"The Dark Knight" panel

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[WWC] ‘THE DARK KNIGHT’ PANEL
Director Christopher Nolan leads an impressive panel for a short Q&A session at Wizard World Chicago for the first look at ‘The Dark Knight’

By the Wizard Staff

Posted August 11, 2007 9:45 PM

At Wizard World Chicago on Saturday, DC and Warner Bros. Pictures teamed up to present an exclusive panel on “The Dark Knight,” the much-anticipated sequel to “Batman Begins.”

Wizard Editor-in-Chief Scott Gramling opened the presentation by introducing DC Publisher and President Paul Levitz, the moderator of the panel.

Levitz then introduced, in order: David S. Goyer (story); Jonathan Nolan (co-screenwriter); Gary Oldman (Lt. Jim Gordon), who ambled on stage and did a little dance and received a standing ovation; Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent), who came out holding his hand vertically in the middle of his face, much to the crowd’s delight; Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman), sporting a black cap; and Christopher Nolan (director). Here’s how the panel went down:

PAUL LEVITZ: Aaron, would you like to say a word…or two? [Audience applauds]

AARON ECKHART: So that’s how it’s gonna be now, huh? [Audience laughs] I just want to say thank you for letting me be a part of this amazing tradition. It’s been such a pleasure to be working with Gary, Christian, Chris and the rest of this incredible cast and crew. You guys are all going to be very pleased.

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: I just want to say how excited we are to be back here at Wizard World Chicago again. The last time we were here, we were only three weeks into the shooting schedule. I love Chicago, it’s just an incredible place architecturally and the town is great. This time we wanted to expand the scope of the shooting and wanted to include real buildings, real streets and more location shooting. You wouldn’t believe how many people in Chicago come up to me and thank me for bringing this film to life.

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: I just want to say how excited we are to be back here at Wizard World Chicago again. The last time we were here, we were only three weeks into the shooting schedule. I love Chicago, it’s just an incredible place architecturally and the town is great. This time we wanted to expand the scope of the shooting and wanted to include real buildings, real streets and more location shooting. You wouldn’t believe how many people in Chicago come up to me and thank me for bringing this film to life.

QUESTION: What’s the best part about working together again?

CHRISTIAN BALE: It’s like how any relationship progresses. There’s an increase in communication and trust. Chris' movies are fantastic. It’s great working together again for the third time, the second time on this character. We stride purposely toward the good of the movie from the get-go.

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: It’s extraordinary to work with Christian again. He has extraordinary precision, and the great thing about working with him is his ability to do a lot of the physical work and the stunts. It makes my job easier to be able make this film with someone with his extraordinary talents.

CHRISTIAN BALE: It was like riding a bike. The second you put on the suit, to me, there’s only one way to play it.

How different is it preparing for superheroes and supervillain roles as opposed to traditional roles?

GARY OLDMAN: I think it always helps to have good material. If the script is well written, I like to think of it as my map of the world. The roles you take on have particular hurdles. There’s no particular approach you take on, whether it’s Gordon or Sid Vicious. A lot of roles I play are hard to research. But with this project there are great characters, great script and a great cast.

AARON ECKHART: I cannot add to what Gary just said. It would be blasphemy and I’d be kicked out of the union.

I’d like to know what you guys thought of all the viral marketing done for the movie and if you know if we can expect anything else, say, around December? [Audience laughs]

JONAH NOLAN: I don’t know anything. [Audience laughs]

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: There’s nothing we can say about it.

Were you guys behind it?

JONAH NOLAN: No. [Audience laughs]

In that original teaser trailer you showed for “Batman Begins,” there was a scene where Christian said “Me!” [in a scary voice]. Why was that not in the movie?

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: That scene was filmed special for the teaser trailer. We wanted to give people an idea of the movie and the story without giving away any of the story.

Aaron, does something happen to your face in this film?

AARON ECKHART: I don’t speak English. [Audience laughs]

Gary, I read somewhere you’re considering retirement. Isn’t there any way we can convince you to stay around for a third film?

