Here are 25 Interesting Facts About The Dark Knight (2008) – Part 2.
1-5 Interesting Facts About The Dark Knight
1. Unlike his counterpart in both the comics and Batman (1989), the Joker in this film does not have his hair and flesh permanently bleached by toxic waste. His trademark grin was never definitively identified in the comics as a disfigurement. However, its appearance here, as scars deliberately carved into his flesh, echo the character’s original inspiration, the character Gwynplaine from Victor Hugo’s novel The Man Who Laughs (1928).
2. In the parking garage, each of the “fake” Batmen is seen firing a gun of some kind. The original creators of the Batman comics decided that Batman would never be shown holding a gun, due to him already bearing so many other similarities to another comic book hero, The Shadow.
3. According to the British Board of Film Classification (or BBFC), this film received the most complaints of the decade from British viewers. It was the subject of 42 per cent of all letters received by the BBFC in 2008.
4. The IMAX cameras used in filming proved to be problematic for the crew. Dialog that was recorded on film was very noisy so it had to be replaced during post-production. Also, the cameras were so heavy that special mounts were created to support the weight. Finally, IMAX cameras took 5 days to process film negatives as opposed to conventional dailies.
5. The date seen on Gordon’s security camera photo of The Joker taken during the bank heist reads “2008/07/18”, which was the U.S. theatrical release date of the film.
6-10 Interesting Facts About The Dark Knight
6. Batman leaps from the roof of Two IFC, the tallest building in Hong Kong at the time, at over 400 meters. Sometime later, he appears to be gliding down to the same rooftop. His target is in fact One IFC, which is about half as tall and has a similar ornate crown.
7. Shortly before the film’s DVD debut, Warner Brothers were under legal action by the city of Batman, Turkey (pronounced “but-mun”) in November 2008. Even though it wasn’t used in the title, the character name of Batman was considered an infringement.
8. The Joker’s mask during the initial bank robbery is almost exactly the same as the mask worn by Cesar Romero when hijacking a performance of Pagliacci in the original Batman (1966) TV series.
9. When it was announced that the Joker would be main antagonist in the film it was rumored that Paul Bettany would be playing the part, however when Heath Ledger was cast Christopher Nolan came under criticism from the media as they thought Ledger was completely wrong for the role.
10. On Thanksgiving weekend, 2007, fake four-page tabloid-size Gotham Times newspapers were distributed at various public events. Headlined “City at War – Batman Saves Entire Family,” every article teased events in the film, and everything in the handout was geared toward the film, including the weather (“Gloomy and overcast…”) and advertisements for Gotham National Bank, the Gotham Girl Guides and recruitment for the Gotham Police Department.
11-15 Interesting Facts About The Dark Knight
11. The console for the Bat Sonar resembles “The Listening Post”Mark Hasen and Ben Rubin’s dynamic portrait of online communication, especially when Lucius Fox and Batman switch it off. The installation was on display at the Science Museum in London but it is now closed.
12. For the first time in feature filmmaking, IMAX cameras were utilized. Christopher Nolan had wanted to shoot in the IMAX format for years, thus using this film as his opportunity to do so. Six major action-heavy sequences, along with various high-altitude shots, were filmed on the IMAX ratio. (These sequences are available on the Bonus Disc of the 2-Disc DVD Edition.)
13. The movie features 37 minutes of IMAX footage.
14. While filming both the bank and police department scenes at the post office, an unrelated fire broke out in a top floor mechanical room and many onlookers believed that the smoke and fire was related to the filming.
15. The ferries depicted are CGI models of the Molinari-class of Staten Island Ferry. The Staten Island Ferry, which is run by the New York Department of Transportation, offers a free 25-minute ride across New York harbor from St. George in Staten Island to South Ferry in Manhattan.
16-20 Interesting Facts About The Dark Knight
16. The luminous ceiling in Batman’s secret bunker was lit by a grid of 300 fixtures each containing six 800-watt bulbs, consuming a total of 1.44 megawatts (1,440,000 watts).
17. In the chase scene where the Joker is firing a bazooka at the police car Harvey Dent is in, on the side of the truck the Joker is driving the letter “S” has been painted on ahead of the word “Laughter” which is already imprinted on the truck – making the word “Slaughter.”
18. The Batpod weighed six hundred pounds.
19. In the early minutes of each film in the trilogy the main villain (Ra’s Al Ghul, Joker, Bane) disguises himself as one of his own henchmen and there is a conversation about said villain in each scene.
20. After the Joker exits the hospital, the pause in the explosions was scripted, but Heath Ledger’s actions while it was stopped were unscripted.
21-25 Interesting Facts About The Dark Knight
21. Heath Ledger improvised when he started clapping inside his jail cell in a mocking and sardonic way as Gordon is promoted. The clapping was not scripted, but Christopher Nolan immediately encouraged the crew to continue filming and the sequence was included in the film.
22. Christian Bale stated in an interview that during the interrogation scene, Heath Ledger wanted him to beat him as hard as he could to get the real feeling of what was required from the scene.
23. When Harvey holds the Joker at gunpoint in the hospital scene, you can see that the Joker is actually holding the revolver’s hammer with his finger, thus preventing the shot in case Harvey’s coin lands on “bad” side.
24. During the Hong Kong action scene (to bring Lau back), Batman shoots time-bombs on the glass which has a time of 2:22 minutes. The bombs explode almost exactly after 2 minutes 20 seconds in real time, which shows that the action could happen in almost 2 minutes.
25. Early in the film, a witness on stand pulls a gun out on Harvey Dent (Two-Face) during the trial and tries to shoot him. This is a nod towards Two-Face’s original origin story in the comics where in a similar trial scenario, crime boss Sal Maroni is on stand and throws sulfuric acid in Dent’s face resulting in his scarring.
