The Batman: Everyone Who Played The Dark Knight On The Big Screen, Ranked. Every actor whos ever played Batman on the big screen - Bam [av] A separate, limited-edition Blu-ray disc set came with a Batpod figurine. [100][101] During filming, Christopher added a set-piece of a SWAT van crashing through a concrete barricade. Batman [y], Following Ledger's death, the campaign continued unchanged with a focus on Dent's election, which was influenced by the ongoing 2008 United States presidential election. Analysts said its success would be influenced by the lengthy running time that limited the number of screenings per day, and counter-programming from the romantic comedy Mamma Mia!which surveyed well with womenand the family comedy Space Chimps. David Wolinsky on Google+ The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. is among the film's most famous and oft-quoted pieces of dialog,[bo] alongside "everyone loses their minds," and Dent's line "you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain", as well as Pennyworth's line "some men just want to watch the world burn". The production team considered placing it in the penthouse basement but believed it was too unrealistic a solution. [103] Additional segments were filmed on Monroe Street and Randolph Street, and at Randolph Street Station. [h] He considered Dent as having a duality similar to Batman's, providing interesting dramatic potential. [285], The Dark Knight was released on DVD and Blu-ray in December 2008. The United States Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2020. Stuntman Buster Reeves was due to double as Batman, but Bale persuaded the filmmakers to let him perform the scene himself. [66] Dent's desire to work outside the law is seen in his support of Batman's vigilantism to accomplish what he cannot. The Bat Bunker was based on 1960s Chicago building designs, and was integrated into existing concrete floor, and used the 200-foot (61m) long, 8ft (2.4m) tall ceiling to create a broad perspective. [311] Adlakha wrote Dent is framed as a religious icon, his campaign slogan being "I believe in Harvey Dent", and his eventual death leaves his arms spread wide like Jesus on the Cross. Dent takes Gordon's family hostage, blaming his negligence for Rachel's death. The Batman: Everyone Who Played The Dark Knight On The Big Screen, Ranked. WebThe Dark Knight Rises With their appearances in this movie, Christian Bale, Sir Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, and Gary Oldman have each appeared in three Batman movies. [141][142] The unwieldy, wide-tired vehicle could only be ridden by stuntman Jean Pierre Goy after months of training. Once Dent experiences a significant traumatic event in the loss of Rachel and his own disfigurement, he quickly abandons his noble former self to seek his own form of justice. Batman subdues the Joker but refuses to kill him. [101][113][114] The thirteen weeks of filming in Chicago was estimated to have generated $45million for the city's economy and thousands of local jobs. Fewer sequels, which generally performed well, were scheduled and only fourThe Dark Knight, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skullwere predicted to be blockbusters. [376] As of 2022, it remains the highest critically rated Batman film according to Rotten Tomatoes, and is often ranked as the best film featuring the character. It was an exhausting process. The sequel, The Dark Knight Rises, suffered upsets during filming. [101] 330 North Wabash served as offices used by Dent, mayor Garcia, and commissioner Loeb; and its thirteenth floor appears as Wayne Enterprises' boardroom; Pfister enhanced its large, panoramic windows and natural light with an 80-foot (24m) glass table and reflective bulbs. [ba] In 2020, the United States Library of Congress selected The Dark Knight to be preserved in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Michael B. Jordan cited the character as an inspiration for his character Erik Killmonger in Black Panther. Based on the DC Comics supervillain of the same name, the Joker is depicted as a psychopathic criminal mastermind with a warped, sadistic sense of humor. [233], Bale's reception was mixed; his performance was considered to be alternately "captivating" or serviceable, but ultimately uninteresting and undermined by portraying an immovable and generally unchanged character who delivers Batman's dialog in a hoarse, unvarying tone. Nezha got his hooks into Batman when Black Every Single Batman Actor, Ranked From Worst to Best - Insider [261][270][271] The Dark Knight also won an award for Best Sound Editing (King), and received six nominations for Best Art Direction (Crowley and Peter Lando), Best Cinematography (Pfister), Best Film Editing (Smith), Best Makeup (Caglione Jr. and O'Sullivan), Best Sound Mixing (Hirschberg, Rizzo, and Ed Novick), and Best Visual Effects (Davis, Corbould, Webber, and Franklin). Influence also came from the 1953 painting Study after Velzquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X by Francis Baconsuggested by Christopher and the character's comic-book appearances. [359][360] In 2012, Total Film named it the sixth-most-accomplished film of the preceding fifteen years, and a 2020 article by Empire named The Dark Knight as one of the films that defined the previous three decades. As the Joker states to Batman: Their morals, their code it's a bad joke. "[342] Joker's appearance became a popular Halloween costume and also influenced the 2009 Barack Obama "Joker" poster. