ROTTEN TOMATOES: Aaron Eckhart Talks The Dark Knight

Aaron Eckhart Talks The Dark Knight

Drops some clues about his character's journey to the screen.

by Jeff Giles | March 10, 2008

The film's early marketing focused on Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker, but The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan has promised that his Batman Begins sequel is really about following the arc of Harvey Dent, a.k.a. Two-Face.

The famously coin-flipping villain is being played by Aaron Eckhart, who recently took time out to chat with Wizard about his role in the film -- and drop a few hints about what fans can expect to see from his character when The Dark Knight reaches theaters on July 18th.

Noting that Two-Face has been played a number of different ways -- "in the cartoons he was kind of a cold-hearted gangster, and Tommy Lee Jones played him as a straight-up madman," Wizard asked Eckhart which direction he took his Two-Face in; the actor responded that he believes "it's stronger if you have a heart," saying "if I can help you relate to my character, then I think that I'm more likely to keep your attention."

What'll really keep fans' attention, though, is the character's post-metamorphosis persona -- so the question on everyone's mind is, as Wizard puts it, "does Harvey Dent get scarred in this movie, or will we have to wait until the next one to see that?" In response, Eckhart offers a pleasantly direct "Harvey Dent turns into Harvey Two-Face in this movie."

This, of course, brings up the question of what Nolan's Two-Face looks like -- and how he's created. Eckhart offers a few hints, saying "I have done scenes as Harvey Two-Face. It's interesting. I won't tell you exactly what we're going for, but I think that I can say that it will use all of today's technology to create this character."

To read more of Aaron Eckhart's thoughts on The Dark Knight, and the challenges of playing a district attorney-turned-madman, follow the link below!

Source: Wizard

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(1-20 of 46 posts) | Reply

Warheart1188 writes:
on Mar 10 2008 05:44 AM

Spoiler! Why did Eckhart have to run his mouth? I didn't want to know about Two Face until I got to see the movie.

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bethehero7404 writes:
on Mar 10 2008 06:01 AM

Love the viral marketing campaign with this. I do agree that "surprises" are no longer available anymore with all of the technology. Spoilers do nothing but ruin things. This is most likely why I didnt like Spider-man 3 as much because I knew what was coming. But I would have hated it any way regardless.

I can not wait for Dark Knight and love the way Harvey Dent is already being used. Way better than Batman Forever and maybe even the Animated Series. Time will tell.

I Believe in Harvey Dent!

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Matanuki writes:
on Mar 10 2008 06:53 AM

Relax, Warheart. This is hardly a big deal. What would suck is if he got into detail about when, what, why, and where. Knowing that Two Face shows up in this film is on par with know in Cloverfield that at some point the monster's gonna show up. What would kill this thing is if the script were bad, and if we were foolish enough to read it beforehand.

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walkingdead09 writes:
on Mar 10 2008 06:54 AM

In batman forever, he was already two face, you didn't get the back story. I think there was one line where Batman calls him Harvey and tells him he needs help, but other than that if you don't know the back story, you think he's just a madman with a jacked up face. Nolan goes more the complete story route, which is cool. Hopefully this won't be one of those movies where they have too many ideas going on at once, like SPider-man three. Should be good.

JD

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xenogears writes:
on Mar 10 2008 06:57 AM

Why are spoilers such a big deal? You know it's coming, in this movie or the next, so why be upset over knowing its happening in this one? I'm happy I don't have to wait for the net one to get a glimps at the him like they did with the first one.

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rgallitan writes:
on Mar 10 2008 07:26 AM

"The film's early marketing focused on Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker, but The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan has promised that his Batman Begins sequel is really about following the arc of Harvey Dent, a.k.a. Two-Face."

O-kaaaay. God forbid Aaron Eckhart dies in a car crash, or we'll find out how Dark Knight is REALLY actually (we're serious this time) about...

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Bob* writes:
on Mar 10 2008 07:43 AM

well they already said that two face was about to be in this movie anyway.

This is the most anticipated movie of the year for me ^^ Can't wait!

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EdwardBlake writes:
on Mar 10 2008 07:53 AM

Being familiar with the comics, particularly 'The Long Halloween' I already have a good idea of how the plot is going to move forward. The excitement for me is in the plot's execution and the smaller twists and turns.

That is what makes this different than Spiderman 3. That movie threw in Venom to please producers and impatient fanboys.

Including Harvey Dent's transformation as the tragic conclusion to a Batman story about the rise of Gotham's 'freaks' (Joker & others) is rooted in the source material. Its how it is supposed to be done.

