The Dark Knight: Vision, Joker Craft, IMAX Innovation & Legacy

Name: Why THE DARK KNIGHT Is Still Unmatched
Uploaded: 2026-05-15T00:06:21+00:00
Duration: 23 min 12 s
Channel: Kolo Kino
Description: Summary and key takeaways on Why THE DARK KNIGHT Is Still Unmatched: Summary & Key Takeaways, covering The Vision for The Dark Knight Christopher Nolan set out

Kolo Kino

May 15, 2026

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23 min video

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2 min read

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Christopher Nolan set out to transform the Batman franchise from a conventional superhero sequel into a grounded “city story” and crime epic. He gave Gotham and its inhabitants the same narrative weight as non‑comic‑book material, shaping the film as a large‑scale exploration of urban conflict. Nolan explicitly cited Michael Mann’s Heat as a structural and tonal influence, borrowing its realistic approach to heist and police drama.

Casting and Creating the Joker

Heath Ledger earned the Joker role after Nolan saw his performance in Brokeback Mountain. Ledger then isolated himself for six weeks, refining the character’s posture, voice, and unsettling “madman” persona. He applied his own makeup on set to ensure authenticity, even accepting the residue that collected under his fingernails. An improvised lip‑licking tick emerged when silicone scar prosthetics began to peel, adding a spontaneous, unsettling detail to the performance.

Technical Execution

The Dark Knight pioneered the use of IMAX cameras for both dialogue and action, despite only four such cameras existing worldwide at the time. One camera was destroyed during production, leaving three for the final cut. The film relied heavily on practical effects: the semi‑truck flip employed a built‑in air ram and TNT, with CGI used solely to erase the ram, while the hospital demolition involved the actual destruction of a real building in a single‑take shot. These choices emphasized realism over digital substitution.

Thematic Depth

The narrative delves into anarchy, surveillance, and societal fear. The Joker embodies pure chaos, challenging the fragile order of Gotham, while Harvey Dent’s arc functions as an experiment to determine whether a “good man” can be broken. The film anticipates later public debates about mass surveillance and the Patriot Act, using the city’s heightened security measures as a backdrop for moral conflict.

Legacy

Heath Ledger’s death at age 28 resulted from an accidental combination of insomnia medications; it was not linked to method acting or any curse. The tragedy cast a somber shadow over a film that still grossed over $1 billion worldwide, earned eight Oscar nominations, and was dedicated to both Ledger and stuntman Conway Wickliffe. The movie’s lasting impact lies in its blend of ambitious storytelling, innovative filmmaking, and unforgettable performances.

Takeaways

Nolan framed The Dark Knight as a grounded crime epic, drawing structural inspiration from Michael Mann’s Heat and treating Gotham as a real city rather than a comic book backdrop.
Heath Ledger’s Joker emerged from six weeks of isolated preparation, with Ledger personally applying makeup and improvising details like the lip‑licking tick to keep the performance authentic.
The film broke new ground by using IMAX cameras for dialogue and action, despite only four such cameras existing, and relied on large‑scale practical effects such as a real hospital demolition and a semi‑truck flip.
Themes of anarchy, surveillance, and the fragility of societal order are explored through the Joker’s chaos and Harvey Dent’s transformation experiment, anticipating later public debates on mass surveillance.
Ledger’s untimely death at 28, unrelated to method acting, cast a somber shadow over a movie that still grossed over $1 billion, earned eight Oscar nominations, and is dedicated to both Ledger and stuntman Conway Wickliffe.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did The Dark Knight pioneer the use of IMAX cameras?

The Dark Knight was the first Hollywood narrative to shoot dialogue and action scenes with IMAX cameras, despite only four such cameras existing worldwide. One camera was destroyed during production, leaving three for the final cut, and the format gave audiences unprecedented visual clarity and scale.

What was the purpose of the Joker’s two‑note theme and how was it created?

Hans Zimmer and Nolan designed the Joker’s theme around two notes that sound like razor blades on strings, aiming to generate tension without a traditional melody. The sparse, metallic motif underscores the character’s chaotic nature and keeps the audience unsettled throughout his scenes.

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Helpful resources related to this video

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The Art Of The Dark Knight Trilogy Recommended

This book provides a deep dive into the production, practical effects, and creative vision of Christopher Nolan's films, perfect for fans of the movie's technical execution.

