The Dark Knight

[Midnite]

Source: JoBlo.com by: Mike Sampson
It's been a while since we've had a good ole fashioned spy report from a comic book set but this Monday morning we get a doozy of a whopper of a report courtesy a JoBlo.com insider. Said source wants to remain anonymous, of course, but "anonymous" isn't a very interesting nickname so heretoforth we'll call him The Gotham Lurker. Just 'cause. Lurker filed two reports, the first of which is below (in the interest of full disclosure, I have redacted some parts of Lurker's e-mail that may have given away his identity) the second following shortly thereafter. Take a gander at what our man on the scene had to say for himself:

The scene is a fundraiser for Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and it was in the lobby for either a hotel of some sort or of Bruce Wayne's mansion. First part of the night was Eckhart coming in from an elevator and making his entrance. Michael Caine was there and filming his shot for a good three hours. After that was done, then it was Batman's turn. He came in out of a helicopter with a hot model on each side, he truely knows how to make an entrance. But the big news is THE JOKER IS CRASHING THE ****ING FUNDRAISER. Yessireebob, you read that correctly. He is going to make an entrance (hopefully involving the breaking of a window or two) and 'crash' the party.
Seems like Joker has as much of a beef with Dent as he does with our friendly Batman. Joker's issues with Dent are further evidenced in another scene, which Lurker says went a little something like this:
Tonight was an outdoor scene with Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent doing a political ad that was to be played on a TV in the background during the movie. Since there would be no audio of it in the movie, he was screwing around and yelling random stuff like he was going to go to Washington D.C. and to bring us Grilled Cheese sandwiches. He was a riot. Then it was back to the condo scene [Ed. note: referenced above]. I. saw. the. JOKER! He comes out of an elevator with 4 or 5 of his masked minions, two with actualy plastic masks and guns, and the others had painting on their faces. The Joker does not look as grotesque as he did in the photo on the harveydent site. He has long hair with green highlights in it, he was wearing a long purple jacket with a blue sport coat under it, purple gloves and I regret to say I forget the color of his pants. But anyways, he comes in shooting and people are being hurt and killed left and right, he's looking for Harvey Dent (his first line says so). As Joker is hitting people along the way (he's slapping extras!), comes in Batman in that new suit that was in Entertainment Weekly this week. They fight, it's all long and drawn out and during this, JOKER DOES HIS LAUGH. It was high pitched, unique and really hardcase. Not exactly like Nicholson's, but who the hell can pull that off? It was awesome, just leave it at that. After all that, the Joker grabs Rachel (Maggie Gyllenhal) and begins his escape.
Wow - I gotta say I'm a little jealous. And I love the touch of Heath Ledger just smacking extras around. There's a tabloid headline for you. I'm dying to see a real trailer for this and hopefully we've got one on the way. Thanks again to The Gotham Lurker for sending in the report!

[Midnite]

In a drowsy London hotel room, from behind a bushy policeman's moustache, a quiet, reserved Gary Oldman is considering his reputation as - his words - 'Crazy-Scary-Gary'.

Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman: 'I don't have a publicist. I don't go to premieres. I don't go to parties. I just have dinner at home every night with my kids'

That is: Gary Oldman, brilliant portrayer of skinheads, punks, vampires, assassins, psycho-cops, psycho-pimps, psycho-psychos.

The actor fundamental to the success and magic of Mike Leigh's Meantime, Stephen Frears's Prick Up Your Ears, Alex Cox's Sid and Nancy, Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula, Oliver Stone's JFK, Luc Besson's Leon, Tony Scott's True Romance and Alan Clarke's The Firm.

The writer-director whose gritty south-east London upbringing formed the backdrop to 1997's Nil by Mouth: a semi-autobiographical tale of alcoholism, drugs, criminality, wife-beating and the misery man hands on to man.

The 'bad boy' who, almost as soon as his career started, escaped Britain for high times in New York and Los Angeles.
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The thrice-married, thrice-divorced drinker who went into rehab in 1995 and hasn't, he says, touched a drop of alcohol since.

'I don't know how it happened,' Oldman says of his pigeonholing as a natural born gangster. He speaks slowly. Very slowly. In clipped sentences. 'I really don't. I was this... psycho guy. I just got into these parts. Then it... it... contaminates people. And they think that you're Crazy-Scary-Gary. The closest character to me,' he adds with ponderous gravity, 'is Jim Gordon.'