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. He lacks any identity or origin, representing the uncertainty, unknowability, and fear of terrorism, although he does not follow any political ideology. [34][151] John Caglione Jr designed Joker's "organic" makeup to look as though it had been worn for days; this idea was partly based on more of Bacon's works. [311][314] Klavan's interpretation was criticized by some publications that considered The Dark Knight anti-war, proposing society must not abandon the rule of law to combat lawlessness or risk creating the conditions for escalation. The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises. [302], A direct-to-DVD animated film, Batman: Gotham Knight, was released in July 2008. [ae] The Dark Knight was available in sixty-two countries by the end of August, although Warner Bros. decided not to release it in China, blaming "a number of pre-release conditions as well as cultural sensitivities to some elements of the film". [bm] The "pencil trick" scene, in which Joker makes a pencil disappear by slamming a mobster's head on it, is considered an iconic scene and among the film's most famous. [35] They wanted to explore the theme of escalation and the idea that Batman's extraordinary efforts to combat common crimes would lead to an opposing escalation by criminals, attracting the Joker, who uses terrorism as a weapon. [IS] is the Joker. Film studies professor Todd McGowan said Batman asserts authority over these copycats, telling them to stop because they do not have the same defensive equipment as himself, reaffirming his self-given authority to act as a vigilante. ", "The Joker Has Always Been A Controversial Character. Predictions placed its opening-weekend take above that of Iron Man's $102.1million but below that of Spider-Man 3's (2007) record $151.1million. [101][110], The Dark Knight includes Chicago locations such as Lake Michigan, which doubled as the Caribbean Sea where Wayne boards a seaplane;[107] Richard J. Daley Center (Wayne Enterprises exteriors and a courtroom);[101][111] The Berghoff restaurant (GCPD arresting mobsters);[101] Twin Anchors restaurant; the Sound Bar; McCormick Place (Wayne Enterprises interiors); and Chicago Theatre. Who Played Batman [35] Christopher described The Dark Knight as representative of his own "fear of anarchy" and Joker represents an "somebody who wants to just tear down the world around him. [156][157] Howard wrote about ten minutes of music for Dent, wanting to portray him as an American who represents hope, but undergoes an emotional extreme and moral corruption. Pennyworth burns an undelivered message to Wayne from Rachel, who said she chose Dent, and Fox destroys the invasive surveillance network that helped Batman find the Joker. [273][274][275] The backlash was such that, for the 82nd Academy Awards awards in 2010, the Academy increased the limit for Best Picture nominees from five to ten, a change known as "The Dark Knight Rule". The city mourns Dent as a hero, and the police launch a manhunt for Batman. The response was seen as the culmination of several years of criticism toward the Academy ignoring high-performing, broadly popular films. [122], The final nine days of production took place in Hong Kong and included aerial footage from atop the International Finance Centre, as well as filming at Central to Mid-Levels escalator, The Center, Central, The Peninsula Hong Kong, and Queen's Road; and a stunt involving Batman catching an in-flight C-130 aircraft. [bl] In 2017, The Hollywood Reporter named Ledger's Joker the second-best cinematic superhero performance ever, behind Hugh Jackman as Wolverine,[398] and Collider listed him as the greatest villain of the 21st century. [f], With Christopher's help, his brother Jonathan spent six months developing the story into a draft screenplay. After submitting the draft to Warner Bros., Jonathan spent a further two months refining it until Christopher had finished directing The Prestige. They wanted it to resonate with and reflect contemporary audiences. Jen (The Dark Knight Rises As panic grips the city, the Joker reveals two evacuation ferries, one carrying civilians and the other prisoners, are rigged to explode at midnight unless one group sacrifices the other. A floor of Two Illinois Center was decorated for Wayne's fundraiser. ", Films listed as number-one by in-year release, This figure represents the cumulative total accounting for the initial worldwide 2008 gross of $997, combining different commercial model components, Study after Velzquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, List of accolades received by The Dark Knight, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Dark Knight Trilogy: The Complete Story Of Christopher Nolan's Batman Films", "An Ode To James Gordon, The True Hero Of 'The Dark Knight', "Aaron Eckhart: Not Just Another Pretty Face In, "Michael Jai White Explains Gambol's Bizarre Death Scene In, "The Dark Knight Had A Sneaky Reference to the Riddler", "Why Scarecrow Is The Only Batman Villain in All 3 Dark Knight