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David Goyer on The Dark Knight
By Fred Topel | Image property of Warner Bros
The Dark Knight
David Goyer on The Dark Knight
"It's true," said Goyer. "I think to a certain extent one aspect of working on The Dark Knight] that was easier was we had a universe in Batman Begins that existed now. So we had the mirror kind of to shine things up against. Does this jibe with the Batman Begins universe or not? So it became pretty obvious like when we were calling from the comic books and things like that, we could see this playing out in that universe. If the Joker poisons the supplies of the fishes so they have Joker smiles, that just didn't work in that universe."
The Dark Knight picks up right where Batman Begins left off. The Joker is running wild in Gotham City, and Harvey Dent wants to take down the mob by the books, without a caped vigilante's help.
"The jumping off point was the last scene in Batman Begins. We knew we were going to tell a story about escalation, and we knew we were going to tell a story about The Joker. We didn't know going into it that we were going to bring in Harvey Dent. That was sort of debated for a while. Then we started from that point and then we went back again and re-read every single comic involving The Joker. Then my experience with Chris has always been, you start off, it's just kind of like a big, sprawling debate where it's a free for all. In the beginning though it was just Chris was saying, 'Convince me we should even do another one.' So just internally it was just this debate about because he didn't want to do another one unless he felt we could really top it, and there was a story that was worth telling. I think there was an initial week where it was just, is this a story worthy of telling again."
The Joker already exists at the beginning of the film. Though he suggests several alternate backstories, the film never defines one as the true origin.
"I think if we had done an origin story, you guys would not have liked the character as much. I mean, I think the whole thing that makes him fascinating is that he remains this enigma. If we had told an origin story, we would have completely demystified the character. That was what was instantly appealing about him. I think that a lot of people assumed we're doing a second film so we're going to do The Joker's origin story, and I think from the very beginning we just said no."
Fans will also pick out little foreshadowing phrases in the characters' dialogue. Don't take them too seriously though. "To the extent that many of those things are in there, I think they're just kind of grace notes or you know winks at the audience. Trust me, I've not had a single conversation really with Chris about doing another one. It's not like we're planting Easter eggs for another one. Chris doesn't approach things that way. He's just one movie at a time. I like to say I think it was three or four months before Batman Begins had already been in theaters that Chris called me up and said, 'Let's have lunch and talk about another one.' It was a while so we're definitely not at that point for another one."
The Dark Knight opens to theaters on July 18th.
For the trailers, posters, stills and more movie info, go to The
Dark Knight Movie Page.
Fred Topel
Sources: Image property of Warner Bros
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