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Heat Blu-Ray Michael Mann

As the primary influence on the tone and structure of The Dark Knight, watching Heat helps viewers understand the creative foundation of Nolan's crime epic.

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Imax Film Camera Photography Book

The film was a pioneer in using IMAX technology for narrative storytelling; this helps enthusiasts appreciate the scale and technical ambition of the production.

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The Dark Knight Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Hans Zimmer's score was integral to the film's tension; owning the soundtrack allows for a deeper appreciation of the 'razor blades on strings' sound design.

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Full Transcript YouTube

This doesn't feel like a start designed
for a superhero movie.
So, what the heck kind of film was
Christopher Nolan attempting to make
here? Chris Vergilio and said, you know,
I I think I want to make it feel bigger
and actually be bigger. But not just
make it bigger and grander for the sake
of making it bigger and grander. It had
to come out of [music] the story. It's
about giving the world of the films and
the characters as much weight and
validity as they would if your source
material were not a comic book. If we
want to call it
the superhero genre,
you could say that had [music] never
been done in that genre of film. I'm
going out there and I'm saying I've got
a version of this that's going to be
different. I've got a version of this
that that is worthwhile.
In the summer of 2008, Warner Brothers
thought they were releasing a Batman
sequel. They put their trust in a
director who had already executed a
top-notch summer blockbuster. What we
did in Batman Begins is we made the best
film possible in the way that we thought
best and we trusted that the fans would
feel the sincerity of the intention that
I had to make a great film. And they
were banking on more of the same. A
bigger villain, a bigger budget, some
new toys for the merchandise team.
>> Dark Knight has a new secret weapon. The
joke's on you, Joker. The stealth launch
Batmobile. Virtually, they wanted
Spider-Man 3 without the dance. And they
were right to expect that.
>> Because to a certain extent with Batman
Begins, you feel like you got away with
it. You feel like you you did manage to
please people. So, why mess with that?
Batman Begins is seminal and epic. It's
a damn good movie. But I know the truth.
It's a superbly constructed origin story
about a billionaire learning karate from
a ninja in the Himalayas. Are you ready
to begin? It's an adventure film. It's
him traveling around the world and
finding himself and trying to figure out
how does he respond to this
this terrible thing that's happened to
him.
>> The Batman Begins is very much a hero's
journey. It's it's an origin story. It's
an origin myth. And so it has a sense of
romanticism and theatricality that
embraces that story model.
>> Your theatrics made an impression.
Christopher Nolan didn't want to make
another really good Batman movie. He
didn't want to make a great Batman
movie, either.
>> Oh, we wouldn't want to make things too
easy now, would we?
>> He wanted to make a film he couldn't get
funded any other way. And he was about
to use Batman to pay for it.
I don't understand. Think about it. Bank
heist, chaotic loud action sequences in
city streets. With The Dark Knight, in
order to change the scale of the film,
we went to a city story. We went to a
crime epic. You already saw this movie.
If you don't remember, watch Heat again
for the 100th time tonight.
>> Well, I am
over well. You won't just see
William Fichtner playing the identical
character he plays in The Dark Knight.
I'm going to kill the sons of
You don't have any idea WHO YOU'RE
STEALING FROM? YOU'LL see how much Nolan
derived from Heat.
It's stylish without being
self-conscious. It's it's sort of
effortlessly, timelessly beautiful. The
film was a new American masterpiece. Now
it's just an American masterpiece.
Uh and quite an incredible piece of work
that I've drawn inspiration from.
>> With David Thomson, this disability to
every beat feels plausible and real.
Keenly observed and naturalistic. But by
the end, you you've seen a Greek opera.
There's been this invisible movement
into something more operatic, more
tragic. And so that feeling of could we
take the feeling of Heat, could you
bring that feeling into the Batman
universe? Could you tell a story of that
key? Here's the thing. In 1995, Michael
Mann pulled off the ultimate crime
drama. And he himself was unable to
replicate it for the rest of his career.
But Chris Nolan found a way to pull it
off. And it started with the main
characters. The relationship between De
Niro and Pacino is the most
sophisticated element in Heat. Two
obsessed men on opposite sides of the
law, pushing each other to do the best
work of their lives. But frankly, when
you attempt to come up with the
