dark Knight, Ledger's Joker gives two boats, one filled
with average citizens and one filled with prisoners with the capacity to blow each other
up. He gambles that the so-called regular people will give into their base impulses
and kill dozens of people to save themselves. In both cases, though, he's proven wrong:
in the comics, Gordon retains his sanity, and the citizens and prisoners of the movie
don't descend into becoming killers.
Another comic book series that heavily contributes to The Dark Knight is Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's
1996 miniseries Batman: The Long Halloween, a story that unfolds over the course of a
year early in Batman's career. Batman, James Gordon, and a as-yet-unscarred Harvey Dent
form an alliance to take down Gotham's organized crime. The first issue ends on Halloween night,
when Batman and Dent find where the mob's secret cash storage and burn it all to a crisp,
a scene that gets a nod in The Dark Knight when the Joker burns huge stacks of cash in
the belly of a ship. By the end of the miniseries it's clear it's clear a new kind of criminal
has risen in Gotham to replace the mob. In the final issue, almost all of Batman's more
well-known villains unite in a final assault on mob boss Sal Maroni's home. It's Two-Face
who eventually kills Maroni, just as he does in The Dark Knight.
We hear echoes of this shift from mobster to supervillain in The Dark Knight, particularly
during the interrogation scene when Joker talks about how Batman has changed Gotham.
"But I know the truth, there's no going back. You've changed things. Forever."
It's implied in both the movie and in The Long Halloween that it's Batman's very existence
that leads to this escalation, but the main inspiration comes in how both the movie and
the comic chronicle the fall of the idealistic Harvey Dent and the birth of Two-Face.
Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan, who co-wrote The Dark Knight Rises, admitted
to drawing inspiration from a seemingly unlikely source: Charles Dickens' classic A Tale of
Two Cities. In retrospect, though, it seems a bit obvious at the end, Commissioner Gordon
even reads from the book at Bruce Wayne's funeral.
"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done."
In A Tale of Two Cities, one man about to be executed, Charles Darnay, is saved when
his identical double Sydney Carton takes his place but not before Carton waxes philosophic
about the "beautiful city" and "brilliant people" who are "rising from this abyss."
Sounds a little familiar, right? The one big difference is that the death in the film ends
up being more symbolic, as it's Batman who dies so Bruce Wayne can lead a happy, normal
life.
In addition to drawing from Dickens, The Dark Knight Rises mashes up several different comic
storylines. It borrows one basic concept from The Dark Knight Returns, in which an aging
Bruce Wayne comes out of retirement to deal with a Gotham that's only gotten worse in
his absence. While Bruce Wayne isn't eligible for the senior citizen discount in this movie,
the earlier narrative does make a big deal of what it's like for Wayne to return to the
role of hero after eight years of retirement.
The movie also brings in elements of Knightfall, the story arc in which Bane discovered who
Batman really was and, after weakening him by unleashing Arkham Asylum's inmates on the
city, broke into Wayne Manor and broke his back. In the comics, Batman was out of commission
for quite awhile, with Caped Crusader duties being taken over by the unstable character
of Azrael.
The final comic inspiration was No Man's Land, a story that saw Gotham City impacted by an
enormous earthquake. In response, the government, and one can only assume they were just waiting
for a chance to do something like this, destroyed all bridges into Gotham and prevented other
access to it, declaring the entire city a "No Man's Land." Citizens can't get out, and
the villains decide to take over. The movie inverts this, of course, with Bane and his
crew cutting the city off, but the narrative of trying to survive in isolation and surrounded
by psychopaths remains.
It's tough at this point to imagine Batman without Nolan's trilogy. However, before he
brought that world into focus with Batman Begins, there were a number of false starts
while Warner Bros. spent a decade trying to figure out where they wanted to take the franchise.
An explicit live-action adaptation of The Dark Knight Returns was scrapped, and Batman:
Year One was nearly adapted twice. Amusingly, one of these scrapped movies included Batman
vs. Superman, which very nearly came out in 2004.