Trilogy Movies", "The Man Third in the Line Of Presidential Succession Has Been in Five 'Batman' Movies", "Christopher Nolan: The Movies. [67] During discussions on the portrayal of Dent's transformation into Two-Face, Eckhart and Christopher agreed to ignore Tommy Lee Jones's "colorful" portrayal in Batman Forever (1995), in which the character has pink hair and wears a split designer suit, in favor of a more realistic, slightly burnt, neutral-toned suit. The Dark Knight's cast includes Eric Roberts, Michael Jai White, and Ritchie Coster as crime bosses Sal Maroni, Gambol, and the Chechen respectively; and Chin Han portrays Lau, a Chinese criminal banker. [128], Editing was underway in January 2008 when Ledger, aged 28, died from an accidental overdose of a prescription drug. The Dark Knight was the first major motion picture to be filmed with high-resolution IMAX cameras. He targets Dent at a fundraising dinner and throws Rachel out of a window, but Batman rescues her. "[aj] Others criticized the dark, grim, intense, and self-serious tone as lacking any elements of fun or fantasy. [325] The Joker aims to corrupt Dent to prove anyone, even symbols, can be broken. It was the first superhero film to gross over $1billion, the highest-grossing film of 2008 worldwide, the fourth film to earn more than $1billion, and the fourth-highest-grossing film of its time behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($1.066billion), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.119billion), and Titanic ($1.842billion). How Old Was Christian Bale's Batman in the Dark Knight Trilogy? [206] The Dark Knight earned about $469.7million outside the U.S. and Canada, its highest grosses coming from the United Kingdom ($89.1million), Australia ($39.9million), Germany ($29.7million), France ($27.5million), Mexico ($25million), South Korea ($24.7million), and Brazil ($20.2million). Batman races to save Rachel while Gordon and the other officers go after Dent, but they discover the Joker has switched their positions. This, paired with the gritty realism not usually seen in superhero movies, is why many fans regard the Dark Knight trilogy as their favorite Batman movie adaptation. See More. Shortly after, Gunn confirmed that Ben Affleck - who had previously played the Dark Knight in Zack Snyder's films and was originally going to direct the movie that [n] Ledger spent a further four months creating a "Joker diary" containing images and elements he believed would resonate with his character, such as finding the disease AIDS humorous. [121] Filming in England concluded at the end of October with a variety of green-screen shots for the truck-chase sequence, and shots of Rachel being thrown from a window were filmed on a set at Cardington. [317], Batman and Dent resort to torture or enhanced interrogation to stop the Joker but he remains immune to their efforts because he has a strong belief in his goals. He could not make it work, however, and used two notes with alternating tempos and a "punk" influence. [310] Batman also inspires copycat vigilantes, further escalating lawlessness. [313] Writer Benjamin Kerstein said both viewpoints are valid, and that "The Dark Knight is a perfect mirror of the society which is watching it: a society so divided on the issues of terror and how to fight it that, for the first time in decades, an American mainstream no longer exists". [2][25][26] Melinda McGraw, Nathan Gamble, and Hannah Gunn portray Gordon's wife Barbara, his son James Jr., and his daughter, respectively. The plot follows the vigilante Batman, police lieutenant James Gordon, and district attorney Harvey Dent, who form an alliance to dismantle organized crime in Gotham City. Dark Knight: The Actors Who Almost Played Batman In Nolan's [313] Author Andrew Klavan said Batman is a stand-in for then-U.S. president George W. Bush and justified the breaching of "boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that [Batman] will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past". But before he became the Batman, Affleck played a Marvel character, Matt Murdock a.k.a. 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, This article is about the 2008 film. [51], Christopher was aware Nicholson's popular portrayal of the Joker would invite comparisons to his version, and wanted an actor who could cope with the associated scrutiny. Kevin Conroy is an American actor and voice actor who has become synonymous with the character of Batman. The Nolans identified the traits common to his media incarnations and were influenced by the character's comic-book appearances as well as the villain Dr. Mabuse from the films of Fritz Lang. [276][284] Even so, The Hollwood Reporter argued the Academy mistook the appeals to recognize important, "generation-defining" genre films with just nominating more films. The Batman (film) - Wikipedia "[57] In a November 2007 interview, Ledger said when committing himself to any role, he had difficulty sleeping because he could not relax his mind, and often slept only two hours a night during filming. The Memories", "Thor's Cartoon, Stan Lee's Medal And Dick Tracy's Fate All in Everyday Hero Headlines", "A Director Confronts Darkness And Death", "World Exclusive: The Joker Speaks: He's A Cold-blooded Mass-murdering Clown", "Movies: