"Rosenberg, did you already plan for a sequel when you were making Batman: Begins?"
The scale of the press conference was quite large. Warner Bros. had specially rented the lobby of a five-star hotel for the occasion. Although hundreds of reporters were present, the atmosphere was rather quiet at the moment. It seemed as if everyone was afraid of missing a single word from Duke. Only the questions from standing reporters echoed through the hall.
"There's news that you submitted an outline for a trilogy to Warner all at once."
"Batman's story will never truly have an end—you should all be aware of that."
With one hand on the microphone, Duke slightly adjusted the volume and said, "Once you've seen the first film, you'll completely understand that this story has to continue. The reason I agreed to make it was because I happened to come up with a pretty good story idea, and I also know how to continue the legend."
The same reporter pressed on, "Sequels usually suffer in terms of quality and reception. How are you controlling this Dark Knight?"
"The projected budget for The Dark Knight is 150 million dollars. In fact, with big productions like this, the most likely problem with sequels is that you get a bigger budget, create grander scenes, but essentially, you're just repeating the same self as before…"
At this point, Duke chuckled and stopped revealing any concrete content, vaguely stating, "Since I've already realized this problem, I've been trying to avoid making similar mistakes."
Reporters aren't that easy to dismiss. The next selected question came from a New York Times journalist, who followed up, "Director Rosenberg, a lot of Batman fans are placing great hopes on this film. They want to see something even more outstanding than Batman:Begins. They want more news. Surely you won't disappoint them?"
Duke deliberately thought for a few seconds, as if genuinely moved by the question, and said, "Once my team was in place, I truly realized that making a sequel is also a tremendous undertaking, because we had to reexamine all the characters—both old and new—and we're looking forward to the moment they appear on the big screen and immediately resonate with the audience."
Since he had started talking, Duke added a few more sentences, "The number of supporting roles in The Dark Knight can already be categorized as massive, but compared to the original comics, you'll find this number is just the tip of the iceberg."
All the reporters' eyes were on him. Duke continued, "We will be changing some characters from the comics, even including their genders. This is one of our means of improvement. Because we've read all the comics, we can only extract the elements we need. Then, based on how the story develops, we'll see how to alter the characters and make them serve our own narrative."
These remarks triggered a wave of discussion below. Duke turned his head and glanced at Warner Bros.' Jamie Fox. The latter subtly gave him a thumbs-up, clearly satisfied with these conversation-starting remarks.
Afterward, the reporters shifted their questions to the lead actor, Christian Bale.
A journalist from World News Weekly asked, "Mr. Bale, you've always had little interest in sequels. Why did you decide to return for Batman?"
Why? Of course, for the high paycheck and the three-picture contract he signed.
In the budget, Christian Bale alone was getting paid $15 million, triple his fee for Batman:Begins.
Of course, such things couldn't be said to reporters.
"'Repeating' the same thing simply isn't something I do. This time, the reason I'm willing to appear on the big screen again in the same role is entirely because of Duke."
Christian Bale turned his head and looked at Duke, saying, "This is already our second collaboration. I know him very well. That's why I know that, like me, if he hadn't come up with something fresh and different, he wouldn't be directing a sequel."
He made a few hand gestures, "I like the idea Duke has conveyed to me, because I'm not just doing something I've already done before. My character will undergo very clear development and evolution. Besides, we've got a group of very talented stars involved, and with the harmonious working environment, I had no reason to refuse—don't you agree?"
A reporter picked up on something from Bale's words and stood up to ask, "Batman will undergo very clear development and evolution? Can you reveal something more specific?"
"Sorry, I haven't received the script yet…" Christian Bale didn't hesitate to push the question onto Duke. "If you want to know about changes in Bruce Wayne's character, you'd better ask the director."
The eyes of hundreds of reporters immediately shifted from Bale to Duke.
That same reporter asked Duke, "In Batman:Begins, Batman had already endured his unbearable past and became the superhero of the whole city. Will he still be surrounded by a dark aura?"
