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What are the most fascinating facts about The Dark Knight?
The Dark Knight film trilogy by Christopher Nolan is one of the best Batman film franchise reboots so far. The second film, in particular, The Dark Knight was praised by fans and critics alike to be one of the best. As such, there have plenty of fascinating facts about the film that have come out since. If you're curious about them, check out our list of some of the best ones.
Heath Ledger's Preparation For The Role
Heath Ledger's portrayal as the Joker is lauded by many to be one of the best and stands above that rest that came before him. In order to give the best performance he could, Heath Ledger reportedly locked himself inside his hotel room for a month to practice his version of the Joker. They were things like his voice, inspired heavily by singer, songwriter, Tom Waits. He practiced and took note of the Joker's mannerisms and even kept a diary containing the character's twisted thoughts and feelings. Heath Ledger won a posthumous Academy Award for his role.
A Fully Functional Batsuit
A lot of time and effort goes into making costumes and set pieces for movies and it is especially true with a superhero movie like The Dark Knight that requires attention to detail for all the intricacies of its design. The Batsuit created for the movies was not only practical, but it was also functional. The cowl was based on a motorcycle helmet allowing for better mobility. The suit itself is made of various material combining fiberglass, metal mesh, and rubber. One of the suit's gadget are real, lethal razors that retract and can be fired from its wrists.
The Infamous Interrogation Scene
There will be scenes in movies that seem all too real whether intended by the directors or not. The scene in the movie where Batman interrogates the Joker to get answers out of him was intense and things got quite rough during it. It turns out, Heath Ledger even encouraged Christian Bale to actually hit and rough him up, even going as far as taunting him so he would for this scene. Expectedly, Bale refused, so the Joker actor took matters to his own hands, hitting himself and even banging himself on the tiled walls of the room and leaving cracks that can be seen in the movie.
A Real-Life Fan Steps To The Plate
It's not every day that fan gets to meet his idols but this is exactly what happened to one fan, and it was not just any fan, it was the Senator of Vermont, Patrick Leahy. He has been a long-time fan of the Caped Crusader and has appeared in small cameo roles in other Batman movies and cartoons through the years. The Dark Knight movie might just be his best on-screen appearance yet that had him in a very "dicey" situation with the Joker.
All Too Real Explosions
The Dark Knight, being a superhero movie, is full of action and grand explosions but there was one, in particular, that stood out from the rest. That scene was when the Joker infiltrated a hospital and threatened to blow it up. The hospital was in fact, an abandoned candy factory and the crew did blow it up for the movie. In the movie, we see that the Joker was fiddling around with his detonator as not all of the charges went off. This was not intended for the movie and the Joker's reaction was unscripted but it was such a memorable scene that it made the final cut for the movie anyway.
Filming, Under Wraps
It's always a hard time to film such a big-budget movie such as The Dark Knight under wraps from the public but this is exactly what Christopher Nolan and his crew tried to do when they started filming in Chicago. They even made up a crazy title for the film and called it, "Rory's First Kiss" but fans and spectators alike quickly caught on to the fact that it was really for a new Batman movie.
A Garage Project
Batman Begins introduced us to the new Batmobile a.k.a "Tumbler" with all its awesome destructiveness and cool gadgets and weapons. It did not end there though, as The Dark Knight introduced a new vehicle in the movie, the Batpod. It served both as an escaped pod as well as a vehicle akin to a motorcycle with front-mounted cannons, a grappling hook, and greater mobility. Several prototypes were made for the movie but the first one was actually made in Christopher Nolan's own garage.
A Familail Connection
There was this part of the movie where the Joker dressed up as a nurse to get into a hospital to see Harvey Dent and in order to blow it up. His nurse costume had a name tag with the name "Matilda" on it. This name was actually in reference to Heath Ledger's daughter which was 2-years-old during the filming of this movie.
Hitting Close To Home
You know a movie is that good when even the President, himself, is a fan of it. ISIS was an all real threat to the welfare of our citizens and our peace. There was this scene at the beginning of the movie where the Joker first appears and stands in front of a large pile of money, only to set it on fire. President Barack Obama likens the Joker to ISIS in that he can come and easily disrupt the peace and set a whole region on fire, that is why we must fight them.
A Video Game That Could Have Been
Video game tie-ins with movies were not uncommon in Hollywood and The Dark Knight was no different, with an open-world Batman game in the works and was being developed by Pandemic Studios. Unfortunately, the game studio was hit major issues that eventually led to its closure. The Batman Arkham games came out shortly after and became a big hit.
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10 comments
- #1October 14, 2019"It was a truly inspired performance from Heath Ledger and one that will go down in history and be remembered as one of the greatest portrayals of the Joker. The part about Tom Waits was truly a fascinating fact that I did not know about."
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Heath Ledger's Preparation For The Role - #2October 14, 2019"Video game tie-ins weren't always a good idea or even executed well for the matter but it would have been nice to see how it would have ended up if the game did see the light of day. Oh well. At least we have the Arkham games to turn to."
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A Video Game That Could Have Been - #3October 14, 2019"The Batsuit has always been the coolest part of the whole Batman mythos and that fact they went to such lengths to create something like this is just awesome. It really was a fascinating fact about The Dark Knight."
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A Fully Functional Batsuit - #4October 14, 2019"Nice fact about The Dark Knight and just goes to show how far Heath Ledger was willing to go to achieve an authentic and amazing performance for the Joker character."
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The Infamous Interrogation Scene - #5October 14, 2019"It was such a big movie that it was obvious that someone would take notice of what was really going on. It was funny though, how the crew tried to hide it anyway."
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Filming, Under Wraps - #6October 14, 2019"The Joker is a such as dark and twisted character but despite this, it was kind of endearing that they were able to put this little easter egg in the movie."
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A Familail Connection - #7October 14, 2019"How big this movie was to be able to gain this type of attention and be able to influence even political agendas and bring them to people's awareness."
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Hitting Close To Home - #8October 14, 2019"It must have been such a blast for the good 'ol Senator to be able to appear in many Batman movies. A fan's dream come true indeed."
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A Real-Life Fan Steps To The Plate - #9October 14, 2019"That fact that Heath Ledger improvised that whole scene proves just how dedicated and flexible is acting abilities are. Cool fact."
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All Too Real Explosions - #10October 14, 2019"Who would have thought that such an integral and important set piece in the movie would start out at a garage."
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A Garage Project
| Rank | Answers | Type | Votes | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heath Ledger's Preparation For The Role | Other | 17 | Paid |
| 2 | A Fully Functional Batsuit | Other | 14 | Paid |
| 3 | The Infamous Interrogation Scene | Other | 7 | Paid |
| 4 | A Real-Life Fan Steps To The Plate | Other | 3 | Paid |
| 5 | All Too Real Explosions | Other | 3 | Paid |
| 6 | Filming, Under Wraps | Other | 2 | Paid |
| 7 | A Garage Project | Other | 2 | Paid |
| 8 | A Familail Connection | Other | 2 | Paid |
| 9 | Hitting Close To Home | Other | 1 | Paid |
| 10 | A Video Game That Could Have Been | Other | 1 | Paid |