All language subtitles for Icons.Unearthed.S06E05.Im.Not.Wearing.Hockey.Pads.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BTN_track4_[eng]

As the 20th century
drew to a close,

the Batman franchise
was in deep trouble.

[Constantine Nasr] Batman & Robinfailed on such a level

that everybody got frightened.

Kill the heroes!

If superhero films
were going to succeed,

they would need
to be treated realistically.

Joel Schumacher's planned sequel
was just scrapped.

The question
for Warner Bros. became,

"Where to go from here?"

Batman's a billion-dollar
property.

You know, merchandising and toys
is a huge part of the deal.

And Batman & Robinkilled the golden goose.

Warner Bros. needed
to get that money,

so they had to find a way
to reboot Batman.

But by who? And how?

Still have high hopes.

I just think it was a matter of

finding a way in
where you could detach

from the bad taste
of that whole thing.

Look, I made a mistake.
I'm sorry.

So, Warner started
looking around

for a complete reset.

Warner spent almost ten years

trying to create
a new take on Batman.

A lot of big directors
and writers pitched ideas.

But the man
Warner Bros. chose

was someone nobody expected.

Chris Nolan? Who is this guy?

An independent filmmaker.

Zero knowledge of how to make
a large-scale big-budget film.

Sorry to disappoint.

That was just absolutely crazy.

He's coming to Gotham?

Yes, he is.

The tone of Batman

has changed
from one extreme to the other,

and the pendulum
has swung back many times.

It's time for
the great pendulum of Gotham

to swing back into the dark.

The disappointment
of Batman & Robin

left Warner Bros. frustrated.

And it killed the franchise.
It killed the movies.

[Jenna Busch] They went about as campy

and as ridiculous
as they could get.

There was no way to up that.

Either you stop,

or you go the other direction.

But one thing
was for sure.

They did not
want to move forward

with Joel Schumacher
for any future Batman projects.

And so,
Schumacher was out.

But as for the future,

well, it was
a long time coming.

But eventually...

Warner started looking around
for a complete reset.

Forget the previous four films,
we're starting over.

But this time,

they were prepared to
take their time

to find the right story.

[Bennett] Darren Aronofsky
teamed up with Frank Miller

and pitched an idea
for a Batman film

based off of Frank Miller's
comic, Batman: Year One.

But the studio passed.

[Michael Uslan] Wolfgang Petersen.

Best known
for Air Force One,

In the Line of Fire,

and The NeverEnding Story.

He was pitching Batman Beyond,

inspired by
the animated series.

As well as...

Batman Meets Superman.

But, ultimately,
he would leave both projects.

Even heavyweight...

Joss Whedon pitched
a Batman film as well.

But it, too,
met a similar fate.

And that's when
a little known writer-director

threw his hat in the ring.

Chris Nolan had burst
onto the scene with this,

you know, tiny,
little indie movie, Memento.

And then after Memento,

he made his studio debut
with Insomnia.

That endeared him
to the folks at Warner Bros.

You know, that movie wasn't
a huge financial success
or anything,

but, you know,
it was a solid movie.

Well, that makes me
all soft inside.

So Warner Bros.
picked up the phone

and called Chris' agent.

And Chris' agent called Chris.

But Chris' wife,
and producing partner,
Emma, picked up.

Emma took the call
from his agent

with the offer about Batman,
and she was like,

"Mm, no. Chris wouldn't
be interested in doing that."

And hung up on him.

And then Chris comes home,

and she told him
what she had said.

And he was like, "Whoa! No!
I'm so down for doing this."

The reason being
that Christopher Nolan

was a huge fan
of one particular superhero.

I'm Batman.

Oh, not Batman.

Superman.

Yup. That's the one.

He was inspired
by Richard Donner's Superman.

I'm here to fight for truth,
and justice,

and the American way.

This was a guy who equally loved
Superman and Richard Donner

as much as he loved
Stanley Kubrick

and all
the other art directors.

And as he got older,

Chris came to love Batman
just as much.

[Lucinda Syson] Chris
was obsessed with Batman.

He had little nods to Batman.

In his first film,

the shot of--
the back of the door,

there was the Batman emblem.

And, obviously, for Chris,

he wanted to, you know,

try to make
his own version of Batman.

So Nolan got to work
writing his pitch,

and to do so,

drew on his childhood hero,
Superman.

Actually, no. Richard Donner,
the director of Superman.

Nolan, I think,

was inspired about
that attitude of verisimilitude,

the key to
what made Superman work,

that this has to be
a real world.

Who is he?
Mike, what's his name?

What's he got hidden
under that cape of his?

[Nasr] Far from the stylized
world of Tim Burton...

Far from the other stylized
world of Joel Schumacher.

Let's get back to basics.

Chris, with his
Batman vision complete,

invited Warner Bros.
to his own personal Batcave

to hear his idea.