"Actually, he has already surpassed the person he wanted to be. He has stepped out from his painful past and out of the memories that tormented him, so…"
Duke shrugged and smiled as he said, "We'll just have to find some new things to torment him with... Simply put, Batman has never truly escaped the past, and he never will."
"He won't become a character like Tony Stark, right?"
As soon as the reporter asked that, he noticed the people around him looking at him like he was an idiot and instantly realized he'd asked a dumb question.
Still, Duke answered, "Batman doesn't have time to sit around feeling down. He also can't indulge himself or vent his anger however he pleases. He has to constantly maintain his emotional balance."
Clearing his throat, Duke added, "From Batman:Begins onward, we've been trying to have him face and overcome a wide variety of obstacles, including anger and hesitation… So by the time we get to The Dark Knight, we'll be making even more changes."
Glancing toward Bale, he went on, "The character portrayed by Christian Bale will step out of the painful shadow of his parents' murder, but even so, he's still a very dark character, fundamentally different from those sunny superheroes like Tony Stark."
During the entire Q&A session of the press conference, the focus remained almost entirely on Duke. Everyone was eager to know—after Batman Begins pioneered the dark tone of superhero films, where would The Dark Knight take Batman next?
Toward the end of the press conference, the reporters' questions started to veer off in all directions. Duke selectively responded to those that held news value or promotional potential.
One reporter asked, "Duke, in your opinion, what's the difference between Superman—Clark Kent—and Batman—Bruce Wayne?"
"Superman and Batman can be considered the most beloved superheroes in America. Perhaps we should look at it from another angle."
After pondering for a few seconds, Duke adjusted the microphone and said, "I remember someone once said that Superman is how America sees itself, while Batman is how the rest of the world sees America…"
Scanning the reporters below, Duke leaned back in his chair. "I have to say, that's a very intriguing viewpoint, because the most intuitive impression people get from 'Superman' is undoubtedly that of an idealized, perfect figure. In contrast, 'Batman' displays far more human traits. He isn't bound by as many idealistic constraints, so when he handles situations, it appears more humanized and even includes certain political elements—that's precisely why I like this character the most."
In comics and films, as soon as 'Batman' appears, everything around him descends into chaos, making it difficult for people to immediately distinguish right from wrong through a clear-cut moral lens. One of the central themes of The Dark Knight, to some extent, is based on realism: no one is above the law—not even those who act as vigilantes.
After the press conference ended, Duke's work for the day was temporarily concluded. He didn't linger and got into Scarlett's red sports car, heading straight back to Malibu.
After dinner, the two of them took a walk in the garden. While watching TV in the living room, Scarlett flipped open the finalized script for The Dark Knight. After reading for a while, she suddenly asked, "Who exactly is the Joker supposed to be in your setup? Why is he so fixated on Batman and Harvey Dent?"
"The Joker constantly provokes both Harvey Dent and Batman, these two embodiments of justice." Duke pointed at the script. "He even hopes that Harvey Dent will shoot him, and that Batman will kill him. Because if that happens, they'll be just like him—and the one truly controlling Gotham will be the Joker's logic."
After a few seconds of silence, Duke said in a deep voice, "Actually, everyone believes their logic is correct. They think the world operates according to the rules they believe in. And if the world doesn't appear that way, they assume it's just a surface illusion—that deep down, the real logic is the one they understand. To prove this, they only need to give others a little 'nudge,' and those people will fall right into their framework."
Scarlett nodded thoughtfully, then shifted the topic slightly, "Say a beautiful woman believes all men are bad, that they're only interested in her body and will never truly love her. Then, she'll use her body to seduce men. And she'll discover that with just a little push, those men become lust-driven beasts."
Duke laughed and followed up on her example, "Say a rich man believes everyone is greedy, that money can make even the dead drive a car. Then, he'll use his wealth to give countless people a gentle push—and those people will fall under his control."
"What about the Joker?" Scarlett asked again.
.....
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