The Dark Knight

[Midnite]

Eckhart Joining The Dark Knight!
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
February 15, 2007


Aaron Eckhart is in final talks to play Harvey Dent/Two Face in The Dark Knight, Warner Bros. Pictures' sequel to Batman Begins, says The Hollywood Reporter.

In Batman lore, Dent is the district attorney of Gotham City and an ally of Batman. After half his face is disfigured by acid, Dent becomes the insane crime boss known as Two Face. He chooses to do good or evil by flipping a coin. Tommy Lee Jones played the character in 1995's Batman Forever.

"Knight" sees Christopher Nolan back in the director's chair with Christian Bale reprising his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Gary Oldman are also returning. Heath Ledger will play The Joker.

The script was written by Nolan's brother, Jonathan, from a story by Christopher Nolan and David Goyer. Producing are Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan.

[captainspud]

After his brilliant performance in Thank You For Smoking, I have faith in Aaron Eckhart to play any role he wants. He can be Catwoman for all I care. ;)

[GhostMachine]

After his brilliant performance in Thank You For Smoking, I have faith in Aaron Eckhart to play any role he wants. He can be Catwoman for all I care. ;)

Nah. Jack Black for Catwoman.  :thumbup:

Seriously, though, I think Aaron Eckhart is a fairly good choice for Two-Face. They could do a lot better, looks-wise (as Harvey was supposed to be one of the handsomest men in Gotham before he got hit with the acid), but acting-wise he's a great choice.

If I was a casting director, I'd be going after Edward Norton for the Riddler (and wish they had cast him as the Joker instead of Heath Ledger, as I think Norton can play either part would make a better Joker than Riddler) when they get around to using him.

Anyone know if Katie Holmes is going to be back for the sequel? I hope not.

[lugaru]

I dunno. In acting charisma trumps looks and Eckhart has tons of charisma, he was the extremely likeable face of big tobacco in thank you for smoking and I mean that's hard to pull off. (I've got a full review on my site)

Good choices so far, I really cant wait.

[Sword]

Katie Holmes is not returning for the Dark Knight. Thank Blarg. Most likely the connection to Tom Cruise.

[BentonGrey]

Thank goodness!  Man, she was the only dark spot in that shinning example of comic book movie-dom.  However, we still have to deal with Heath Ledger as the Joker..... :(

[thalaw2]

In this day and age it's freakin impossible to beat an actor (in live action) like JackN for joker....anyone else is going to be second rate IMO.  To enjoy another actor as joker I will have to withdraw all my memories of the first Batman.

[BentonGrey]

Man, Jack was good, but I think this fellow could have done better:http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0079273/

I think that he'd at least be better than Brokeback Boy :P

[Alaric]

I was actually a little dissapointed by Nicholson as the Joker. He was good, but he should have been better... seemed like it should have been such a perfect fit...

[ow_tiobe_sb]

Man, Jack was good, but I think this fellow could have done better:http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0079273/

I think that he'd at least be better than Brokeback Boy :P

OT: I did not think that Brokeback Mountain, the short story, translated well into film. *shrug*

My impression is that Ledger works better as part of an ensemble.  I thought he did a marvelous job in the title role of Casanova.  He might be able to carry off a very different rendition of the Joker with the right screenplay and under decent direction.  I'll maintain an open mind at present.

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and You Know the Rest

[Mr. Hamrick]

The character of Rachel Dawes will be back in the movie but Katie Holmes will not be playing her.  There is a very strong rumor that Maggie Gyllenhall will be playing her.  I say its a very strong rumor because it came from the same place I first heard about Aaron Eckhart playing Dent/Two Face. 

I'm actually very pleased with the cast as Aaron has proven himself I think to be a very capable and versatile actor. 

As for all the Ledger critics, I think it really will depend on what they do with the script and the character.  Is he capable of doing it?  Yes.  Is he capable of playing the same character verbatim that Jack Nicholson did in the 1989 version?  No.

Luckily, I don't think Nolan is going for the 1989 version.  Which is a good thing. 

[Ajax]

Honestly I wasn't that impressed by Jack Nicholson as Joker. That plus I was impressed with Ledger in Casanova (as said above) and A Knights Tale. Can he do it? I don't know but I trust Nolan (I've liked most of his movies) and Nolan is one of the few directors that can pull good performances out of actors people write off (look at Hugh Jackman in The Prestige).

[lugaru]

It's refreshing to hear a bunch of people who dont consider Jack Nicholson to be a perfect joker. In my opinion he played the role like he plays many of his other latter roles from that period... as himself with some small twist (in this case face paint). Yeah, he has some decent lines but that's the script, which was o... k...

In retrospect I love calling that movie "batman kills again". A fun game is watching the original batman and trying to explain how it is possible that X or Y henchman did not die due to the caped crusaders actions. That caries into batman returns a little but it's not as bad.

[Revenant]

Jack Nicholson as the Joker was great in that movie, he worked well against Keaton's Batman and was also a menacing, deceptively colorful character in Tim Burton's dark Gotham City.  I agree that he played it like himself with face-paint, which worked in that movie.

But that was then. Nolan's Batman is also dark, but I feel like his story is more character-driven, while Burton's version was more about the visuals.  You actually can feel more identified with his Batman, and reflexively for the villain which makes it more engaging.  I'm excited to see what they do with the Joker this time, maybe expand his origin (aparently de-intertwining it from Batman's since Joe Chill is thankfully back.)  I hear the big reference will be Killing Joke which I haven't read yet... *ducks as a flurry of Batarangs whiz by*

[lugaru]

I hear the big reference will be Killing Joke which I haven't read yet... *ducks as a flurry of Batarangs whiz by*

If they are trying to flesh out the joker that is the best source I can think of. Without spoiling it let's say they really make you feel for the joker, his story is really tragic and hints at real mental disability. And at the same time in the present he performs acts so terrible that you would love to see him put down like an animal. All in all one of my favorite batman comics.