Or maybe
it was more a man cave.

I do believe
it was in his garage,

some of it for his comfort.

Some of it was,
you know, secrecy.

And here,
among the wrenches
and oil-stained concrete,

Nolan made his pitch.

The pitch is, "Let's do this
as a real story again.

"Let's go back
to what worked with Superman.

"And then do what was working
in the comics,"

which was
a Batman: Year One adaptation.

Batman origin story.

Delving into the psychology
of what does it take

for a man to train himself
to go do this job.

You know,
he really wanted to apply

a rigid logic to everything.

Real-world reasons why a man
would wear the suit.

With a focus
on a believable reality.

He reimagined,
he rethought all of it.

What that character came from.

He wasn't born a superhero.

He had to learn
how to become one.

Your parents' death
was not your fault.

It's also a little bit
more violent.

It would be a stark departure
from the cartoonish violence

of the previous Batman films.

But working in his favor
was a comic book

that had been adapted
into a successful film

just several years earlier.

In 1998, the year
after Batman & Robin,

Blade,

rated R,

took chances,
and they got it right.

Blade's success
showed audiences
seemed to want darker,

grittier, and even
more violent superheroes.

Leaving the Batcave--
uh, sorry, man cave,

it took Warner Bros. executives
less than 15 minutes

to green light
Christopher Nolan's
Batman film.

He was given
$150 million budget.

He had zero experience with
a big-budget superhero film.

And to make sure
this new Batman movie
had a sharp edge,

Warner Bros.
teamed Christopher Nolan

with the guy
who actually wrote Blade,

David Goyer.

David Goyer had written films,
as well as written comic books

and knew the comic material,

so was able to school Nolan
on what he needed to know.

The pair
got down to work,

ultimately drawing heavily
from Batman: Year One,

written by Frank Miller
who, remember,

had pitched his own idea
for a film
with Darren Aronofsky.

[Batman] Year One is probably
the greatest influence,

just redefining

who this character was,

how Bruce Wayne became Batman.

Bruce was not an identity.

It was something
that Batman had created

so that people didn't think

that the two of them
were alike at all.

And so Bruce became
this sort of fop.

I'm buying this hotel,
and, uh...

setting some new rules
about the pool area.

Nolan and Goyer
also incorporated

another one
of Frank Miller's comics,

a story from Secret Origins.

The Man Who Falls
is a 16-page story

distilling the Batman origin,

what his journey was like
to train to become the Batman.

This globe-trotting adventure

sees young Bruce forego
his family fortune

to train with detectives
and martial artists

before falling in
with a dubious bounty hunter

named Ra's all Ghul.

Ra's all Ghul
is an immortal character.

He's been around for centuries.

He's Batman's
intellectual equal.

And he's always playing
the long game.

You know, probably
the last character before Bane

became a permanent member
of the Rogues Gallery.

As the film's plot
came into focus,

the Batman filming rights
owner, Michael Uslan,

was concerned
who Christopher Nolan
would cast as Batman.

How is he going to convince
audiences around the world

that Bruce Wayne could be
a real young man today,

suffering from post-traumatic
stress syndrome,

on some Lost Horizon-like
journey of self-discovery?

And so, the hunt began

to find the new man
under the cowl.

It is a big decision

'cause you're hanging the whole,
kind of, franchise on him.

And for that very reason,

casting director Lucinda Syson

along with first AD Nilo Otero

were brought in
by Warner Bros.

to help guide Batmaninto a new era.

Warners, they said, "We're
rebooting an old franchise.

"We got this kid and we want you
to, you know, ride shotgun."

Christopher Nolan's
story would be a closely
guarded secret,

much to the frustration
of Nilo and Lucinda.

It's very difficult

trying to cast a film
without having read the script.

But it wasn't just the script
that was kept under wraps.

We were not permitted
to refer to sort of Batman.

To keep the mystery,

I think we called itThe Intimidation Game.

Crew even began work

not knowing what movie
they were working on.

I didn't know what it was
until, finally,

after several weeks
and they say,

"All right, you can start
looking for Wayne Manor."

And then we were like,
"It's Batman!"

And the
mysterious circumstances

surrounding
Christopher Nolan's project

extended to auditioning
as well.

In the Chris Nolan manner,

what you read
when you read for something

is not the "something."

It's very much
like the something.

Meaning
sometimes actors had no idea

what they were auditioning for.

As for Batman himself,
well, his secret identity

couldn't stay secret
for too long.

We, believe it or not,

had quite a challenge.

He's got to be
realistically dark.

I mean,
there's got to be a dark side.

But then, there's also
got to be that ultimate

"I'm doing this for the good,

and I want to fight injustice."

There were six candidates.
We did three a day.

One of Nolan's
early favorites to play Batman

was Irish actor Cillian Murphy.

