Just as Duke was leading the crew to Moscow for filming, Warner Bros. was also steadily advancing the early promotional campaign for The Dark Knight.
Senator Patrick leahy, a die-hard Batman fan, stepped forward. This kind of publicity also benefited him politicians need visibility too.
He accepted an interview with CNN.
"Vermont Democratic Senator Patrick leahy plays an important role in The Dark Knight…"
Following the usual headline was the interview with the senator.
Facing the camera and the reporter's microphone, Patrick leahy beamed and said, "Everyone, rest assured, I won't be wearing a tight suit in the film. I'll be portraying a noble gentleman. For more details, you'll have to ask the crew. All I can say is, the plot is very intense and definitely going to be exciting."
The senator ended with a little flex of his own: "I'll be donating all my earnings from the film to the Kellogg-Hubbard Children's Library in Montpelier, because that's where I got my very first library card."
In an office at the Warner Bros. building, Jamie Foxx turned off the heavily promotional video and looked across the desk. "What are the theater chains saying?"
"The representatives from Empire Entertainment Group and AMG Theaters Group both said…"
An assistant responded quickly, "As long as The Dark Knight maintains the quality of Batman Begins, they'll mobilize as many resources as possible at the start of the summer season to support Duke's new film."
"Hmm." Jamie Johnson nodded, then added, "Keep pushing the promotional campaign. Don't let up."
Just as he said, from newspapers to magazines to online platforms, even though The Dark Knight's promotion hadn't gone full force yet, related news was still everywhere.
"Duke Rosenberg leads the crew to shoot in Moscow — Batman and Joker will battle in Russia!"
"The Dark Knight's latest suit and vehicle revealed the new Batpod motorcycle designed by the Lamborghini team is a showstopper!"
"New stills from The Dark Knight show Joker's hideous look Heath Ledger's terrifying appearance as the main villain!"
Besides the usual release of stills and info, Warner Bros. employed some other tactics.
For instance, AICN recently received an email with brand-new stills from The Dark Knight. The sender was anonymous, and they immediately posted the images online, drawing a massive number of viewers and nearly crashing their website.
However, many Batman fans also expressed some concerns mostly about the Joker.
"Really looking forward to the movie, but I'm skeptical about the actor playing the Joker. Jack Nicholson's performance in the first Batman movie was unforgettable."
"I don't think either of them is the best Joker. The Joker should be both terrifying and funny like singing and dancing while killing. That would be a great Joker. The director should aim for a version like that."
At the same time, the Los Angeles Times entertainment section published a Batman costume photo and gave it a front-page headline. They analyzed the intricate design of the new suit in detail to draw public attention.
"First, the helmet. In previous Batman films, we've seen Spider-Man's tights get torn or pulled off, but Batman's cowl has always remained intact. That stiff-looking design wasn't for head protection, but because older Batman suits were one-piece designs. Finally, in The Dark Knight, Batman can relieve his helmet-sweat pain. The new suit's biggest change: turning the cowl into a detachable helmet, similar to a motorcycle helmet. Now, the actor just needs to twist his head to remove it. Ironically, this simple movement caused the designers the biggest headache."
"Second, the cape. Anyone who's seen Pixar's The Incredibles knows how dangerous capes are for superheroes. But for the sake of classic poses, Batman still insists on keeping his. It's also a crucial part of his suit previously used as a glider in low-altitude scenes. The new cape has additional functions, though the design team is staying tight-lipped. Fans will have to figure it out for themselves."
"Third, the gloves. Wolverine has retractable blades from his knuckles as an animal-themed hero, Batman also gets claws. The forearm gloves contain retractable blades and are integrated with the suit. They're key in hand-to-hand combat and one of the designers' proudest innovations."
"Fourth, the whole suit. The new suit is clearly much more complex than the old ones more components, richer texture. Definitely not the tight, suffocating PVC rubber of the past! It combines rubber, fiberglass, nylon, and metal mesh a total of 200 components, all integrated using cutting-edge tech. The look is more modern and has a bit of sci-fi flavor. Plus, it's highly elastic, allowing Christian Bale's muscular frame to shine."