Perhaps the weirdest movie planned was the studio's second attempt at a Batman: Year
One adaptation. It would have been directed by Darren Aronofsky, famous for movies such
as Requiem for a Dream, with a screenplay by Aronofsky and Batman: Year One comic writer
Frank Miller. In the story, Bruce Wayne is a poor kid taken in and raised by a mechanic
on the wrong side of the tracks. He becomes an unhinged vigilante in the style of Taxi
Driver's Travis Bickle, later an inspiration for 2019's Joker. The story was also set to
feature an unhinged, violent, and somewhat suicidal Jim Gordon. Fortunately, the project
was axed, paving the way for our familiar Dark Knight trilogy to unfold.
Months before Ledger's death, Christian Bale praised his co-star's commitment to his role
during an interview. Referencing the scene when Batman confronts Joker in the GCPD interrogation
room, Bale told THR that Heath Ledger insisted that he hit him for real.
"Never start with the head, the victim gets all fuzzy."
Apparently, the physical punishment didn't end with the beating Ledger took. Bale went
on to describe Ledger, quote,
"...slamming himself around, and there were tiled walls inside of that set which were
cracked and dented from him hurling himself into them."
Throughout the Dark Knight trilogy, the most noticeable casting change is Bruce Wayne's
old friend and love interest Rachel Dawes. Created specifically for the film trilogy
and not appearing in the comics, Dawes is played by Katie Holmes in Batman Begins but
is replaced by Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Dark Knight. The change led to speculation that
Holmes whose performance wasn't met with the most enthusiastic reviews was the victim of
harsh critics. Christopher Nolan denied this, saying Holmes simply was not available for
The Dark Knight. It took eight years, but Holmes finally broke her silence about it
to confirm her absence in The Dark Knight was her own choice, and went on to praise
Gyllenhall for doing, quote, "a wonderful job." She didn't explain her reasons for leaving
the franchise, though. Maybe she just didn't want to be blown up by an evil clown?
As for Gyllenhaal, she wanted to be sure that it was Holmes' decision, too. She reportedly
reached out to ask for Holmes' blessing before giving a firm yes to replacing her as Rachel
Dawes.
Christopher Nolan is known for going to great lengths to keep plot points of his films secret,
and the Dark Knight trilogy was no exception.
How does Nolan achieve this level of secrecy? Well, apparently he tells his actors the bare
minimum they need to know. Ask Liam Neeson. He tapped Neeson to reprise his role as Ra's
al Ghul for a cameo in 2012's Dark Knight Rises, and apparently told the actor absolutely
nothing about the film. He later said in an interview that it wasn't that he didn't want
to discuss the plot, but that he couldn't, because he literally didn't know anything
about it.
Neeson may have only had a small part in Dark Knight Rises but, as the butler Alfred Pennyworth,
Michael Caine was a significant part of Batman Begins and he got similar treatment when asked
to appear. Caine said that Nolan appeared at his door personally with the script for
Batman Begins to ask him if he was interested in playing Alfred. Nolan just sat while Caine
read the script, and then took it with him when he left.
Over the years, a handful of actors have given us memorable performances as Alfred Pennyworth,
but while tastes will always differ, you'd have a rough time arguing that anyone has
done a better job of embodying Alfred than Michael Caine. The actor gave us an Alfred
who would go to any lengths to support Bruce Wayne's efforts to save Gotham, while at the
same time desperately wanting nothing more than for Wayne to give up the cowl and cape
so he can find some true contentment. Surprisingly, it came close to not happening.
In fact, Caine has admitted that when he was initially approached about the role of Alfred,
he was not at all enthused, saying, quote:
"I thought that wasn't a very good part. I'll be saying, 'Dinner is served' and, 'Would
you like a coffee?'"
Presumably, Caine was thinking of previous versions of the character, like the late Michael
Gough of the Tim Burton Joel Schumacher films, whose portrayal of the character showed no
signs of ever hunting jewel thieves in the jungles of Burma.
"Can I persuade you to take a sandwich with you, sir?"
"I'll get Drive-Thru."
