In Contention

Tag: comics-to-film

  • New ‘Watchmen’ trailer

  • ‘Batman Unmasked’ on The History Channel

    Christian Bale in The Dark KnightThis is exactly the kind of thing “The Dark Knight” needs to tap into a genuine conversation about the film’s — and Batman’s — relevance in the zeitgeist.  I’ve been watching The History Channel’s “Batman Unmasked: The Psychology of the Dark Knight” this afternoon, and for a Bat-nut like me, it’s the ultimate geek-out opportunity.

    The entire 60-minute program is available over at YouTube.  It’s aired on television twice today and I don’t know when it will run again, but it’s all kinds of fascinating.  It takes a look at the character’s progression from 70-year-old roots through expansion on the psychological nature of the character in the 1980s and how that history is commented upon in Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight.”

    The most intriguing part for me comes around the 08:15 mark of the clip below.  I didn’t know this, but apparently much of Nolan’s vision for Bruce Wayne stemmed from a comparison to Theodore Roosevelt.  Check it out:

    There are, of course, interviews with filmmakers, actors and DC higher-ups, but there are plenty of doctors, professors and psychologists thrown in for good measure.  Talk about a treat.  I just wish more footage from “The Dark Knight” was used in the program, though they do get around to discussing the Joker in great detail amid a summation of the Bat’s rogues gallery of villainy.

    Anyway, I’d love to see more stuff like this hit the tube.  Or more features digging for this kind of thing in print rather than soliciting general soundbytes about Ledger’s performance or the box office intake of the film.  “The Dark Knight” is an important movie event on many levels this year, and it goes pretty deep.

  • The LA Times’ comic/genre/superhero blog?

    Did anyone else totally miss the last three months of the Los Angeles Times’ “Hero Complex” blog?  I had no idea it even existed until I stumbled across the Alan Moore story we linked ot this morning in the round-up.  Weird.  Guess I’ve got a new blog to frequent…

  • Heath Ledger’s ‘Dark’ performance inches closer to infamy

    Heath Ledger painting to be displayed in Newcastle, UKSaying that Heath Ledger gave an astonishing performance in “The Dark Knight” is bordering on the cliche these days.  There is little doubt the late actor — whether he had tragically passed in January or not — offered the most memorable portrayal of the year.

    Then today I found this bit of news from across the pound, and the inevitable crystallizes further.  It seems an up-and-coming painter has rendered a large oil painting of the actor’s performance in one of the film’s most electrifying moments, a shot that is steadily becoming the role’s signature image:

    The four foot high oil painting is part of an exhibition of White’s new works, that opens on Friday at the Opus Art gallery in Newcastle.

    Explaining why he decided to paint it, Mr White, 36, said: “I was just putting the finishing touches to my show when I saw Batman.

    “I was totally and utterly blown away. I saw the movie and just came into the studio straight away. I just had to make this image, to the best performance I had ever seen. It was teetering on insanity.”

    I think that says it all.

    The painting will accompany the exhibit to London in October, and man…I wish I was still there to see it.

  • How ‘The Dark Knight’ beat ‘Titanic’…and scored big at the Oscars

    Warner Bros. Pictures' The Dark KnightI’ve been beating a loud drum around these parts for some time.  Backed with inarguable examples set by the Academy in the past and the knowledge that Warner Bros. isn’t one of the Oscar-grubbing studios in this town, I’ve maintained that Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” would disappoint the hordes in January when it fails to nab the big nods so many are expecting in the wake of boffo box office and critical success.

    Just yesterday I had a conversation with a publicist involved in some manner.  “So, what do you think of a major Oscar push for ‘The Dark Knight,’” I asked.  “What do you think,” she responded playfully, not offering much to go on.

    Well, here is what Warner Bros. thinks about it, and a clear show of awards-hungry support is all I really needed to jump on board here.

    Does a calculated move like this guarantee placement in major categories for the film?  Absolutely not.  But it does prove that the studio — which certainly doesn’t need the extra revenue that awards success would bring — is willing to play ball in order to ensure more than simple monetary milestones.

    Speaking of which, re-releasing the film into IMAX theaters for an exclusive run in January — “See it again, for the first time!” — could provide the right boost to push the film into truly historic territory.  About 80 million more bucks and this film surpasses “Titanic” after a decade of domestic box office reign from the James Cameron power romance.

    Here is Carl DiOrio’s mouth-watering lede:

    Batman wants an Oscar.

    To be precise, Warner Bros. wants a statuette — or 10 — for “The Dark Knight.” So the studio plans to re-release its blockbuster Batman sequel in January, the height of Academy Awards voting season.

    “It’s just a matter of bringing it back as a reminder for people,” a studio insider explained.

    Read the rest at Reuters.  And more on the chart updates next week.

  • Uhh…did Michael Caine just confirm Depp and Hoffman for the ‘Dark Knight’ sequel?

