Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight is one of the most iconic superhero franchises ever created. Of course, Nolan’s vision for DC’s titular hero, Batman has made the character far more interesting, the supporting characters also elevated the franchise to achieve the iconic status. However, Jonathan Nolan who co-wrote the second installment of the trilogy, The Dark Knight, revealed that he was plagued by one line written by his brother Christopher Nolan.
Jonathan Nolan Had His Struggle To Keep Up With One The Dark Knight Line That “Kills” Him
Jonathan Nolan. Image Credit: Gage Skidmore/CC
“You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” you should very well recall the iconic dialogue in The Dark Knight when Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and Natascha (Beatrice Rosen) joined Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) for dinner. While discussing Gotham’s masked vigilante, Dent said that line but it was a pain for Jonathan Nolan to see the line in Eckhart’s dialogue. “I’m plagued by a line from The Dark Knight, and I’m plagued by it because I didn’t write it,” Nolan told Deadline.
“My brother [Chirstopher] wrote it,” he continued. “It kills me because it’s the line that most resonates. And at the time, I didn’t even understand it… I read it in his draft, and I was like, ‘All right, I’ll keep it in there, but I don’t really know what it means. Is that really a thing?’
Like a batch of fine wine aging well, the intensity behind the line, as Nolan agreed became truer. “And then, over the years since that film’s come out, it just seems truer and truer.”
Adding further, he said, “In [Oppenheimer], it’s absolutely that. Build them up, tear them down. It’s the way we treat people.” Oppenheimer became one of the most successful movies of Christopher Nolan which earned seven Oscars including Best Picture and The Best Director.
Jonathan Nolan Resonates Harvey Dent With Batman
Batman, James Gorgon, and Harvey Dent. Image Credit: Warner Brothers.
Nolan continued the conversation at SXSW. In a chat with THR, he revealed more details of the iconic dialogue. “It came later in the script,” Nolan said.
“We’ve done a version or two of the script where we were looking for something that would distill the tragedy of Harvey Dent,” he added. “But that would also apply to Batman,” Nolan said resonating with Dent with Gotham’s Caped Crusader.
“The richness of Batman is in the way this principled, almost Boy Scout-like figure is wrapped up in this kind of ghoulish appearance and his willingness to embrace the darkness. So I was looking at Greek tragic figures.”
The dialogue was also a catalyst and a subtle hint of the future of Dent before turning into Two-Face, a ruthless villain created by Joker himself.
The Drak Knight was a massive success as the movie went on to hit the $1 billion mark (per Box Office Mojo) while being a critical darling.
The Dark Knight is available to stream on Max.