Thankfully, Caine learned Nolan had bigger plans for his character, although his early
hesitation became a running joke between him and Nolan. He told the Huffington Post that
in 2011 Nolan sent him a Christmas present: a dinner gong with "dinner is served" engraved
on it.
One enduring superhero trope is the hero having to fight some kind of reflection of himself
like Iron-Monger in Iron Man, or the Yellowjacket in Ant-Man, or…a lot of Marvel movies, actually.
Well, shortly after the release of The Dark Knight, Batman was called out by...Batman.
"Are you the real Batman?"
"No."
In November 2008, Variety reported that the town of Batman, Turkey was suing Christopher
Nolan and Warner Bros. for using the town name without permission. There was no explanation
as to why then-Batman Mayor Huseyin Kalkan was not also suing DC Comics, Tim Burton,
Joel Schumacher, or anyone else involved in the numerous Batman television shows, movies,
and animated series over the years. However, Kalkan did level some ridiculous-sounding
charges at The Dark Knight, including blaming its influence for unsolved killings in the
area.
There's no word on the outcome of the mayor's efforts, though we have a tough time believing
we wouldn't have heard something if the lawsuit went anywhere significant. We do, however,
know that at least one part of the country has patched things up with the Caped Crusader.
Turkish Airlines had some significant product placement in Batman v. Superman, and even
used Bruce Wayne in an ad announcing Gotham City as their newest destination. In other
words, customers in the DC universe can now fly to Batman…with Batman.
Nestor Carbonell, who appears as the Mayor of Gotham in both The Dark Knight and The
Dark Knight Rises, has a singular distinction in the Dark Knight trilogy like Christian
Bale, he also played Batman... kind of. More of a parody of Batman.
Before the Dark Knight trilogy, there was the Fox Network's 2001 live action version
of The Tick, based on the superhero spoof comic of the same name by Ben Edlund. Among
the Tick's allies in the show was Batmanuel, played by Carbonell. Like Batman, Batmanuel
doesn't appear to have any kind of superpowers. Unlike Batman, Batmanuel also doesn't seem
to have any other abilities that make him good at fighting crime. As far as we know,
there were no plans for the Mayor of Gotham revealing he was secretly planning to become
a caped crusader like Batman, and that's probably the best choice for everybody.
You may recall the scene toward the beginning of The Dark Knight when Bruce Wayne goes to
Lucius Fox for upgrades to the Bat suit, specifically asking to be able to move his head. You'd
think it would be a fairly small thing to ask, right? If you're constantly fighting
crowds of criminals and ninjas, you should be able to look around. No, the 1989 version
of Batman couldn't do it, but this is the 21st century, and super-suit technology has
to have advanced a little bit. So it may surprise you to learn that there's another very basic
function that Christian Bale's Bat suit didn't often allow him to do: breathe.
Bale said that the cowl was so tight that he would have to take it off after every couple
of takes just to catch his breath,which might explain why he had such a hard time fighting
Bane. Apparently, this was a bigger problem during the production of Batman Begins than
it was on the set of The Dark Knight Rises, though. It seems that by 2012, Wayne Industries
finally mastered the fine art of making clothes that won't strangle the people wearing them.
In The Dark Knight, Batman's journey to Hong Kong doesn't last that long, but it's arguably
the most controversial sequence of the entire film.
In 2007, Christopher Nolan denied reports that he changed The Dark Knight because of
Hong Kong water pollution. An unnamed member of the production team had said that originally
Batman was supposed to jump out of an airplane into Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor, but that
this was changed when the team tested the water and found it to be full of contagious
diseases. The following week Nolan said he was the one who changed the script, but that
it had nothing to do with water pollution, quipping that as a director, he wouldn't mind
dipping his actors into a little dirty water anyway.
A little over a year later, Warner Bros. announced The Dark Knight would not screen in China
and that they hadn't even submitted the film to government censors for consideration. The
studio didn't elaborate, but the issues in question are widely believed to revolve around
the Hong Kong sequence. There's the simple fact that it involves a Chinese money launderer,
and then there's the cameo from Edison Chen, a Hong Kong singer who at the time was embroiled
in a scandal involving explicit photos leaked on the web.
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