[BentonGrey]

Ughh.....well........I was hoping they were just leaving his origin a mystery.....as it ALWAYS should be....

[Revenant]

How 'bout this:  Batman vs. Jigsaw (from the Saw series of horror films)

When I was watching the first Saw movie (mind you, it's very graphic and not for the young or squeamish) I was thinking the whole time "these guys were so inspired by Batman villains." 

The world of Saw is what Gotham City would be like without Batman.

[Mr. Hamrick]

I've heard that the source material for The Joker will largely come from three very particular and significant "Joker stories":  The first appearance of The Joker (Batman #1), "Joker's Five Way Revenge" (Batman #251) and "The Killing Joke".

I think enough can be taken from those three stories and still keep The Joker's origin mysterious.  Especially if you take from those three stories but don't still to them too ridgely.  (after all, you're talking about three different eras of Joker there.)  The one thing they should not do is give The Joker a "real name".  One thing they should do (and I suspect they will do) is send him to Arkham at the end where he will be treated by Dr. Harleen Quinzell. 

The problem I have with The Burton films and were what I believe led to the problem with the Schumacher films: Not really giving much thought to character development on Batman and Bruce Wayne and too much "thought" to the villains.  I think the villains interested Burton more and this is clearly shown in the visuals.  Schumacher kept that one thing in his interpretation of the Bat which is the one thing he should've lessened. 

Nolan's learned from Burton's and Schumacher's successess and failures and managed to add much needed realism to the franchise and character development to Batman/Bruce Wayne.  I like that. 

[the_ultimate_evil]

to me there are two iconic portrails of the joker, Jack Nicholson and mark hamill. ledger has a hell of a legacy with this character to live up to.

i'm on the fence with him can he pull it off i believe so but there is still something thats says wait and see, which is what i plan to do, then judge, or at least untill i see him in costume

[BentonGrey]

Well, I'm certainly not saying that I'm not going to go see this movie because they cast Ledger as the Joker, although I REALLY believe it's a bad choice.  Do I think the movie could still be good?  Yes.  Do I still have hope for this movie?  Absolutely.

Just for the record, to me, the only Joker is Mark Hamill's Joker.

[Uncle Yuan]

[threadjack]

We recently rented the Flash TV series from Netflix - with a couple of great performances by Mark Hamill as the Jok . . . er the Trickster

[/threadjack]

[Panther_Gunn]

[threadjack]

We recently rented the Flash TV series from Netflix - with a couple of great performances by Mark Hamill as the Jok . . . er the Trickster

[/threadjack]

btw, that was right around the same time he started voicing the Joker.  So it all comes full circle.  :thumbup:

[Shogunn2517]

How 'bout this:  Batman vs. Jigsaw (from the Saw series of horror films)

When I was watching the first Saw movie (mind you, it's very graphic and not for the young or squeamish) I was thinking the whole time "these guys were so inspired by Batman villains." 

The world of Saw is what Gotham City would be like without Batman.

Maybe that's the direction they're going with the character?  Making him as close to a horror movie villain as possible... kinda makes a little sense to me seeing that Ledger doesn't look as if he's going to play any sort of part of comical to me.  I mean, we've seen lots of "comical" looking villains who terrify the hell out of us, like the guy from Saw(I guess... never cared to watch the movies really).  I mean, look at the clown doll from Poltergeist.  I didn't start looking under my bed until a few years ago because of that guy.

I'm sure when we see Heath Ledger in make up brutally peeling people's skin off and sticking rusty 10-inch nails slowly through their eyeballs while laughing hysterically through the whole thing everything will be fine.

[BentonGrey]

Just for the record, to me, the only Joker is Mark Hamill's Joker.

See the above.....no rusty hooks through eyeballs there, my friend.........

[Spe-Dog]

That could be a nasty infection!  :doh:

I'm going to try to reserve judgment on it at this point.  However, I too would love to see Hamill in the make-up.  Most people don't know it, but you know he used to be

:spoiler:


...a SCREEN ACTOR? 

[Alaric]

That could be a nasty infection!  :doh:

I'm going to try to reserve judgment on it at this point.  However, I too would love to see Hamill in the make-up.  Most people don't know it, but you know he used to be

:spoiler:


...a SCREEN ACTOR? 

I heard that one or two movies he starred in even did fairly well...

[Panther_Gunn]

I heard that one or two movies he starred in even did fairly well...

Really?  I didn't think Corvette Summer did *that* well.  ;)

[Glitch Girl]

He did this one sci-fi move, absolute CLASSIC!  Amazing special effects! 

What was it called again?  Oh yeah, I remember.

"The GUYVER!"  ;)

[BentonGrey]

You know, I actually rented that many moons ago because he was in it.......man, I wish I could get those two hours back......

[GhostMachine]

The Dark Knight casting so far has been bad, in my opinion. I think Heath Ledger is going to suck royally as the Joker, and I'm not too sure about Eckhart as Harvey Dent. Then again, I thought casting Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face was a good idea back then, so what do I know?

He did this one sci-fi move, absolute CLASSIC!  Amazing special effects! 

What was it called again?  Oh yeah, I remember.

"The GUYVER!"  ;)

Best movie Jimmy Walker ever did. :)