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The Dark Knight (2008)
The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan. Based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, it is the sequel to Batman Begins (2005), and the second installment in The Dark Knight trilogy. The plot follows the vigilante Batman, police lieutenant James Gordon, and district attorney Harvey Dent, who form an alliance to dismantle organized…
Directed by Christopher Nolan · Shot by Wally Pfister · Cut by Lee Smith · Music by Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard · 153 min
How it was made
- Christopher and Jonathan Nolan deliberately gave the Joker no origin story, reasoning it would make him scarier, comparing their approach to the unexplained menace of the shark in Jaws.
- Jonathan Nolan spent six months writing a draft screenplay, then two more months refining it, before the brothers spent a further six months developing the final script during pre-production.
- Nolan redesigned the Batsuit to give Christian Bale greater mobility, allowing more of his Keysi-fighting-method training to appear on screen than in Batman Begins, where combat had deliberately been kept obscured.
- Heath Ledger spent about a month secluding himself in a hotel room reading comics, then spent four months compiling a "Joker diary" of reference images; he built the character's voice by mixing high and low pitches, an approach inspired by ventriloquism.
Behind the scenes
Elsewhere
More by Christopher Nolan
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