What made Dark Knight?
What made Dark Knight?
Transforming a super-hero comic character to an icon, which transcends time, takes decades of character development, but Christopher Nolan in a period spanning not even a decade not only turned the comic hero a believable symbol but gave Batman a new identify "The Dark Knight", which will remain synonymous with Batman.
Typically, stories of the sequels to a super-hero or a comic character are an extension of the previous installments, which mean predictable, sometimes boring. They are about taking the character beyond the film into merchandising and thereby stimulating incremental revenues for the studios.
Christopher Nolan had a vision of rebooting Batman. He didn't think of it as a trilogy initially. All he intended to do was make the character more believeable, relatable, intense and emotional. He decided to explore the origin of Batman or the transition of Bruce Wayne to Batman. He didn't want to change the central plot or motivation of Bruce Wayne becoming Batman, which is avenging his father's death. But the path Bruce Wayne takes to realize his inner self or build physical and emotional strength is differntiated by Nolan.
Upon the release of Batman Beigns, the teaser trailer was exhibited. Some thought it would be all about the flamboyant lifestyle of Bruce Wayne and some lunatic turned murderer, with whom Batman is fighting and trying to save the city Gotham. But to their surprise it was Bruce Wayne on his quest to acquire spiritual, emotional and physical strength somewhere in the Himalayas. Eventually, the all new transformed more agile Batman flashed for a few seconds. What happened next is history. Batman Begins (2005) became not only an unprecedented critical and commercial success for a super-hero comic character or film, but one of the most important origin stories of a character ever made.
Christopher Nolan opened up several opportunities for builiding the character from Batman Begins. But you wouldn't believe, apparently, he never had the idea of making it a trilogy because each film had a story of their own. What it means is that he conceptualized stories for each installment as a standalone film with the central plot running through the installments. This was a culmination of Christopher Nolan's vision and the avenues the character opened up, which was not deliberate but incidental. Transforming a super-hero comic character to an icon, which transcends time, takes decades of character development, but Christopher Nolan in a period spanning not even a decade not only turned the comic hero a believable symbol and gave Batman a new identify "The Dark Knight".
The character to be played by Batman was meticulously chosen. Among several test, Christian Bale could do justice to both the roles of a playboy kind rich - Bruce Wayne and vigilante Batman or Dark Knight. What made the difference or what qualified him for the role was his voice. Chris Nolan needed to differntiate the characters Bruce Wayne and Batman not only by their clothes but something he was desperately looking for. Christian Bale intuitively enhanced the masculinity of his voice, which is innate for him. Chris Nolan says because of this voice differntiation he perfectly suited both the worlds of Bruce and Batman. Becuase when he wears the respective clothes, he has to be believable and relatable, which he is.
Batman wouldn't have Dark Knight and it's associated exceptional fame without the characters Joker and Bane played by Heath Ledger and Tom Hardy. They are as equally significant as Christopher Nolan. Moreover, the audio-visual experience of Batman Trilogy became a first of its kind because of the able technicians and long time collaborators of Chris Nolan, prolific musician and composer Hans Zimmer and versatile cinematographer Wally Pfister.
Christopher Nolan is among the first filmmakers to bring the IMAX film cameras (70mm) for shooting and exhibiting a feature. Typically IMAX cameras are used for filming the space, nature, wildlife and science cinematography.
Batman Begins (2005)
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Here is the official making of The Dark Knight Trilogy released by Warner Bros Entertainment on 15th September 2020, commemorating "Batman Day" on 21st September 2020.
Authored by Balaji Thangapandian aka #BT - a spacefarer, who is also curious about film-making, connectivity technologies and military history.
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