antithesis of a billionaire who dresses
as a giant flying rodent, you have to
come up with someone a lot stranger.
That's an interesting point.
So now everyone in Hollywood wants to be
the next Nicholson. Robin Williams is
interested. Paul Bettany, Adrien Brody,
Steve Carell. Every A-lister in town
wants to put that clown makeup on. But
no one again turned to Heath. Heath
Ledger. And I thought my jokes were bad.
He'd actually decided 3 years earlier.
He saw Brokeback Mountain, watched Heath
Ledger disappear into a role, and walked
out with his mind set on who his Joker
was.
>> When you look at that performance, yes,
it doesn't relate to the Joker at all.
But it's incredibly apparent how
talented that guy is. When you look at
that actor, you say, "I know that actor
can do anything." We spoke very early
on, before the script was even in place.
And we were on the same page in terms of
who the Joker would be in this world. It
was one of those moments where I was
asked if I would be interested in
playing the Joker, and I I I knew 5
[music] seconds later exactly how to
play it.
>> So when he sits there and tells me, "I
can do the Joker. I can make the smile.
I can create [music] this iconic
presence." You trust that. You you jump
on it. The Joker, the character of the
Joker was just
too good to turn down. I you know, if
[music] Tim Burton was doing The Dark
Knight and asked me to play the Joker, I
wouldn't have taken it because it to to
try and even touch what Jack Nicholson
did in Tim Burton's world would be a
crime. And so
when Chris [music] came to me, and and I
and I knew how Chris was, you know, he'd
already set up the world for me. I'd
seen how what world it was that I would
be playing, and so I knew it was open
for a fresh interpretation, and I
instantly kind of had something up my
sleeve, which happened to be exactly
what Chris was kind of looking for.
>> He later called it the easiest decision
of his directing career.
>> [music]
>> The comic book purists at the time,
however, called it the dumbest one.
>> It's not that simple. With the Joker, it
never is. When the casting was
announced, the internet did what the
internet does. Petitions, meltdowns. The
pretty boy from a romance playing the
most [music] famous villain in comics
was, according to roughly the entire fan
base, an obviously [music] catastrophic
choice. So, we uh yeah, went through the
process of deal making and announcing
and everything. [music] And I think the
whole whole world turned around and
said, "What are you doing?" You know, a
Heath Ledger Joker didn't make [music]
any sense to people at all. While the
forums were filled up with anger and
slurs, Heath was getting to work.
>> [laughter]
>> We didn't want to have that moment on
Heath where we just sort of, you know,
made him dress up as the Joker and
suddenly he's the Joker. And so, he
developed the look of the character with
Lindy Hemming, the costume designer, and
with John Caglione, who did the makeup,
and and myself over a long period of
time. I locked myself away for 6 weeks
in a room and I kind of came up with
this creep. Walk around like a a madman
and finding posture, finding stance,
finding his voice is very important
because when you find the voice, you
find the the breath within the voice.
>> He kept a diary of the character, a
notebook of Joker thoughts and Joker
drawings that nobody else was ever meant
to see. That was typical of Heath on any
movie. He would um
certainly immerse himself in the
upcoming character. One thing Heath
wanted to do was to apply the makeup
himself. As an actor saying, "Okay, this
character would put his own makeup on."
You know, in in real life. And so, what
would that look like if he just got the
makeup? The thing that stuck from that
is he always had makeup on his fingers
and under his fingernails and everything
as he would have from from putting it on
just with his hand. He drew on Alex from
A Clockwork Orange and on Johnny Rotten,
the lead singer of the Sex Pistols. But
now we're like, we're facing a
cheapskate [music]
comedy interrogation act and it just
ain't on pal. It's a joke, it's a farce.
Why don't you give me a call when you
want to start taking things a little
more seriously?
>> We looked at [music] paintings by
Francis Bacon for visual reference. We
looked at all kinds of things, talked
about all kinds of different
philosophical ideas behind the Joker and
anarchy and chaos and what he would
represent. We saw absolutely eye to eye
on
the bigger picture idea of who this guy
was going to be. You know, I just do
things. It was really amazing experience
to to be a part of the scene developing
something in that way. And then he
showed up on set and the people who were
there and in this business for decades
realized very quickly that something
rather unusual was happening. And as we
shot with Heath, you could see everybody
on the floor just fascinated by him. I
mean, it was just such a sort of
interesting creation. Our scene together
in the hospital bed, which is really my
