The Dark Knight Movie Reviews, Pictures

Costume designer Lindy Hemming described the Joker’s look as reflecting his personality — that “he doesn’t care about himself at all”; she avoided designing him as a vagrant but still made him appear to be “scruffier, grungier”, so that “when you see him move, he’s slightly twitchier or edgy.” Nolan noted, “We gave a Francis Bacon spin to [his face]. This corruption, this decay in the texture of the look itself. It’s grubby. You can almost imagine what he smells like.” In creating the “anarchical” look of the Joker, Hemming drew inspiration from such countercultural pop culture artists as Pete Doherty, Iggy Pop, and Johnny Rotten. During the course of the film, the Joker only once removes his make-up, causing it to become more unkempt and resemble an infection as it worsens. Ledger described his “clown” mask, made up of three pieces of stamped silicone, as a “new technology”, taking much less time for the make-up artists to apply than more-conventional prosthetics usually requires—the process took them only an hour—and resulting in Ledger’s impression that he was barely wearing any make-up at all.

the-dark-knight-20070521072926061-000

Heath Ledger as the Joker. The Joker’s scruffy and grungy make-up is intended as a reflection of his “edgy” character.

Designers improved on the design of the Batsuit from Batman Begins, adding wide elastic banding to help bind the costume to Bale, and suggest more sophisticated technology. It was constructed from 200 individual pieces of rubber, fiberglass, metallic mesh, and nylon. The new cowl was modeled after a motorcycle helmet and separated from the neck piece, allowing Bale to turn his head left and right and nod up and down. The cowl is equipped to show white lenses over the eyes when the character turns on his sonar detection, which gives Batman the white eyed look from the comics and animation. The gauntlets have retractable razors which can be fired. The gloves also possess hydraulics for Batman to crush objects. The original suit was also worn during part of the film. Though the new costume is eight pounds heavier, Bale found it more comfortable and less hot to wear.

2008-the-dark-knight-batman-movie-poster-2
The “Batpod” on display in Los Angeles.

The film introduces the Batpod, which is a recreation of the Batcycle. Production designer Nathan Crowley, who designed the Tumbler for Batman Begins, designed six models (built by special effects supervisor Chris Corbould) for use in the film’s production, because of necessary crash scenes and possible accidents. Crowley built a prototype in Nolan’s garage, before six months of safety tests were conducted. The Batpod is steered by shoulder instead of hand, and the rider’s arms are protected by sleeve-like shields. The bike has 508 millimeter (20-inch) front and rear tires, and is made to appear as if it is armed with grappling hooks, cannons, and machine guns. The engines are located in the hubs of the wheels, which are set 3 1/2 feet (1067 mm) apart on either side of the tank. The rider lies belly down on the tank, which can move up and down in order to dodge any incoming gunfire that Batman may encounter. Stuntman Jean-Pierre Goy doubled for Christian Bale during the riding sequences in The Dark Knight.

For Two-Face’s make-up, Eckhart warned, “When you look at [him], you should get sick to your stomach. Being the guy under all that, well, that was a lot of fun for me. It’s like you would feel if you met someone whose face had pretty much been ripped off or burned off with acid [...] There are fans on the Internet who have done artist’s versions of what they think it will look like, and I can tell you this: They’re thinking small; Chris is going way farther than people think.” Nolan described Two-Face’s appearance in the film as one of the least disturbing, explaining, “When we looked at less extreme versions of it, they were too real and more horrifying. When you look at a film like Pirates of the Caribbean—something like that, there’s something about a very fanciful, very detailed visual effect, that I think is more powerful and less repulsive.”

The depiction of Gotham City is less gritty than in Batman Begins. “I’ve tried to unclutter the Gotham we created on the last film,” said Crowley. “Gotham is in chaos. We keep blowing up stuff, so we can keep our images clean.”