    I was with [a Warner Bros.] executive and I said, ‘Are we going to make [a sequel to The Dark Knight]?’ They said yeah. I said, ‘How the hell are we going to top Heath? And he says ‘I’ll tell you how you top Heath — Johnny Depp as The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin.’ I said, ‘Shit, they’ve done it again!’ [Laughs]

    (Courtesy: MTV, via /Film)

  • Handicapping the race so far at The Film Experience

    Heath Ledger in The Dark KnightIn the middle of Toronto’s tiny buzz wave, Nathaniel Rogers has come back with a new “Naked Gold Man” Oscar column at The Film Experience.

    I particularly love this aside when charting the acting races:

    Only 19 actors and actress need apply for the 20 spots.  Heath Ledger’s Joker performance in The Dark Knight is still monumentally creepy to think about or be reminded of, isn’t it? Eight weeks of ubiquity, often a great inoculation for hysterically praised work, haven’t managed to dilute its feverish pull. That’s an impressive feat and a performance that once seemed like a worthy “likely contender” is now a “lock”. But we still don’t know what this means for the larger Oscar picture. And it’s all about the larger picture. “Supporting” is where Ledger’s buzz first happened. But many voices are starting to shout for “Lead” status. The Joker’s ghostly presence and penchant for chaos will affect future candidates and the Oscar race… but which one.

    Read the rest here.

  • Missing the point on the Harvey thing

    Cover of Batman #397Much as I love Brad Brevet and the work he does at Rope of Silicon, the point of the Harvey Dent stuff has never been about what’s in the screenplay.

    We’ve talked about this before, but the script shows what an audience sees, not what is. What the audience was meant to see was that the character was toast, but it was a vague send-off.  Which is what has allowed for all the speculation, for Eckhart to say that he’d love to come back for a third film, for Emma Thomas to outright claim that the filmmakers left it open for interpretation, for Eckhart to even have to ASK CHRIS NOLAN THE CHARACTER’S STATUS (which of course led to yesterday’s item).

    So enough of the “How could you not know??” stuff. It’s always been up-in-the-air, if you ask me.

  • Musings on a third ‘Dark Knight’ viewing…masterpiece?

    Christian Bale in The Dark KnightSo once with the press, a second on my own, and a third time last week with my 16-year-old daughter, and still the film enthralled me from beginning to end. In fact, I probably liked it more this time than I did the previous two, realizing as the film’s mighty power rolled over me that I was watching something truly spectacular, the likes of which we have not seen for quite some time, and are not likely to see again.

    Here is a film, a work of art that is also a movie, a great ride for the mainstream audiences seeking nothing more and a reward for those who are.  For we film maniacs who like our films to have substance, “The Dark Knight” is loaded with it: Christian Bale’s tortured hero, Heath Ledger’s deeply troubled Joker, Aaron Eckhart’s truly decent man corrupted by loss and the Joker’s twisted games, Michael Caine’s wise and warm Alfred, and the heart of the film, Gary Oldman as James Gordon, who alone understands the Dark Knight’s sacrifice for the good of his city.

    The action sequences are stunningly choreographed, but Nolan is aware that his film must have much more. He gives the picture a mood and tone that is perfect for the screenplay, he guides his actors with a delicate hand, allowing them to inhabit the characters, and he understands not only his subject, but his audience’s expectations.

    (more…)

  • ‘Batman 3’ poster…

    Okay, so it’s fan made. But it’s pretty friggin’ sweet:

    Fan made poster for The Dark Knight sequel

    Oh, and by the way: Hahahahahaha!

    (Courtesty: /Film)

  • Speaking of comic book lists…

    …this one is pretty lame.  Though #8 is a big “YES” in my book.  Who has the rights anyway?  Paramount?  Can’t remember.

  • Robert Downey Jr.’s ‘Dark’ diss

    Robert Downey Jr. at the premiere of Zodiac in February 2007

    My whole thing is that that I saw ‘The Dark Knight’. I feel like I’m dumb because I feel like I don’t get how many things that are so smart. It’s like a Ferrari engine of storytelling and script writing and I’m like, ‘That’s not my idea of what I want to see in a movie.’ I loved ‘The Prestige’ but didn’t understand ‘The Dark Knight’. Didn’t get it, still can’t tell you what happened in the movie, what happened to the character and in the end they need him to be a bad guy. I’m like, ‘I get it. This is so high brow and so f–king smart, I clearly need a college education to understand this movie.’ You know what? F-ck DC comics. That’s all I have to say and that’s where I’m really coming from.

    Well…

    (Courtesy: Moviehole)

  • Swear to me!

    Four Your Consideration: The Dark Knight

    (Courtesy: Rope of Silicon)

  • POLL: Will ‘The Dark Knight’ be nominated for Best Picture?

    Simple and easy poll this week, what with all the escalating chatter about the Best Picture prospects of “The Dark Knight.” You tell us: is it all wishful thinking or can the Bat secure a spot in the final five?