In Stetson or Wig, He's Hard To Pin Down", "Heath Ledger Says His Joker Has 'Zero Empathy', "In Stetson Or Wig, He's Hard To Pin Down", "Movie File: Brad Pitt, Chevy Chase, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Josh Lucas & More", "Mark Ruffalo Discusses His Try-Out For Harvey Dent/Two-Face Role In, "Matt Damon Confirms He Was Up For Two-Face Role In, "Aaron Eckhart Puts On His Best Acting Face", "Dwight Yoakam Pays Tribute to Buck Owens", "Exclusive: David Keighley (Head Of Re-Mastering IMAX) Talks, "First Look: Enter the Joker In The IMAX Format", "Every Major Batman Movie, Ranked According To Budget", "Film: Chicago Journalists Smell A Bat in, "Heath Ledger Really Wanted Christian Bale To Hit Him on the Set Of, "New Batman Movie Completes High Profile Shooting in Hong Kong", "Autopsy Report Says Heath Ledger Death Was Not Suicide", "Making The Cut with the Editor Of 'The Dark Knight,' 'Inception,' 'Dunkirk' And '1917', "Advertising: Will Marketing Change After Star's Death? In Batman vs. Robin #5, Damian and the other DC heroes still on Lazarus Island are given a major dilemma to weigh. WebReal name: Unknown Aliases: Jen Alignment: Neutral Affiliation: Selina Kyle (friend) Portrayed by: Juno Temple Appearances: The Dark Knight Rises "Jen" was the friend and roommate of Selina Kyle. According to English professor Daniel Boscaljon, Dent is not broken; he believes in a different form of justice in a seemingly unjust world, flipping a coin because it is "Unbiased. Christopher said the title refers to Dent as equally as Batman. [ax] A novelization written by Dennis O'Neil was released in 2008. Lucius Fox threatens to stop helping Batman in response, believing he has crossed an ethical boundary, and although Batman agrees these violations are unacceptable and destroys the technology, the film demonstrates he could not have stopped the Joker in time without it. Since its release, The Dark Knight has been assessed as one of the greatest superhero films ever made, one of the best films of the 2000s, and one of the best films ever made. [373] In the 2010s, a poll of 177 film critics by the BBC in 2016 listed it as the 33rd-best film of the 21st century,[374] and The Guardian placed it 98th on its own list. A gang of masked criminals robs a mafia-owned bank in Gotham City, each betraying and killing each other until the sole survivor, the Joker, reveals himself as the mastermind and escapes with the money. Christian Bale Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), The Dark Knight Rises (2012) Of this group, West is the only one to have also played Batman in Christian Bale, Batman Begins. He used brass instruments for both moral ends but warped the sound as Dent is corrupted. Zimmer did not consider Batman to be strictly noble and wrote the theme to not seem "super". He wanted to convey elements of the Joker's corrosion, recklessness, and "otherworldliness" by combining electronic and orchestral music, and modifying almost every note after recording to emulate sounds including thunder and razors. [234] Several reviewers regarded Gyllenhaal as an improvement over Holmes, although others said they found difficulty caring about the character and that Gyllenhaal, while more talented than her predecessor, was miscast. However, it was forgotten, and so was the actor who played Batman. [172][173], Compared to 2007's $9.7billion box-office take, in 2008, lower revenues were expected due to the large number of comedies competing against each other and the release of films with dark tones, such as The Dark Knight, during a period of rising living costs and election fatigue in the U.S. [z], Warner Bros. dedicated six months to anti-piracy methods; the film industry lost an estimated $6.1billion to piracy in 2005. [68][69] Maggie Gyllenhaal replaced Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, as Holmes chose to star in the crime comedy Mad Money (2008) instead. Warner Bros. Pictures prioritized a sequel following the successful reinvention of the Batman film series with Batman Begins. Gotham's mafia bosses gather to discuss protecting their organizations from the Joker, the police, and Batman. [34][55] He described his interpretation as a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy", and avoided humanizing him. Actor Michael Keaton played the caped crusader A sequel, The Dark Knight Rises, concluded The Dark Knight trilogy in 2012. [339][340][341] U.S. President Barack Obama used Joker to explain the growth of Islamic State (IS) military group, saying " the gang leaders of Gotham are meeting they were thugs, but there was a kind of order the Joker comes in and lights the whole city on fire. The pair collaborated on the final script over the next six months during pre-production for The Dark Knight. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. In 2012, Tom Hardy's metamorphosis into Gotham juggernaut Bane was the stuff of legend. [ak] David Denby said The Dark Knight was a product of a "time of terror", but focused on embracing and unleashing it while cynically setting up a sequel. [392], Ledger's Joker is considered one of the greatest cinematic villains; several publications placed his portrayal second only to Darth Vader. [310][311][318] Dent is motivated to do good because he identifies himself as good, not through trauma like Batman, and has faith in the legal system. [210], The Dark Knight appeared on several lists recognizing the best films of 2008, includes those compiled by Ebert, The Hollywood Reporter, and the American Film Institute. [310] The scene in which Batman stands in the ruins of a destroyed building, having failed to prevent the Joker's plot, is reminiscent of the World Trade Center site after September 11. WebBatman Portrayed by: Aaron Eckhart Appearances: The Dark Knight The Dark Knight Rises (archive footage and picture only) "It's not about what I want, it's about what's fair! [ay] Roger Ebert said the Joker forces impossible ethical decisions on each character to test the limits of their morality. Unlike Batman, the Joker is the same with or without makeup, having no identity to conceal and nothing to lose. [35][44][45] Christopher found writing the Joker the easiest aspect of the script. [34][148][149] The outfit consists of a purple coat, a green vest, an antique shirt, and a thin, 1960s-style tie that Ledger suggested. [135][35], Unlike the design process of Batman Begins, which was restrained by a need to represent Batman iconography, audience acceptance of its realistic setting gave The Dark Knight more design freedom. Anthony Ruivivar: The "Southland" star is the latest actor to voice Batman in the newest animated series, "Beware the Batman," which began airing on Cartoon At the police station, Batman interrogates the Joker, who says he finds Batman entertaining and has no intention of killing him. His fighting style was designed to appear improvised and erratic. During the interrogation scene, Ledger asked Bale to actually hit him, and although he declined, Ledger cracked and dented the walls by throwing himself around. [34][152][153], Composers James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer, who had also worked on Batman Begins, scored The Dark Knight because Christopher believed it was important to bridge the musical-narrative gap between the films. Kevin Conroy is an American actor and voice actor who has become synonymous with the character of Batman. [358] The Dark Knight is included in the film-reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die,[389] and film critics James Berardinelli and Barry Norman included it in their individual listings of the 100 greatest films of all time. [217] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+-to-F scale. [123][124] The 127-day shoot concluded on November 15, on time and under budget. [r] Warner Bros. was reluctant to endorse the use of the technology because the cameras were large and unwieldy, and purchasing and processing the film stock cost up to four times as much as typical 35mm film. Goyer developed an outline for two sequels, but Christopher remained unsure how to continue the Batman Begins narrative while keeping it consistent and relevant, though he was interested in utilizing the Joker in Begins's grounded, realistic style. [aa] It set further records for the highest-grossing single-day ($67.2million on the Friday), Sunday ($43.6million), midnight opening ($18.5million, from 3,000 midnight screenings), and IMAX opening ($6.3million from about 94 locations), as well as the second-highest-grossing Saturday ($47.7million) behind Spider-Man 3, and contributed to the highest-grossing weekend on record ($253.6million). [32], Goyer and Christopher collaborated for three months to develop The Dark Knight's core plot points. His testimony enables Dent to apprehend the crime families. Ben Affleck Is Batman: 16 Actors Who Played the Dark Knight Dark Knight [157] Following Ledger's death, Zimmer considered discarding the theme for a more traditional one but he and Howard believed they should honor Ledger's performance. I'm just ahead of the curve. [97] Pfister described it as a week of patience and learning because of the four-day wait for the IMAX footage to be processed. [61][131] Christopher added a dedication to Ledger and stuntman Conway Wickliffe, who died during rehearsals for a Tumbler (Batmobile) stunt. Caglione Jr used a theatrical makeup technique for the application; he instructed Ledger to scrunch up his face so different cracks and textures were created once the makeup was applied and Ledger relaxed. Over 17,000 people voted the film into the top ten of American Cinematographer's "Best-Shot Film of 19982008" list,[411] and listeners of BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra named it their eighth-favorite film. Corbould's team built the Batpod, which is based on a prototype Crowley and Christopher built by combining different commercial model components. [81][117] After moving from Chicago in May, scenes filmed in the UK also include Criterion Restaurant, where Rachel, Dent, and Wayne share dinner, and a Gotham News scene that was filmed at the University of Westminster. Talented in pickpocketing, she often help her friend in her operations as "the Cat". In their desperation, Dent and Batman are forced to question their own limitations. [66][147] Hemming designed Joker's overall appearance, which he based on fashion-and-music celebrities to create a modern and trendy look. The Dark Knight Scenes That Mean More Than You Think. Nico Sy on Instagram: 15th anniversary of The Dark Knight (2008