only scene with him and I thought, well,
I don't really have any lines. What am I
going to do? So, I got in the bed and
they were lighting and Chris was walking
around and doing things and then Heath
came around and would walk around me
like this.
And I would watch him and I would watch
him. Didn't say anything for maybe an
hour. And then I would watch him and
then he'd start saying his lines. And
then all of a sudden my hand
would go up like this and he kept caught
my hand. So, we just went through this
organic process of developing this
scene. And then it was a long day and we
walked out to our back to our trailers
and Heath was here and I was walking and
he puts his hand on my shoulder and he
goes, that's what acting's all about.
And I was watching it going, yeah, this
is absolutely fantastic. Are we in
trouble here of when Chris and I first
sat down, we said, you know, the problem
with Batman is is that the villains are
always more interesting. Batman actually
is very close to being a villain
himself. So, let's never let him become
dull by comparison. And unfortunately, I
was sitting there going, I'm feeling a
little bit dull by comparison cuz Heath
is just like killing this. I just do
what I do best. Michael Caine was
supposed to greet a wave of gas in an
elevator. When the elevator opened and
then Ledger walked out as the Joker.
Caine forgot his lines. The most
experienced actor on the set frozen on
his marks because the man in the clown
makeup was truly unsettling.
>> We are tonight's entertainment. He cuts
through the the movie like the shark in
Jaws or something like that. Before they
started rolling, Caine had been the one
telling Nolan to pick a different
villain. After that take, he told Nolan
they were about to give the world a new
movie icon. Me?
Even the lip licking wasn't in the
script. The silicone scars kept
threatening to peel off in the Heath's
mouth. So, he turned a makeup problem
into a tick. The script gave him two
scenes where the Joker tells someone how
he got those gruesome scars. The
character mocking the audience for
wanting an explanation.
>> Well, you look nervous.
Is it the scars? You want to know how I
got these scars? So, I had a wife.
Beautiful.
Like you. My father was [sighs]
a drinker. Who tells me I ought to smile
more. Comes at me with the knife. Why so
serious?
I just wanted to know that I don't care
about the scars. He sticks the blade in
my mouth.
Now I'm always smiling. Speaking of
which, you know how I got these scars?
And when Bale and Ledger faced off with
each other on screen, the moment
happened that Nolan had been chasing
since he watched Heat. The billionaire
vigilante and the agent of pure chaos.
Both equally committed, both utterly
beyond reason. You will complete me.
Pacino and De Niro in a coffee shop.
Bale and Ledger in an interrogation
room. Like two faces of the same coin,
which is convenient because the actual
hero of The Dark Knight is the man who
carries one.
It's a bad joke. Enter Aaron Eckhart.
Aaron Eckhart is someone I wanted to
work with for a long time. I talked to
him about Memento and it hadn't worked
out, but I'd always have [music] kept my
eye on him and he seemed so ideal to
embody the the idea of Harvey Dent, the
sort of heroic side that with this edge,
with this degree of [music] darkness in
there that's sort of below the surface.
He's got a lot of intensity to his
performances, and that's what you're
looking for with Harvey Dent. You're
looking for somebody who can be like
this kind of this [music] almost Robert
Redford kind of, you know, all American
heroic presence, but that [music] you
feel this little bit of something just
under the surface there. That was the
role description. Because in the script,
Harvey Dent is the white knight of
Gotham. And then, Hold on a second.
This is wrong. I've been talking about
The Dark Knight like it's just Heath
with the Batman costume on, but Heath
doesn't have a Harvey Dent.
>> DON'T WASTE MY TIME. AND
THIS IS WHERE Christopher Nolan stops
being a guy who ripped off a movie and
starts being, well, Christopher Nolan.
Okay. Because he built his own story on
top of all of it. Harvey Dent is the
experiment. The film puts him in there
to ask a single question. Can a good man
[music] be broken? It allows you, it
affords you the opportunity to explore
things you're interested in or afraid
of, neuroses you [music] have, worries
you have about the way the world is. It
allows you to explore them in a very
sort of exaggerated manner, in a way
that you can really tap into the
collective fears that we have as a
society. In particular in the case of
Batman, you have the opportunity through
his environment, through Gotham,
>> [music]
>> to really offer a very dark reflection
of the society we live in. There's a
sequence near the end of the film where
the Joker has rigged two ferries to
explode. One full of civilians, one full
of prisoners.
>> [music]
>> Each boat holds the detonator to the
other one. At midnight, I blow you all
up. If, however, one of you presses the