    And if you want to give us your bright ideas as to why or why not, cut loose in the comments below.

  • Sasha Stone declares it for the Bat

    Warner Bros. Pictures' The Dark KnightSpeaking of Batman, Sasha Stone of Awards Daily has declared that “The Dark Knight” has become “too big too ignore” in her latest “State of the Race” column. She offers a sound argument for the film’s Best Picture chances, spotlighting four aspects of the effort and its mythos that seal the deal.

    Here’s a starter regarding the stellar box office:

    To not nominate it for Best Picture at this rate would undermine the process of having a Best Picture race in the first place; if you don’t honor a film this big you really do a dishonor to those who drive the entire business: the ticket buyers.

    And the closer:

    Titanic was only half a great film. But there was just something about it that made people want to see it over and over again, just as they did Star Wars and now The Dark Knight. Maybe it really is as simple as movie magic. Maybe it is something deeper. Either way, the time has come to start taking the film seriously as a contender.

    I’m sticking to my guns here. I’m more than happy that Oscarwatchers are getting this excited and that they are seeing gold in the Bat’s future, but I expect them all to be disappointed in the end (as if that’s the most unpredictable tool in the Academy’s arsenal). But, as I’ve been saying from day one on this, I’m happy to be wrong.

    And the editor isn’t unaware of the irony…

  • Ledger drew inspiration from the work of Grant Morrison

    Cover of Batman #663So it turns out, as a way of uber-preparation for his performance in “The Dark Knight,” actor Heath Ledger kept a “Joker diary” during the month leading up to production. And some of its contents seem to have given Bat-scribe Grant Morrison the willies.

    The writer recently sat down with MTV’s Jennifer Vineyard to discuss the parallels between Ledger’s performance and the Joker he’s envisioned in works such as “Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth” and “The Clown at Midnight” (“Batman” #663). Here’s a taste:

    In [the diary], there’s a list of what would make the Joker laugh – including AIDS, landmines, geniuses suffering irreversible brain damage, brunch, and sombreros. “It gave me this chill,” Grant Morrison said, because it was word-for-word what Morrison had written in one of his Batman stories…

    …As a response to his own “Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth,” Morrison had continued his themes of the duality of Joker and the Batman in “The Clown at Midnight.” Having established with “Arkham” that the Joker had a sort of “super-sanity” and that he shifted between personalities,” Morrison explored the idea further in “The Clown at Midnight,” by showing that each time the Joker escaped, one of those new personalities would emerge.

    “It’s a really good story,” Morrison said, “but because it was prose, people didn’t want to read it.”

    Except, apparently, Heath, who saw Morrison’s list and put it in his Joker diary. “He actually had a whole list — blind babies, doctors, accidents — really horrible stuff,” Morrison said. “Heath wrote it all down. So yeah, I can see there’s a lot of [‘Arkham’ and ‘Midnight’] in his Joker.”

    Very cool and savvy move on Ledger’s part. I’m one of the readers who doesn’t engage too well with Morrison’s work, but on a purely conceptual, off-the-page level, I’ve always felt his vision of the character was something of a definitive.

    Furthermore, I think Ledger hammered it out on the big screen in a big, exciting way. He carried across that “super-sanity” with striking clarity. In my review, I noted that Ledger’s “inflections, maniacal throughout the film until…fade into the background as he spews sincere, borderline reasonable philosophy.” You recall the mob meeting: “You’re insane.” “No I’m not. I’m not.”

    It just goes to show that this is a performance working on more levels than even the most triumphant reviews seemed to suggest. And with every record-breaking dollar it seems the Oscar moves closer to his posthumous grasp.

  • In honor of the comic book film summer that was…

    The cover of “The Invincible Iron Man” #9 with Stark duking it out with The Incredible Hulk and the cover of “Detective Comics” #583, the Dark Knight himself drawn by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola:

    Cover of The Invincible Iron Man #9 Cover of Detective Comics #583

  • Depp as the Riddler? Hoffman as the Penguin?

    Johnny DeppYeah, consider the source: the National Enquirer.  But apparently these two names are swirling around the casting debate for the sequel to the box office shattering “Dark Knight.”

    (Actually…there’s no source on the Depp bit.)

    Thanks to reader Ronn for passing in the information.  You all know my Bat allegiance, so I’ll use just about any nugget as an excuse to spout off at the mouth on this subject.  Personally, I’m not big on either of these choices, though Hoffman could put a certain bent on Oswald Cobblepott that would be interesting.  His name has always been in the cards, though.

    The point is, these types of rumors go crazy right around this time: post release of a successful film that’s bound to have another installment on the way.  Last time it was Crispin Glover and Jude Law as potential candidates for the role of the Joker (with the former actively campaigning for the part).  Then Christopher Nolan surprised us all with an out-of-the-box, unanticipated name and voila: potential Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

    My thoughts on casting the rest of the series are already on the record, but here’s two more names, grist for the mill, do with it what you will.

    Thanks again to Ronn.