The Dark Knight
News (Page 8)

Here's the latest poster for The Dark Knight.

It's pretty darn cool:

The Dark Knight Director Christopher Nolan talked to MTV News about "adventurous" character of The Joker as he helped unveil an extended trailer this week.

If the opening frames of the movie are any indication, Batman will have his hands full come June. The Joker is on the loose, and MTV has seen just how devilishly maniacal and dangerous he can be.

On Sunday night, a small crowd in New York gathered to watch the first six minutes of Nolan's eagerly awaited sequel to Batman Begins and the footage did not disappoint. Introduced by the beaming director and displayed on an 80-foot-tall IMAX screen, the opening of the film welcomed Heath Ledger's Joker to the Nolan/Batman universe.

And it was clear from the start, much as you might have loved Jack Nicholson's villain, the purple-clad bad man won't have the time or inclination to dance to Prince this time around. Nolan spoke at length with MTV News immediately prior to and following the special event, clearly proud of his new villain.

"I think what Heath is doing is very adventurous," he said. "What he's doing is very radical. It's very much what I wanted. I knew I needed someone really fearless."

Red the full article about The Dark Knight opening now.

It's The Joker!

It's Batman!

It's a pair of promotional photos from the summer's most anticipated movie, The Dark Knight. Check them out now:

Heath Ledger stars as The Joker.

Christian Bale returns as Batman.

As previously reported, Heath Ledger appears in the latest issue of Empire Magazine as The Joker.

Here are a couple excerpts from the interview the actor gave in that issue:

On a great deal of trepidation when approached for the part of The Joker: "I definitely feared it. Anything that makes me afraid I guess excites me at the same time. I don't know if I was fearless, but I certainly had to put on a brave face and believe that I have something up my sleeve. Something different."

On how he prepared the Joker's sinister voice and laugh: "I sat around in a hotel room in London for about a month, locked myself away, formed a little diary and experimented with voices â€" it was important to try to find a somewhat iconic voice and laugh. I ended up landing more in the realm of a psychopath â€" someone with very little to no conscience towards his acts.

He's just an absolute sociopath, a cold-blooded, mass-murdering clown, and Chris [Nolan] has given me free rein. Which is fun because there are no real boundaries to what The Joker would say or do. Nothing intimidates him, and everything is a big joke."

Here's the latest photo of Heath Ledger as The Joker from The Dark Knight, this one courtesy of Empire Magazine.

Here is a special look inside The Dark Knight.

Read no further if you don't wanna read any spoilers regarding the plot of the next Batman installment:

Gang warfare is ravaging Gotham City, ast three separate factions come to the forefront:

1. One is led by "The Chechen."
2. Another is led by Sal Maroni (played by Eric Roberts)
3. Finally, there's a gang of "street toughs" run by Gambol (Michael Jai White).

These groups are attacking each other to gain control of the city's underworld.

Meanwhile, negotiations between the different criminal factions break down following the disappearance of institutionalized mob boss Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson) from Arkham Asylum.

During this period, Harvey Dent is an Assistant District Attorney. His tip line for citizens to report dirty cops is attacked by the acting D.A. as a "cynical act of political opportunism."

Soon after, Two Face is born...

In an interview with MTV, Heath Ledger referred to filming of The Dark Knight as an "exhausting process." He also delivered more insight into his portrayal of The Joker:

"He has zero empathy," the actor said, citing classic Stanley Kubrick as inspiration. "‘A Clockwork Orange' was a very early starting point for Christian [Bale] and I. But we kind of flew far away from that pretty quickly and into another world altogether."

Read the entire interview here.

The movie world is abuzz over Heath Ledger portraying The Joker in The Dark Knight. But one prominent name in Hollywood is far from thrilled over the development.

"I'm furious," Jack Nicholson told MTV over being left out of the follow-up, considering he originated the role in the original Batman movie.

The actor's voice rose as he continued:

"They never asked me about a sequel with the Joker. I know how to do that! Nobody ever asked me."

The main reason Nicholson is so perturbed? The fact that The Joker is incredibly personal for him.

"The Joker comes from my childhood," he said. "That's how I got involved with it in the first place. It's a part I always thought I should play."

The multiple-time Oscar winner added that Warner Bros. "kind of drove the franchise into the ground," and that he was unlikely to see The Dark Knight.

Despite the character's name, portraying The Joker is far from a fun ride.

Just ask Heath Ledger, who suits up for this iconic role in The Dark Knight, playing a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy," as the actor described his Joker to The New York Times recently.

The role is a honor, but it's also exhausting, Ledger told the newspaper.

"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," he said. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going."

We're sure it will all pay off when The Dark Knight hits theaters in July, 2008, however. We can't wait.

We've posted one picture of Heath Ledger as The Joker already.

Now, here's the latest shot of the most well-know Batman villain, courtesy of The Dark Knight...