Jim Gordon is the police lieutenant in the Batman stories. Oldman played the veteran cop in Chris Nolan's hugely successful franchise reboot Batman Begins (2005). He is reprising the role in The Dark Knight, in which Lt Gordon teams up with Batman (Christian Bale) to take on the Joker (Heath Ledger). It is currently being filmed in the UK, which is what has briefly brought Oldman from his home in LA back to England.

The portrayal of kindly Lt Gordon also explains the droopy, salt'n'pepper moustache he is sporting today, if not the orange trainers the 49-year-old is wearing at the bottom of his sloppy-joe ensemble (dark suit jacket, grey cartoon T-shirt, jeans).

I tell Oldman that the first word that comes to mind when you think of Jim Gordon is 'avuncular'. 'Yeah,' he replies with a light shrug. 'Got a good sense of right and wrong. Family man. Just a regular geezer.'

Is this something that has come to Oldman as he approaches his 50th birthday, a good quarter of a century since he started out as an angry young man of British film?

Another shrug. Another reply so low and quiet my tape-recorder will barely pick it up.

'I've always been that way,' says Gary Oldman.

[Revenant]

Here's a pic of the figure from Wizard:

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[Haljack]

[spoiler]Maybe its just me but I get the impression they're slowly evolving the suit to be something closer to the comics but that could be just because of the grey[/spoiler]

[Revenant]

I'm happy that the color scheme is getting closer to the comics version.  Also, an all-black suit makes sense for practicality and function, but on the screen it can be hard to see all the action. 

In Batman Begins, during some of the fight scenes, it was hard to see Batman sometimes, also due to the darkness and night-time setting

[Glitch Girl]

A tidbot from Atomic Comics Weekly Newsletter

Two surprising stars showed up on the sets of Iron Man and The Dark Knight in the past week. Late at night, the Batman Begins sequel filmed a shoot out between gangs in which Cillian Murphy appeared in his Scarecrow mask and gassed Batman.

The other "surprising star" refers to the Ultimates movie having Samuel L. Jackson play Nick Fury.

[Midnite]

Details on The Dark Knight Tie-Ins
Source: batman205
July 12, 2007


A licensing sheet for The Dark Knight was recently posted online, but a lot of the text was too small to read. Now, 'batman205' has given us the scoop on just what it said. Here's Warner Bros.' plans for "The Year of the Bat":

- A direct-to-video anime-style series that takes place in the time period between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and further explores the Batman legend.

- Multi-platform videogame inspired by The Dark Knight.

- Extensive consumer products range to support both the new film and classic Batman brand.

- DC Comics will publish an extensive range of material surrounding The Dark Knight including a comic book adaptation of the film, coffee table books, children's activity books and more!

[BentonGrey]

Anime style?  Why does Hollywood hate me?

[the_ultimate_evil]

A tidbot from Atomic Comics Weekly Newsletter

Two surprising stars showed up on the sets of Iron Man and The Dark Knight in the past week. Late at night, the Batman Begins sequel filmed a shoot out between gangs in which Cillian Murphy appeared in his Scarecrow mask and gassed Batman.

The other "surprising star" refers to the Ultimates movie having Samuel L. Jackson play Nick Fury.

the IM director has already said the sam jackson cameo is just rumors and not true

[Ajax]

Anime style?  Why does Hollywood hate me?

What's wrong with anime style? You like Timmverse which has similar aesthetics as anime (if you go on Bruce Timms site he has done alot of fan art for anime characters). The Hellboy movies are "anime inspired" and they are both good. So don't judge something because it isn't your lord and master Alex Ross.

[BentonGrey]

Yikes, what's your problem?  I love the Timmverse stuff, and even though it might be called anime inspired, I don't really see the influence all that strongly.  I greatly prefer more traditional animation, of which I consider Timmverse stuff an excellent example.  Alex Ross is a fantastic artist, but I would hardly want everything to be like his work.  In general, the 'anime' style shows and movies I've seen produced in America were terrible, and indulged in the things I hate worst about anime.  (Teen Titans, I'm looking at you)  Slightly exaggerated character models don't bother me, throwing in tons of anime troupes because it seems popular hurts my soul.

[Ajax]

Well it's Batman and I doubt you are going to see anything along those lines. Batman isn't going to have the over the top facial expressions or chibi-ness. If it did it wouldn't be Batman but a parody. What you are probably going to see is something closer to what they did with the anime Highlander movie. It's going to borrow the over the top action sequences and blend it with western story telling. So you'll see Batman punch someone through a wall but you aren't going to see him turn into a mecha or something ridiculous like that.

