The Dark Knight Score Disqualified From Academy Award Consideration

Warner Bros. recently launched a “For Your Consideration” campaign for “The Dark Knight,” pushing Best Picture, Best Director and Heath Ledger for Best Supporting Actor among others but the score of “The Dark Knight” has been left out from Academy Awards consideration.

Formal letters to that effect are expected to go out this week to composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, who collaborated on the music.

Apparently the decision of whether to include the score for The Dark Knight in the running or not involved four hours of discussion over the past two executive committee meetings, but apparently the fact more than 60%, but less than 70%, of the score was credited to Zimmer and Howard was an issue. The unfortunate thing here is the decision to include the three additional names - music editor Alex Gibson, ambient music designer Mel Wesson and composer Lorne Balfe - was a way of financially rewarding parts of the music team who helped make the overall work successful. I guess karma doesn’t always work for awards, but with The Dark Knight now only $2.4 million away from over $1 billion in box-office receipts I would say karma has a way of working things out.

The original soundtrack for the Christopher Nolan-directed superhero movie has been released in four different formats, a standard jewel case CD, a 2 LP set of heavy-weight 180 gram vinyl version, a special edition digipack, and a collector’s edition with special artwork, on July 15. Containing original scores from composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, the orchestral soundtrack was recorded in London in April 2008.

The Dark Knight Storyman David Goyer On Batman 3 Rumors

Huge succeess for Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” brought in over $919 million (domestic and worldwide performance) for Warner Brothers, but also brought so much speculations and rumors about the (possible) sequel. So, it’s no surprise that everyone is trying to figure out the casting and talking about Batman 3.

We recently wrote about Johnny Depp’s reactions on rumors about his potential The Riddler role in also potential upcoming “The Dark Knight” sequel.

“It seems like it’d be a fun gig for a while, yeah,” Depp denied.

The same thing is with Philip Seymour Hoffman and role of The Penguin. He said that no one from Warner Brothers has given him a call:

“Some friend of mine told me he read that. First I heard of it”

Or that Angelina Jolie will take the role of Catwoman… OR that Cher is lining up for the same role!?

Finally, somebody has something to say:

“It’s All B.S.“

said “The Dark Knight” Screenwriter David Goyer.

“Chris and I haven’t even talked about it. He quite understandably is taking a long, long vacation and wants to purge himself. We have mused here and there but I mean Chris is pretty much a one movie at a time kind of guy. I wish I could tell you more. There really isn’t anything to tell.” said Goyer.

“If and when Chris is ready to talk - we’ll talk,” he promised.

So, this means that, for the present, there is nothing to announce about a third Batman movie from Nolan and company. No villains are set. No casting has been set. Nolan hasn’t even officially signed on for the third movie yet. There isn’t anything official.

source: MTV News

Hoffman, Depp and Caine and “The Dark Knight” Role Rumors

We recently wrote about Johnny Depp’s reactions on rumors about his potential The Riddler role in also potential upcoming “The Dark Knight” sequel.

“It seems like it’d be a fun gig for a while, yeah,” he said.

Fake The Riddler Poster

The same thing is with Philip Seymour Hoffman and role of The Penguin. Hoffman spoke about the rumor for the first time at the Toronto International Film Festival. He said that no one from Warner Brothers has given him a call:

“Some friend of mine told me he read that. First I heard of it” and added:

“I grew up a comic book fan, so I love that stuff. I love going to that stuff. I think what they’re doing with that whole Batman story is really true to what that whole Batman thing has always been. It’s one of the darkest origins of a superhero, to get all nerdy and geeky on you. That character sees his parents gunned down as a young child: I remember when I was a kid reading that story, so seeing it now come to life as the dark tale that it really is as an intense, really dark, very visceral, adult tale that they’re doing now, all the great work people are doing on it, of course I wouldn’t say, ‘Well, no, no no.’ But I don’t know the reality of it, so I wouldn’t say ‘yes’ to you.”

But, Michael Cain, who plays Bruce Wayne’s butler in “The Dark Knight” confirmed to MTV News that both Depp and Hoffman are currently in talks with Warner Brother for the exact roles that fans suggested (!?)

“They’ve already got them in mind,” said Caine. “It’s Johnny Depp as The Riddler. And The Penguin is Philip Seymour Hoffman. I read it in the paper.”

