Word this morning from the Hollywood Reporter has Aaron Eckhart in final negotiations to play Gotham District Attorney Harvey Dent in the upcoming The Dark Knight from Warner Bros. Pictures.

Eckhart has recently been nominated for a Golden Globe and a Spirit Award, so getting a cushy gig like Harvey Dent is a big win.

I was really impressed with how Harvey Dent was portrayed in Batman: The Animated Series in which we got to see the dark side of the district attorney before he had his accident and turned into Two-Face. My hope is Nolan doesn’t try to force Two-Face on us too soon. I’m too worried the WB is all gung-ho in putting multiple villains before our eyes instead of letting the characters develop.

Here’s how I would do it. In this movie, Dent is just the D.A. working with Batman to bring down mob bosses, etc. Then toward the end of the third film, Harvey has his disfiguring accident, and then becomes Two-Face in film four. This would follow the tale set up in the comics as well as the animated series, and would give the viewer a greater glimpse into what it takes to push someone over the edge from working on the side of good to working on the side of evil.

via Hollywood Reporter (link)

Batman-on-Film is reporting on the scuttlebutt that is Harvey Dent. Apparently Liev Schreiber is out as the District Attorny in the upcoming Dark Knight film. So who is being considered? According to the site, Guy Pearce (who worked with Nolan on Memento) is under consideration.

Lots of back and forth on this. If done right, whoever gets the nod, could end up with a lucritive multi-film deal for years to come. So who do you want? Schreiber, Pearce, or someone else? Holla in the comments.

via Batman-on-Film (link)

While doing PR for his upcoming film Candy, Heath Ledger let spill a couple of comments regarding his upcoming role as The Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.

It’s definitely going to stump people. I think it’ll be more along the lines of how the Joker was meant to be in the comics, darker and more sinister.

But it’s obviously not going to be what Jack Nicholson did. It’s going to be more nuanced and dark and more along the lines of a Clockwork Orange kind of feel. Which is, I think, what the comic book was after: less about his laugh and more about his eyes.

Sounds like a pretty creepy interpretation of The Clown Prince of Crime.  I for one am looking forward to seeing his performance.  I think he will do a solid job, and with Nolan at the helm, drawing a stellar performance out of Ledger will yield awesome results.
via JAM! Showbiz (link)

via Toronto Star (link)

Film Focus has an exclusive interview with Christian Bale on the next Batman movie “The Dark Knight”.

“I just love that title,” Bale told FilmFocus, “You know, nothing’s written in stone yet, but I like, very much, that it doesn’t have ‘Batman’ written in the title. This take on Batman of mine and Chris’ is very different from any of the others and everything else always had Batman in the title. I think this is kind-of distancing it even further and saying, ‘Hey, this is a whole different creature from what has come before.’”

Bale also goes on about how excited Heath Ledger is to play the Joker, and thinks Ledger will do a great job, bringing forth something audiences haven’t seen before. In the interview Bale talks up his relationship with director Chris Nolan, and says as long as their relationship continues, more films will be in the future.

via Film Focus (link)

The WB has confirmed that Heath Ledger will be playing the role of The Joker in the next Batman film. The company also reports that the title of the next bat-flick will be The Dark Knight. Christian Bale will reprise his role as Batman, with Christopher Nolan directing. The film is expected to begin shooting in early 2007.

Complete press release follows

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