[BentonGrey]

Something closer to 'The Batman'?  My other cartoon nemesis?  Something where everyone knows kung-fu and even the Penguin can apparently fly?  I just wish Paul Dini and Bruce Timm would be put in charge of this...I'd have a lot more faith then!

[Midnite]

Something closer to 'The Batman'?  My other cartoon nemesis?  Something where everyone knows kung-fu and even the Penguin can apparently fly?  I just wish Paul Dini and Bruce Timm would be put in charge of this...I'd have a lot more faith then!

In charge of "The Batman"? If it makes you feel any better, one of the producers from Batman: TAS is taking over "The Batman"  :)

[Revenant]

Sorry this is sideways.. it's from a friend at the DC boards:

[Ajax]

Well from the writers they listed I think it's safe to say this should be a treat. If those are the character designs in the background I am really looking forward to this.

[BentonGrey]

In charge of "The Batman"? If it makes you feel any better, one of the producers from Batman: TAS is taking over "The Batman"  :)

Hmm......well, if they change the artists and writers, I'll be happy.  As it is...I'll wait and see.

Those designs look pretty good, I don't see that it's very 'anime-ish.'

[Pyroclasm]

Those designs look pretty good, I don't see that it's very 'anime-ish.'

Then your exposure to anime must be very limited.  "Anime" is a very broad term.  It just means "Animated" and refers more specifically to anything animated from Japan.  That Batman design is very reminiscent of many japanese animes.  Thinking all animes are like Pokemon or DragonballZ is like assuming all western animation looks like Johnny Bravo or the Power Puff Girls.

[zuludelta]

BentonGrey, you really have to get over the notion that anime is a particular fixed "style". As Pyro alluded to, it's simply the Japanese-phoneticized term for "animation", and it means exactly the same thing as the English word. Your attitude towards anime is equivalent say, to a French person preferring bande désignée (French term for comic books) and dismissing all English-language "comics" out of hand, when in actuality, the two terms refer to the same thing: sequential art accompanied by dialogue. Not all anime (by which I mean animation created in Japan) has stylized renditions of the human figure or use some of the quirky, culture-specific shorthand (bulging veins = anger/annoyance, large sweat drop = embarrassment, etc.) that you seem to be averse to. Let me recommend you two excellent anime films that I assure you has none of what I think you dislike about the stereotyped notion of anime:

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade - an excellent political thriller set against the backdrop of a growing rivalry between local Tokyo police and a federal counterrorism unit assigned to combat anti-government insurgents. The main plot focuses on one of the counterterrorism operatives getting caught up in the personal lives and drama of the people he has sworn to pursue. An excellent film, and it's probably better than the majority of live-action Hollywood spy/political drama.

Grave of the Fireflies - a poignant tale set in post-war Japan showing the struggles of orphaned siblings in the wake of the Reconstruction Period.

Trust me on this, give one or both of these films a try and see if you don't come away with a different opinion about Japanese animation. 

EDIT: I hope I didn't come off as sounding like I'm forcing you to like Japanese animation... you're free to decide what you like or don't like, of course, it just seems like you're making somewhat misinformed generalizations based on a very limited subset of what's actually out there. It's akin to someone concluding that all American comics feature overly-muscled men and women with breasts bigger than their head who wear their underwear on the outside based on a cursory examination of the most popular titles being sold. 

[MJB]

Seems to me that "Batman Anime" is a bit off subject. Heh.

-MJB

[Midnite]

Updated! Dark Knight Teaser Debuts in Two Weeks!
Source: Superhero Hype!
July 13, 2007


There have been rumors circulating around the normal internet circles that Warner Bros. won't have anything related to the Batman sequel The Dark Knight ready to go for the San Diego Comic-Con.

Well, guess what? That isn't so.

Superhero Hype! has just received confirmation from one of our most reliable sources that Warner Bros. plans on debuting a teaser in front of some screenings of 20th Century Fox's The Simpsons Movie on July 27, which just so happens to be the same day as the Warner Bros. panel at Comic-Con in San Diego. Don't be too surprised if they decide to spring an unannounced premiere of the teaser for The Dark Knight sometime during that 10:30 AM panel. Stay tuned to Superhero Hype! to find out more about this teaser, and remember where you heard it first!

Update: Our source has suggested that Warner Bros. might not even wait until the official Warner Bros. panel on Friday morning, because on the description for the premiere screening of Warner Bros. Home Video's new animated feature film "Superman Doomsday," it states "And stay 'til the end—there might just be a glimpse of future DC Universe films." Could be a surprise showing of The Dark Knight teaser? Only one way to find out.