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thereign writes:
on Mar 10 2008 08:17 AM

My only problem is that I wish Eckhart and others would stop referring to the character as "Harvey Two-Face", a stupid misnomer that's been around ever since Batman Forever, thanks to the inept comic stylings of "director" Joel Schumacher. The persona of the District Attorney is Harvey Dent; after the scarring and his psyche snaps, he is Two-Face. Same person but two almost uniquely different personas. He has NEVER been called "Harvey Two-Face" in the comics, and it simply sounds retarded.

Other than that, I absolutely can't wait for this movie.

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Shadowflare writes:
on Mar 10 2008 08:28 AM

Since I've read the source material, there's nothing in the movie that's really going to surprise me, save for how it's executed and it what order.

And I'm really hoping this movie is about Batman, and not Two-face or the Joker. They're necessary elements, but I'm hoping their stories swirl around a focal point that is the Bat.

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minderbinder writes:
on Mar 10 2008 08:34 AM

Anyone who wants to go into a movie unspoiled should avoid reading articles about that movie. If you REALLY want to go in spoiler free, avoid the trailers too.

Simple as that.

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Matanuki writes:
on Mar 10 2008 08:52 AM

In reply to this comment (#1624829)
Agreed.

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bigbrother writes:
on Mar 10 2008 08:57 AM

In reply to this comment (#1624757)
Yeah, that seems a stupid comment to me. Are we too believe it's a coincidence that Ledgers death coincides with this shift in direction? That's not crediting the movie public with much intelligence. Everyone who knows Batman knows that the premiere villain of the piece has always and will always be the Joker. This shift away from the Joker to respect Ledgers memory is really starting to piss me off. There's no worse way to remember the dead than by diminishing their accomplishments in life or worse pretending they didn't happen. Give us the Joker in all his manic, lethal glory. I hope for Mr. Nolans sake that that's a misquote or taken out of context otherwise I've lost a bit of respect for him as a person if not as a film maker

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ZEZEtheX writes:
on Mar 10 2008 09:12 AM

I really don't think they are shifting focus from the Joker to respect Ledger. They've already drilled the Joker into people's minds for a while now. Now it's time to promote one of the other draws, the presence of Two-Face.

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arendr writes:
on Mar 10 2008 09:28 AM

Man...for the first time in a while I can really say BRING ON THE JUNE/JULY MOVIES!

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EdwardBlake writes:
on Mar 10 2008 09:45 AM

The story is going to be about how the Joker's killing spree drive both Batman AND Harvey Dent to the edge of becoming the murdering freaks they want to dispel from the city. Which, of course, is 'The Joke.'

One crosses the line, the other doesn't.

The MARKETING shift in focus from the Joker to Two-Face may have been hastened by Ledger's death, but I believe fully when Nolan and others say that Batman's relationship with Dent and how each deals with the Joker is a more central storyline.

Seriously, read 'The Long Halloween.' You'll instantly get what Nolan is doing here.

The Joker is going to be a catalyst for the plot, but he won't be a dominant character. Anton Chigurh may well be a good example of how the Joker is going to be featured in this movie. A force of nature antagonist.

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EdwardBlake writes:
on Mar 10 2008 09:48 AM

FYI

Go check out Ibelieveinharveydent.com

Its fully up and running. At first glance, a clear counterweight to 'whysoserious.' With photo contest, etc.

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AFuneralMaker writes:
on Mar 10 2008 09:48 AM

In reply to this comment (#1624897)
They said before Ledger died that the story revolved around building Dent as a character. Stop crying over who is respectful and who isn't. Stop saying that Nolan is only using the death as a sales ploy. You KNOW it would have just as much advertising and campaigning if Ledger were still among us.

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Matanuki writes:
on Mar 10 2008 10:05 AM

I admit that I too am a little fed up with folks assuming that every little piece of marketing for this film that doesn't showcase the Joker is automatically an act of disrespect for Ledger. Yes, Hollywood does a lot of stupid, cutthroat things, a lot of down right retarded, sleezy, unbelieveably insensitive, out-of-touch-with-humanity type things. With regularity, sure. But it's not them, it's us who lose when we allow ourselves to always jump to most negative conclusion in the face of ambiguity.

Like Edwardblake said, read The Long Halloween. That being the story from which this film gets inspiration, it makes perfect sense that they'd make a marketing shift to the Batman/Dent dynamic.

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sharpless writes:
on Mar 10 2008 10:29 AM

In reply to this comment (#1624688)
You really shouldn't have read this article in the first place, if you didn't want spoilers. If an actor is talking about his role, it's probable that some will come out.

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