“When Christopher Nolan said we were going to do “The Dark Knight” next, I didn’t know what that meant in Batman terms. I said, ‘What’s the story?’ and he said The Joker. I said, ‘Oh, sh*t! How are you going to top Jack Nicholson?’ He said, ‘Well, I’ve cast Heath Ledger. And I went ‘Ha! I couldn’t top Jack, but if anyone could, maybe Heath could.’ And he did.”

Caine continued:

“I was with a Warner Bros executive and I said, ‘Are we going to make another one?’ They said yeah. I said, ‘How the hell are we going to top Heath? And he says ‘I’ll tell you how you top Heath — Johnny Depp as The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin.’
I said, ‘Sh*t, they’ve done it again!’”

And would you like to see Johnny Depp as Joker … maybe?

Aaron Eckhart: Two-Face Won’t Be Back

Aaron Eckhart - Harvey "Two Face" Dent

While promoting “Towelhead,” Aaron Eckhart revealed the future plans for Two-Face in the new Christopher Nolan-directed “Batman Begins 3“. Harvey “Two Face” Dent has been officially buried six-feet-under and won’t be coming back for “The Dark Knight” sequel and Aaron Eckhart, put an end to any speculation regarding the possibility of his character’s return in “Batman 3″.

“He is dead as a door nail,” Eckhart confirms. “I asked Chris [Nolan] that question and he goes, ‘You’re dead’ before I could even get the question out of my mouth.” And if you think it’s all just a game he’s playing to keep it a surprise for his return, Eckhart really emphasizes that he ain’t coming back. “I think in contract negotiations it’s a problem,” he says. “No, I’m not coming back. I think unfortunately, Heath [Ledger] was supposed to go on and that didn’t work out. I’m nobody. I’m a cog. I have no say over this sort of stuff. I’m sure that there’s so many other characters that they could whip together.”

He also admitted that he had asked Christopher Nolan the same thing when making the film, and the response was the same: “I asked Chris if there was a chance of coming back. “No way,” he said. “He’s toast.” [source: ComingSoon]

Johnny Depp Denies The Riddler Rumor

With “The Dark Knight“ bringing in over $919 million (domestic and worldwide performance) for Warner Bros, it’s no surprise that everyone is trying to figure out the casting of the sequel.

So, the rumors already were that Johnny Depp plays The Riddler and Angelina Jolie - Catwoman in the sequel to “The Dark Knight.”

Depp denied The Riddler rumor on a radio interview in Florida via phone.

“It seems like it’d be a fun gig for a while, yeah.”

Depp said.

In the video below he also talks about his upcoming movies, “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” and “Public Enemies,” in which he plays John Dillinger.

source: ComicBookCynic

Gillian Anderson Blames “Dark Knight” For Poor “X-Files” Takings

Actress Gillian Anderson is blaming the popularity of “The Dark Knight” for “The X-Files” film’s low box office grossings.

The “X-Files: I Want To Believe“, starring Anderson and David Duchovny, earned a disappointing $10.2 million in its opening weekend (26-27Jul08) in the U.S., while “The Dark Knight” took an impressive $75 million in the same weekend. And Anderson is convinced that her movie - based on the hit TV show - is suffering because so many people are flocking to see the Batman sequel.She says, “It’s (The X-Files film) had a bit of a rough time in the States. It’s opening against one of the highest grossing movies, Batman.

“People in the States are so used to lots of CGI (computer-generated imagery), action and sex and we don’t really off a lot of that in this film.”

Johnny Depp to play The Riddler in “Dark Knight” Sequel?

With “The Dark Knight“ bringing in over $400 million for Warner Brothers, it’s no surprise that everyone is trying to figure out the casting of the sequel.

Speculations of Batman’s future villains apparently have moved on from which foes to be featured in the possible follow-up of “The Dark Knight” to who are going to portray them.

It was recently reported that Angelina Jolie has been talking to studio executives about taking the role of Catwoman in the sequel to “The Dark Knight.”

UK’s Daily Telegraph has quoted their unnamed source who said that Warner Bros is targeting Johnny Depp to play The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman to take the role of The Penguin. The role of the Riddler has previously been tackled by Frank Gorshin in the television version of Batman, with Jim Carrey wearing the question-mark covered tights in Batman Forever. Meanwhile, the Penguin was handled on television by the incomparable Burgess Meredith, and a distinctively disgusting Penguin was played by Danny DeVito in Batman Returns.

“[Producers] are convinced that the role of the Riddler is perfect for Depp,” said a source. “Johnny’s a pro. He’ll be able to take direction from director Chris Nolan and still make the character his own.