Of all the superhero films of the past two decades, The Dark Knight remains firmly atop the list.
It broke all the rules and set new precedents in comic book filmmaking.
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To celebrate this incredible achievement, here are 10+ behind the scenes secrets that fans didn’t know. It’s everything you’ve ever wanted to possibly know about Batman and beyond!
1. Bruce Wayne is always driving a Batmobile.
Although Batman is the eternal stoic, Bruce Wayne isn’t without his sense of humor. It’s on full display in his preferred choice of sportscar.
In the film, Bruce drives a Lamborghini Murcielago . In Spanish, “Murcielago” means “Bat”.
2. The brutal ‘bat-voice’ wasn’t Christian Bale’s fault.
Christian Bale’s ‘Batman voice’ is still parodied to this day. Even a total Bat-fanatic like myself finds it hard to look the other way. But as it turns out, Bale had nothing to do with it!
The gritty, over-the-top effects were actually added post-production.
3. People actually called the police while the chase with ‘The Tumbler’ was being filmed.
Initial reports were that the police were engaged with a large black vehicle, both make and model unknown.
I’m not going to lie: it would be a dream come true to see the Batmobile whiz down my street.
4. Heath Ledger went to extremes in order to get into character.
It sure didn’t come easy. Heath rented a motel room and subjected himself to severe isolation for over six weeks. He did this in order to explore the psychosis of the character.
Heath felt this would better enable him to discover his own version of The Joker.
5. Christian Bale really did beat up Heath Ledger during their interrogation scene.
I was saying, “You know what, I really don’t need to actually hit you . It’s going to look just as good if I don’t.” And he’s going, “Go on. Go on. Go on…”
Bale goes explains how Heath’s commitment to the scene was total and unequivocal.
“He was slamming himself around, and there were tiled walls inside of that set which were cracked and dented from him hurling himself into them.”
6. Heath actually directed the two videos that The Joker sends to GCN all on his own.
The first one, with the fake Batman , was done while under the supervision of Christopher Nolan.
But after seeing the final product, Nolan was confident that Heath could do the final video on his own.
7. While filming the tunnel scene with The Joker and the S.W.A.T. vans, there was an incredibly expensive accident.
The production team accidentally broke their special IMAX camera . At that time, only four existed in the entire world.
I can only imagine what the bill would have been!
While were on the subject, the tunnel scene was entirely filmed with scale miniature models.
This is easily one of the most exciting scenes in the entire film!
Christopher Nolan explains that miniatures were used so as to maintain the element of realness in the scene.
8. This was the first bat-suit that allowed Batman to turn his head.
I know that sounds like a weird concept, but it’s the truth.
If you examine the cowls from all previous bat-films, including Batman Begins , they make it impossible for Batman to look left or right.
There’s even a line of dialogue in the film that references this point.
After reading over Bruce’s new designs for the bat-suit, Lucius Fox says “You want to be able to turn your head.”
To which Bruce replies “it’ll sure make backing out of the driveway easier.”
9. Christopher Nolan was heavily influenced by the comics.
Christopher Nolan has gone on record stating that he had several influences for the film. However, the most prevalent and often-cited piece of source-material is ” Batman: The Long Halloween “.
A true must-read for any bat-fan.
10. The mask that The Joker carries at the beginning of the film is an homage to Cesar Romero.
Romero played The Joker in the live-action 1960’s TV show.
The mask Ledger wears is identical to one Romero wore in a previous episode.
11. Hans Zimmer, the film’s composer, had some seriously strange methods for scoring the film.
Specifically when it came to The Joker.
Hans is reported to have sampled the sounds of razor blades cutting across piano wire, and would even play guitars with shards of broken metal.
12. Lucius Fox’s Skyhook plan wasn’t made up.
This really was something that the CIA would do whenever they needed to get one of their people out of harm’s way .
Supposedly the process is even less aggressive on the human body than opening a parachute.