[detourne_me]

Seems to me that "Batman Anime" is a bit off subject. Heh.

-MJB

could we call it "Batmanime"?

[Midnite]

Joker pics/footage

[BentonGrey]

BentonGrey, you really have to get over the notion that anime is a particular fixed "style". As Pyro alluded to, it's simply the Japanese-phoneticized term for "animation", and it means exactly the same thing as the English word. Your attitude towards anime is equivalent say, to a French person preferring bande désignée (French term for comic books) and dismissing all English-language "comics" out of hand, when in actuality, the two terms refer to the same thing: sequential art accompanied by dialogue. Not all anime (by which I mean animation created in Japan) has stylized renditions of the human figure or use some of the quirky, culture-specific shorthand (bulging veins = anger/annoyance, large sweat drop = embarrassment, etc.) that you seem to be averse to. Let me recommend you two excellent anime films that I assure you has none of what I think you dislike about the stereotyped notion of anime:

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade - an excellent political thriller set against the backdrop of a growing rivalry between local Tokyo police and a federal counterrorism unit assigned to combat anti-government insurgents. The main plot focuses on one of the counterterrorism operatives getting caught up in the personal lives and drama of the people he has sworn to pursue. An excellent film, and it's probably better than the majority of live-action Hollywood spy/political drama.

Grave of the Fireflies - a poignant tale set in post-war Japan showing the struggles of orphaned siblings in the wake of the Reconstruction Period.

Trust me on this, give one or both of these films a try and see if you don't come away with a different opinion about Japanese animation. 

EDIT: I hope I didn't come off as sounding like I'm forcing you to like Japanese animation... you're free to decide what you like or don't like, of course, it just seems like you're making somewhat misinformed generalizations based on a very limited subset of what's actually out there. It's akin to someone concluding that all American comics feature overly-muscled men and women with breasts bigger than their head who wear their underwear on the outside based on a cursory examination of the most popular titles being sold. 

Hey ZD, I think I vaguely remember a similar discussion in that anime thread from a while back, but I could be wrong.  Either way, no, I'm not offended by your suggestions, (I appreciate them, and that wolf one sounds somewhat interesting) but I feel like I should perhaps explain myself a little better, though it be at the risk of further derailing this topic. 

[spoiler]I am the first to admit that I don't have a broad sampling of anime, being, like most Americans, only exposed to what reaches the mass market (read TV) here....99% of which is drivel and indulges to the umpteenth degree in those troupes that I hate so very much.  That being said, I HAVE seen anime that I really loved, things like Cowboy Beebop, and I recently rented Lodoss War which I thought was pretty decent (based on the recommendations from the aforementioned thread).  So, no, I don't hate ALL of Japanese anime.  Perhaps I am wrong in using the term anime to describe the dregs that reach American markets, but I don't know of another that is more appropriate.  This, combined with the fact that most of the American shows claiming 'anime influence' pull from only the very worst, or at best, neutral aspects of Japanese animation (like Teen Titans, The Batman, etc.) leads me to be very disparaging of anime, in-so-far as it includes the American markets, the only things I have contact with.  [/spoiler]

Back on topic:  Hmm....that Joker doesn't look too bad from here....the suit looks good, but are his hands normal looking?

[Zapow]

Last Friday when I left work there was a Gotham PD SWAT van parked next to my office building. Of course I had no camera. :doh:

[Zapow]

Back on topic:  Hmm....that Joker doesn't look too bad from here....the suit looks good, but are his hands normal looking?

The impression I've been given so far from photos is that the white face and dark circles around the eyes are meant to be makeup in the movie and not his actual face. At the same time, his "joker's grin" really seems to be scarring from someone's attempt to "widen" his smile with a knife.

I could be wrong though.

[BentonGrey]

Ohh I hope not!  I remember how it struck me when I read the original Batman stories with the Joker.  In one of them, he gets stabbed, and you see that his chest is white...he's actually white all over, not just wearing make-up.  It gives him a more other-worldly appearance.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

This just in, it apparently has been announced that Harvey Dent will become Two-Face during this movie.  Whether or not this happens at the very end has not been announced.

[Jakew]

The Riddler is heavily rumoured to make a cameo too.

I hope this film doesn't pull a spider-man 3 and cram in too many characters.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Well, Batman Begins managed to fit in 5 different Batman comic book villians, without much of a problem.