button, I'll let that boat live. So,
who's it going to be? Dent is the
individual version of the experiment.
The boats are the collective version.
They're both asking the same thing. So,
we tried to just write a great story
first and foremost, but we also try to
be open to what are we really worried
about? How does the world feel to us?
What [music] would you What would you be
most concerned about?
>> Anarchy. The attempt was always to just
be [music]
honest about presenting the things we
were affected by, things we were [music]
worried about, afraid of. I mean,
certainly when I look back at Batman
Begins, there's a heavy [music] emphasis
on on terrorism, on the sort of
post-9/11 world, but we It wasn't
something we were consciously putting
into the film. [music] We were just
trying to be sincere and truthful about
what moved us at the time. [music] And
certainly, the Joker for me in in The
Dark Knight is all about a fear of
anarchy, you know, a fear of the rules
breaking down and and what that would do
to society. [music]
>> Halfway through the movie, Bruce Wayne
has built a mass surveillance system
that taps every cell phone in Gotham. He
uses it to find the Joker. [music]
Beautiful. Beautiful?
Unethical. The film was made [music] in
2007, before Snowden, before the Patriot
Act became public conversation, before
mass surveillance was something a
Hollywood movie was expected to engage
with. Somehow, Nolan predicted it all.
They've crossed the line.
Now, Nolan had a script asking real
questions of its audience. To make them
land, he had to shoot the city as if it
actually existed. Nolan made one
decision before he made any other. He
shot The Dark Knight on IMAX. You know,
he went down to IMAX and I spoke to them
about using their cameras. And they'd
never been used on a on a Hollywood film
before. And what we decided to do was
consider certain sections of the film.
Now, the cameras are very loud, so you
don't really want to do dialogue scenes
that way. So, we laid out which of the
action set pieces we would shoot with
the IMAX camera, starting with the
opening of the film where we introduce
the Joker. We really wanted to maximize
the use of the IMAX frame. So, this rig
where the Joker's men are sliding down
the cable from rooftop to rooftop was
something I really wanted to get a very
dramatic, vertiginous view, just to
really use the IMAX format for what it's
best at, which is really can stomach a
lurch as they look down an incredible
drop. Bob Galligar, steady cam operator,
tried flying the the lightest IMAX
camera, the MSM camera, and found that
he could actually use it very
effectively, use it very much as he
would a 35 mil camera. It was a five-day
sequence. I think sometime after about
the second day of of using the steady
cam intensively, the arm actually
sheared off, it broke off the vest and
dropped the camera. It's not uncommon
during the shooting of this kind of
action to damage a camera. We did
destroy one MSM. The problem with
working in the IMAX format is there were
only four of these cameras in the world.
Now there are three, and that that was a
little uh
a little depressing for us all cuz we we
grew to quite like these cameras. At
least we learn from our mistakes. You
ought to be pretty knowledgeable by now
though. By the time the chase sequence
happens, the city is the character. I've
always preferred real locations to to
sets. There's a feeling of reality,
there's a feeling of being somewhere
that that matters. You know, I avail
myself of all the latest uh
digital effects technology, absolutely,
but we try and always achieve what we
can on camera
uh and and have as good a time as
possible doing it.
Nolan shut down sections of LaSalle
Street and Lower Wacker Drive and ran a
real semi truck through them. The truck
flipped.
The one that opens this video is a
practical effect. In pre-production,
Chris Nolan kept challenging everybody
to come up with ideas of how we could
beef up these action sequences, and this
idea came up to flip this 18-wheeler
over without use of CGI.
>> I mean, it was all right flipping it
over in a great big wide open space
where it couldn't hit anything, but the
road Chris chose to do it was right in
the middle of the banking district. They
had a big chunk of TNT inside there to
to blow that air ram too. The only
visual effect involved in that scene was
to remove the ram that they had built
inside the truck that actually uh
catapulted it.
And then the hospital. Heath Ledger
walks out of Gotham General in his nurse
outfit. The story online has been that
the pause was a real malfunction and
Ledger improvised through it. It wasn't.
The pause was scripted, which somehow
makes the moment even more impressive.
>> They were able to come up with a
scenario in which Heath could actually
be walking out of the building. If we
put in a little beat where first set of
explosions stops as if something's gone
wrong and the Joker just takes a second
to look around surprised like the
audience is surprised. Then the major