Cillian Murphy, I thought,

gave to those of us
standing there

the most amazing performance.

Chill murdered my parents,
and they deserve--

Don't pretend
you wanted to do this for them.

Too bad he's rattling around
inside that suit.

Who was with Falcone
at the docks?

But I think, you know,

Chris obviously felt Cillian
was incredible.

But he just had to see it
not work.

But there was also
another contender,

Christian Bale,

who in his screen test
seemed to be a better fit

in every sense.

And you serve Gotham?

I serve justice.

I thought,
going off all the vibes,

that Chris
wanted Christian all along.

I mean, he was so good
in American Psycho.

I killed another girl
with a chainsaw.

There was maybe even
a little bit of concern

that some of that
Patrick Bateman, like,

that he would bring that
to Bruce Wayne.

You know, this psycho

who dresses up in a bat costume
and everything.

But the question was,

did Christian Bale
actually want to be Batman?

He was trying to take
his career very seriously.

He wanted to make sure
this was Batman done right,

not Batman
with Joel Schumacher.

But Christian Bale
was willing to don the cape

and at least attempt
to do Batman right.

Christian Bale said, "Listen.

"If we're gonna do this,
let's do it together."

We're a team.

Bale and Nolan,
just like Batman and Robin--

Oh, sorry.
Not like that at all.

This would be a Batmaninspired in part

by a Batmanfar more complex,

dark, and nuanced.

[Batman] The Animated Series.

Right.
[Batman] The Animated Series

was voiced
by theater actor Kevin Conroy.

And he brought
something to the role that,

hard to believe,
had never been done before.

[Bennett] Kevin Conroy, he's like,

"Oh, this is very
Shakespearean-like," so...

he's the one
that actually is credited

for giving Bruce Wayne
and Batman two distinct voices.

Bingo.

Well, I guess he pleased.

And Christian Bale
would take this idea

to the extreme.

Christian Bale came up
with the idea

that there's really three
different characters.

There's Batman...

Where were
the other drugs going?

There's the drunk rich guy.

I, uh...

wanna thank you all
for coming here tonight.

And then there's the Bruce Wayne
that exists behind the scenes.

I need you
to understand that, please.

Because nobody can know
that Bruce Wayne is Batman.

But despite all the talk

of what
the character would be

and what he would sound like,

Christopher Nolan's Batman

couldn't seem
to get off the ground.

They had some problems

getting the studio to start
loosening up the funds.

That's where they were stuck.
They were stuck with that.

Producer Larry Franco

had a long
history with Batman.

Having watched over Tim Burton
on Batman Returns,

he was now
watching over the budget

and was trying to loosen
Warner Bros.' vice-like grip.

You know, they have the money.
They're gonna make the movie.

But when you say,
"Okay, now write the check,"

they go, "Hang on there.

"Uh, do we have this?
Do we have that?

"Have you done this?
Have you done that?"

And, uh, sometimes,
they really do not understand

the urgency of trying
to get stuff going.

But Chris Nolan
wasn't about to slow down.

And as casting got underway,
the studio had some demands.

Let's please have some names,
recognizable names.

But after the poor
reception of Batman & Robin,

that was easier said than done.

The franchise had kind of
come to its end in some ways.

Thanks for playing.

And so Chris needed
to kind of do his magic,
in a sense.

So, he literally had to
charm them with great ideas.

Nolan,
sure of his vision

and sure
he'd left the past behind,

set his sights on the
creme de la creme of actors

to fill out
his supporting cast,

but there
was a little catch.

Because Chris doesn't like
everyone reading the script,

and it's sort of
a protected treasure,

we had to send someone round.

"Someone"
being a security guard

who waited outside
the actor's home

until they were done reading.

You know, some actors
don't respond
particularly well to that.

But one by one,
big names signed on
to the film.

You know, when you heard
Chris' version

of what he wanted to do,

it was like how can you say no?

Michael Caine...

As the butler,
Alfred.

- [Syson] Liam Neeson.
- As Ra's all Ghul.

- [Syson] Gary Oldman.
- As Commissioner Gordon.

And last
but not least,

Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox.

But, you know, this is not just
a superhero fight story.

It can't all be men.

So, you know,
you needed some women
for different perspective

and someone for Bruce Wayne
to spark off of.

And so,
Nolan created...

[Greenberger] Rachel Dawes is an original
to the film character.

In line for the role
were Claire Danes,

Reese Witherspoon,

Sarah Michelle Gellar,

and Rachel McAdams.

However, Katie Holmes
had been on Nolan's mind

since auditioning for Insomnia.

You just didn't think
of like Katie Holmes

being up
for those kinds of roles.

But Chris Nolan
had a different perspective,

one that, in the future,
he'd come to regret.

But that's a story for later.

For now, there was only one
major role left to cast,

that of villain, the Scarecrow.

