Familiar with that moment that you wander around the social network, see a post about a movie you really liked, and then some kid responds “Oh yeah, this old movie from 2012?” And makes you feel old to Allah? So this is how I felt this week when I discovered to my amazement that today marks the tenth anniversary of the end of the Batman trilogy of Christopher Nolan’s Batman “The Dark Knight”.
The trilogy, which opened in 2005 with “Batman Begins,” featured what is still considered the best cast of comics ever (at least in my eyes) – by Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, Michael Kane as Alfred and Gary Oldman as Detective C ‘James Gordon.
Did you think we were done? So absolutely not. Liam Neeson is cast as “Ras El Gol” and Killian Murphy starred as “The Scarecrow” (long before he was revealed to most of the world in Picky Blinders). In the following films we also got Heath Ledger, in his most memorable role who redefined the character of “The Joker” and in the last film Nolan decided to bring the actor who starred for him in “Beginning” – Tom Hardy, straight to the main role of Bain.
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10 years after the end of the trilogy, almost all of its stars are already in completely different places in their careers – Hardy has taken on the character of “Venom”, Christian Bale has given an excellent performance in “Thor: Love and Thunder”, Liam Nissan, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman continue Be one of the top actors in Hollywood, but forever they will remain identified with that trilogy, which revived and redefined the comic book genre.
In honor of the landmark, we decided to challenge and find ten things that most viewers probably did not know about the trilogy.
The only one who came
Let’s start with Killian Murphy. As mentioned earlier, Murphy is cast as “The Scarecrow,” one of the main villains of the first film in the trilogy. Although defeated at the end, not many remember that Murphy also appeared in the movie “The Dark Knight”, when he was defeated once again by the Batman. True, that show lasted only a few seconds, but they were enough to make “The Scarecrow” Batman’s only enemy to appear in the entire trilogy.
No more comic book movie
Unlike many other comic book movies, in the “Dark Knight” trilogy, Nolan deliberately chose to present a more realistic version. The reason for this lies in the great failure called “Batman and Robin”, which caused the Warner Brothers to abandon the character of the Batman for almost a decade. So maybe Nolan did not stick to the source material from the comics 100%, but with his success it is impossible to argue.
Wife on
Despite the plethora of stars appearing in the series, one of the most prominent characters was that of Nisa al-Gul (daughter of Ras al-Gul), who once again took revenge on Batman for killing her father. The character was played by French actress Marion Couture, who although only starred in the third film, but completely stole the show. What not many know is that Couture almost retired from the project because she became pregnant. Despite this, Christopher Nolan had no intention of losing the actress he had personally chosen, and decided to move the filming for her. He then recounted that “Marion gave birth and almost immediately returned to filming. She is a superwoman.”
“Rubbed the chest”
One of the most memorable lines in the trilogy comes straight from the first film. In the scene where Ras El Gaul coaches Bruce Wayne, the latter falls into a frozen lake. When he tries to warm up, El Gul tells him to “rub his chest, his hands will already warm up on their own”. This lone sentence, which could have simply been forgotten between the excellent dialogues, has become the focus of online debates among fans who have wondered if this is indeed a scientific fact. I’m sorry to disappoint, that’s not true. Nolan admitted that he simply invented the line without too much thought, but gave a lot of credit to Liam Nissan who managed to get millions to believe it. – To watch the segment, click on the video, the famous line starts at 03:40.
Hiding in front of everyone
In each of the trilogy films, Nolan decides to play with the viewers and not immediately expose the villain. In each of the films, the first time we encounter whoever will be Batman’s next rival, he is portrayed under a false identity – Ras El Gul impersonates his own bodyguard and only then is he revealed, the Joker is revealed as one of the bank robbers (and the only one to survive the show His own malicious) and Bain is portrayed as another terrorist on the plane.
Bain’s costume from the movie Batman: The Rise of the Dark Knight (Photo: gettyimages)Sweet dreams
Remember the scene in “The Dark Knight” where Bruce Wayne falls asleep in the middle of his girlfriend’s board meeting? The scene was written specifically for the second film, after Christian Bale fell asleep in the middle of the filming of the first film, just before his first scene with Michael Caine.
Quiet! Take pictures
Although Gotham is supposed to simulate a very extreme version of New York City, the filming was chosen by the production to be done in Chicago. During the chase scenes of the series, the townspeople were so stunned and surprised by the amount of noise that was generated and called the police. Now imagine what would have happened if they had filmed the scenes in Givatayim between two and four in the afternoon.
Fairly scary
Heath Ledger won an Oscar for his role as a Joker (in what was the first win of any comic book film in the prestigious category at the ceremony), but this is probably not his great achievement from that film. Michael Caine is a veteran actor known for his professionalism, but when he saw Ledger’s Joker on the set in one of the scenes, he forgot all the lines at once. Kane admitted that his fear in those moments was completely real, which only indicates Ledger’s abilities.
Heath Ledger as the Joker in “Batman the Dark Knight – 2008” (Photo: Courtesy of Warner Studios)The cat woman or the black cat?
In the final film in the series, both Hathaway steps into DC’s “Catwoman” shoes. What not many know is that she almost played the corresponding character in the world of Marvel. In society the character’s name is “The Black Cat” which is actually the fictional identity of Felicia Hardy. Hathaway was supposed to play the role in Spider-Man 4, but after the failure of the third film in the series, the sequel was completely shelved and production ended quite early.
Where’s Robin?
One of the (and perhaps the only) reasons why the side-kick Robin character is not clearly in the movies is Christian Bale’s opposition to the idea. It’s not clear exactly why, but Bale has made it clear to Nolan and the Warner Bros. company that if they plan to bring in Robin’s character, he is not going to play Batman. Nolan found a way to get around his star’s desire, and introduced in the third film John Blake (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who is eventually revealed to be Robin, even if he does not get to wear the suit from the comics (he is called Robin until the last scene of The trilogy).