demolition comes in and he jumps
straight into the school bus. In that
way he was able to come up with a
practical scenario in which we could
actually take a principal actor, walk
him out of a building that's about to to
be destroyed and literally drop the
building to the ground. We rehearsed it
I think about 12 times videotaped the
rehearsal looked at it from all the
different camera angles. Heath was such
a perfectionist and managed to be so
precise in what he was doing which was
essential because this was obviously a
one take thing and the angle I knew that
despite you know all the other cameras
we set we really needed that close shot
on him walking out to work perfectly. He
did it very very precisely. I don't know
how he resisted looking back. I think he
wound up with bits of cork in his hair
at the end of it so close he was to
everything that was going off but he
never looked back. He never betrayed any
sense of worrying about what was behind
him.
The hospital itself was a real building
Nolan purchased in Chicago and
demolished it on camera. Not through
miniature work, not through computer
graphics, but to to really destroy a
building. We just left the thing alone
and allowed it to be this combination of
real demolition with wonderful dressing
of special effects explosions.
Well, I'm sold.
>> After 6 months of shooting, the movie
spent another 6 months in the editing
room. When cutting it, Nolan avoided
most of his typical moves. No
flashbacks, no time jumps. He showed the
audience what was happening in the
moment. Hans Zimmer spent 9 months on
the Joker's theme. He would talk to me
about the nature of the sounds he was
playing with. This this idea of sort of
razor blades on strings, this idea of
tension and and the idea of the punk
influence that I think he could absorb
and and the feel of the character.
Getting him the feel of that into the
music without it ever becoming too punk,
too rock and roll, too [music] different
from from the rest of the music.
I didn't want to write a summer
blockbuster happy indulgent [music]
score. I wanted something that was truly
provocative and and people could truly
hate. And the great thing about [music]
working with Chris is when I go, "Maybe
I'm going a little too far off the deep
end." He'll push me a little further.
>> All it takes is a little push. What if I
can define a character in [music] one
note? Actually, it's two notes that
clash beautifully with each other. Make
it really like a taut string that
[music] that gets tighter and tighter
but never breaks.
>> Until the result was something that
wasn't quite music. A sound that made
the audience uncomfortable without being
able to say why.
Why so serious?
Heath Ledger's fans and family members
around the world are in a state of
shock. The 28-year-old Oscar nominee was
found dead in the New York City
apartment he rented on Tuesday. The
unexpected death of Heath Ledger
eclipsed every conversation about the
film. His death has been picked over and
almost everyone has gotten it wrong.
Heath was not method acting. He wasn't
suffering from depression on set. His
colleagues remember him in a a mood
telling jokes between takes. I I I tell
you, I I guess the Joker although the
Joker was actually that was the most fun
I've ever had.
Probably ever will have playing a
character. It was um
and I don't I'm not sure whether it was
It was hard stamina-wise
um
>> [music]
>> because it it was just a high level of
energy were needed and required every
day.
Um but it was incredibly enjoyable. He
was so confident. He was so proud of
that role. He was really excited [music]
for that film to come out.
>> confirm it. His sister, addressing the
rumors directly, insists that despite
his history with drugs, the overdose on
sleeping pills was an accident. He had
genuine, persistent insomnia and he took
the wrong combination of medications to
deal with it. There was no curse. There
was no role that consumed him. There was
a great actor who died too young. Let's
just remember what he left us. For any
of us lucky enough to work with him, I
think for any of of us lucky enough to
enjoy his performances, he will be
eternally missed, but he will never be
forgotten. The movie was dedicated to
two people, Heath and Conway Wickliffe,
a stuntman killed while rehearsing one
of the chase sequences.
It opened on July 18th, 2008, 6 months
after Heath's death.
The cultural moment was unique. The
grief in the room was real and it
overlapped with the grief inside the
film. And the two of them produced a
kind of theatrical experience that
doesn't happen often and can't be
planned for. It just happens once. In 6
days, The Dark Knight had out-grossed
Batman Begins. By the end of its run,
[music] it had made more than a billion
dollars worldwide. It was nominated for
eight Oscars. Heath won posthumously for
Best Supporting Actor. Though in any
honest reckoning of the film,
>> [music]
>> he He the lead.
>> Tonight, we are choosing to celebrate
and be happy for what he has achieved.
>> [applause]