GARY OLDMAN: You can’t believe what you read in those rags. Every actor has considered retirement at one time or another. Didn’t Sean Penn say 15 years ago he was going to retire? [Audience laughs]

Chris, what did you do to become the great director you became since you didn’t get formal training?

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: Thank you. That’s very kind. All I can usefully say is I always made films growing up with our older brother Matt from Super 8 films to 16MM and up to 35MM. I’m very lucky to be doing something I love and enjoy.

Chris and Jonah, when you guys have worked together in the past, like on “Memento,” you have a very distinctive style when it comes to writing. Are you using a similar style here?

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: As far as the chronological style? No less than in “Batman Begins.” The challenge for us here, and this is something I spoke to David and Jonah a lot about, was more that there were lots of characters and more of an epic scope to this film. The storytelling is very much conventional drama. The challenge was in juggling a fat story.

PAUL LEVITZ: I’ve noticed a similarity in style not so much in terms of how time works, but on how you treated the characters. Do you feel like as far as how the characters moved through the story that was the case?

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: Yeah. It was all about trying to figure out whose point of view each scene was from, whose story which part of the movie was and how you could relate to the characters.

This is a question for both Mr. Bale and the writers: Will you be playing up more of the “Dark Knight Detective”/criminologist angle of Batman this time? [Audience applauds]

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: The short answer is “Yes.” The long answer is that “Batman Begins” was an origin story and the important thing was to move the story forward. In this movie, the detective stuff will help move the story along.

This is for Christian. What do you find more physically demanding? Something like this or something like “The Machinist” where you had to change your physical appearance?

CHRISTIAN BALE: I think those things are entirely different. This role is about moving with a power and force. “Machinist” required more mental discipline, and I was at a point where I was so weak I couldn’t have even walked across this stage. And in this one it’s essential that the character be physical.

Rachel Dawes is in this film again but already served her purpose in the first film as a love interest who tells Bruce that he’s become Batman. Why bring her back?

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: Will she serve a real purpose again? Yes, but you have to see the movie.

What are the most important aspects of the Joker that you needed to incorporate in this film?

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: We looked at it the other way around. We found a way of looking at the character and saw what role he would play in the film. The Joker card at the end of the first film created the right kind of feeling. That was the hook that got us thinking about the next one. We were looking through comics and Joker stories and we started writing the treatment before we even wrote “The Prestige.”

Jonah called me and said, “Have you read the first two Joker appearances?” I had but not in a really long time. We’ve come around to something that’s eerily close to those first two appearances.

DAVID GOYER: Once we established “Batman Begins,” it was one take on Batman. The Joker was a little more theatrical, a little more comedic, the way Jack Nicholson played him. We had to decide how does the Joker fit in this world?

JONAH NOLAN: It was not how to get into the character of the Joker but how to get him out of my head. I spent so much time researching the Joker, I felt he was in my head.

On a scale of 1 to 10, is there any interest in a Batman/Superman World’s Finest movie?

DAVID GOYER: For me, after working on this project, it’s zero.

JONAH NOLAN: When I was a teenager, my brother gave me a copy of The Dark Knight Returns, which has a very similar scene in it. I couldn’t put a number on it.

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: Creatively, I’m burned out so I have no interest.

PAUL LEVITZ: What do you say, Christian? Do you want to wrestle Superman? [Audience roars]

CHRISTIAN BALE: [Nods confirming he’d like to as the audience screams in excitement]

What can you say about Heath Ledger’s performance thus far?

GARY OLDMAN: He is going to knock everyone out of the park.

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: What Heath is doing is indescribable. It’s brilliant. Heath has nailed it.


So despite Heath Ledger as being a really strange choice for Joker, it seems, according to the director, he's pulled it off nicely. I remember when people were crying foul when Michael Keaton was named as playing the role of Batman. Turns out he was the BEST Batman to ever pull on the cowl and costume...until Christian Bale came along anyway.

And what an inspired choice of Aaron Eckhart for Harvey Dent/Two Face. To see how charismatic Eckhart can be, go watch "Thank You For Smoking".

Awww...no Batman/Superman movie? No watching Batman pitting his wits against Lex Luthor? No Zod forcing Batman and Kal-El to kneel before him? Phooey.