While the North American promotion continued, Duke's filming in Moscow was nearing its end.
Most of the main cast followed Duke to Moscow, including Heath Ledger, who had no scenes there. This was Duke's requirement, but also Heath's own choice.
According to Duke, as Batman's enemy, he needed to understand every one of Batman's actions.
Although the Joker's scenes were done, Heath Ledger still had to return later for voiceovers in post-production.
With filming wrapping up, it was time for Heath Ledger to leave the crew. After finishing a day's shoot and returning to the hotel, Duke specifically asked to meet Heath, who was packing.
"Looking for me for something?"
In the café, Heath Ledger held a cup of coffee and looked at Duke with a slightly shy smile. "Duke, don't tell me you specially came to say goodbye?"
Having worked together on the same crew for several months, the two had become familiar with each other. Duke looked at Heath Ledger and didn't feel that he had been deeply affected by the Joker character. Whether it was his personality or his smile, there wasn't much difference from the way he looked when they first met.
Lifting his coffee cup, Duke took a slow sip before finally speaking. "Got any plans when you go back?"
"Back to New York, I guess." Heath Ledger looked at Duke with a bit of curiosity. He knew that the director sitting across from him wasn't the type who liked to meddle in others' affairs. "Maybe just rest for a while in my apartment in New York."
"Don't go back to New York." Duke directly made his request. "The crew will wrap up all filming in three days. Once we return to Los Angeles, I'll immediately begin post-production. You have quite a few scenes that require dubbing. Head to California for now. If you want to take a vacation with your girlfriend, I can lend you a beachside villa."
Hearing that it was about the role and work, Heath Ledger thought for a moment before nodding in agreement. "I'll have my assistant reschedule the flight. I'll wait for you in Los Angeles."
"Good." Duke finished the coffee in his cup and stood up. "See you in L.A."
There wasn't much he could do. Maybe work could help divert Heath Ledger's attention—that was basically the limit of what Duke could manage. What else? Directly telling Heath Ledger not to take those addictive prescription drugs because they could kill him?
Duke hadn't gone mad.
Besides, they weren't friends before filming began, and even after working together, they still weren't friends. Their relationship was purely professional. The only reason Duke did any of this was because Heath Ledger was an actor who knew how to work hard and cherish opportunities, and his personality wasn't bad either.
If it had been someone like Mel Gibson or Sylvester Stallone, those arrogant types, even if they dropped dead from overdosing right in front of him, Duke wouldn't bother giving them a glance.
The next day, Heath Ledger left Moscow. Duke led the crew for two more days of shooting, and with that, all filming for The Dark Knight was complete. He didn't stay long in Russia and took the entire crew back to North America on a chartered flight.
The crew officially disbanded. After resting for just one day, Duke locked himself in a studio at Warner Bros. with Mike Dawson's editing team and began the post-production work for The Dark Knight.
He first went to Industrial Light & Magic's studio at the production facility. Some scenes requiring CGI production and compositing had already started development after sample footage was delivered. A small number were already beginning to take shape.
In addition, due to the leak incident with Iron Man, Duke and Warner Bros. further tightened their control over the copies. Although they had managed to turn the last leak to their advantage with some clever maneuvers, they couldn't count on being that lucky every time.
Especially on Warner Bros.' side, server security protocols were further strengthened, and access to full copies of the film was reduced to just a few department heads.
Likewise, within the crew, only Duke, Charles Roven, Anna Prinz, and Mike Dawson had access to all the shooting material and the final edited version.
Of course, the main focus of post-production wasn't security. Tightened security was just a safeguard to ensure smooth post-production. Duke's main work was still to complete the rough cut and other related tasks.
Particularly editing—although this dark-toned superhero genre wasn't appearing for the first time, and strictly speaking 300 could be categorized in the same style—The Dark Knight carried more real-world significance and stronger market appeal.