And Chris had a soft spot
for Cillian Murphy,

who he'd almost chosen
to don the cape himself.

Chris is quite clever.

Having Cillian test for Bruce,

it brought him
to the studio's attention.

They saw how damn good he was.

Had he not done that,

he may not have been
signed off as,

let's face it, a really
big role, the Scarecrow.

Dr. Crane isn't here right now.

But if you'd like
to make an appointment...

With casting complete,

the major preproduction
on the film was due to start.

But producer Larry Franco

still couldn't get Warners
to open the purse strings.

When you're going through
a problem like that

and you're saying, you know,

"We can't start now.
We can't do this.
We can't do that,"

people are thinking the movie
is gonna fall apart.

I call the studio back up.

I said, "Guys, we got to do it.

"We got to do it.
We got to do it.

"You know,
we got to open this up.

"Otherwise, you're not
gonna make the day."

Finally,
they listened to Larry.

That was the key
to starting the process.

And once the studio
released the budget,

they were off to the races.

So, all of a sudden,
we're spending $2 million,

mostly because of the Batmobile
and the costumes.

The new Batman
was going to need a Batmobile

that could logically exist
in the real world.

Nolan had an idea
what he wanted,

but he turned to an expert
to build it.

Chris is a huge James Bond fan,

which I think is why I got
the gig in the first place.

Having worked
on GoldenEye,

Tomorrow Never Dies,

and The World Is Not Enoughas special effects supervisor,

this Chris was the obvious
choice to work with that Chris.

Chris came over to England
and he asked if I would go up
and meet him.

And we got on well.

He then asked me
to go into the room next door.

In the middle of the room,
there was a table
with something on it

and a cloth over the top.

What's that?

[Corbould] And he pulled
the cloth off and there was
the Batmobile,

made up of bits of plastic kits
from helicopters,

cars, and boats.

[Greenberger] So, the Tumbler
was the one Bat thing

that's the clearest departure
from the source material.

That's Nolan saying, you know,
those are all pretty vehicles

but Batman needs a tank.

But wanting a tank
and getting a tank

are two very different things.

He said, "I only ever want to
use CGI if you can't do it."

You know, he gave me
the opportunity
to show off my craft.

Well, I would go
to the ends of the Earth

to try and build that vision.

While Chris Corbould
got to work
on the daunting task

of building Nolan's
dream Batmobile,

location manager, Ben Rimmer,

was getting to work, well,
finding locations,

quickly finding out the extent
of Nolan's quest for secrecy.

[Rimmer] So you signed your scripts
out in the morning,

you took them,
and you read them,

and you didn't
leave them out anywhere.

You were really careful
with them.
And at the end of the day,

you signed them back in.

And it was all printed
on bright red paper

so they
couldn't be photocopied.

Very closely guarded.

From day one,
Chris Nolan's vision
of a grounded gritty film

was made perfectly clear
to Ben.

If it was possible
to physically shoot it,

he would absolutely not have
visual effects.

He was just full of intent
and purpose.

And not just that.

[Rimmer] I was under strict instructions
not to allow the scouting team

even consider
going outside of the UK.

It was a very good
film tax break in this country.

And that was the main attraction

to keep as many
shooting days here as possible.

One of his first tasks

was finding the track
for where Bruce Wayne

tests the Batmobile.

[Rimmer] Chris really wanted
to shoot in the Dome

that was built
for the millennium celebrations

'cause it was empty and huge.

We couldn't think
of any other building

with such
a clear span interior.

But they soon came up
against the stubbornness
of British bureaucracy.

Because it was still owned
by a department
run by the government,

communication was nonexistent.

And when they finally
gave me a response,

I asked this chap,
this government minister,
"How much?"

He wanted to charge us
over £100,000 per day.

I said,
"That's absolutely ludicrous.

"And the director's going to
be sorely disappointed

"because
you're not using it."

Chris Corbould
was having just as hard time

building the Batmobile itself.

It was 9 foot wide
or something.

You know, we were molding
every single piece
of the body work.

Every part of it was bespoke,

apart from the engine,
the suspension units.

And we spent months,
and months, and months,

we built the initial prototype.

And we tested it,
and tested it, and tested it

to destruction every time.

We knew it had to do
quite a big jump in the film,

and we wanted it
to do that jump

and land and carry on
and keep shooting.

And it was
a two and a half ton machine.

That's quite some
gig to do, so...

We kept testing it, testing it,
and jumping it, and jumping it.

And it would break in one spot,
and then we'd strengthen that.

And then it would break
the next time
in a different spot.

We searched for months
to get the particular tires.

And after months
of looking for these tires,

Chris walked in and said,
"Hm, they're too small.

"Gotta go for the bigger ones."

Nolan's
commitment to realism

and the UK tax breaks
was causing headaches.

And the location dramas
were continuing.

We scouted for underpasses,

flyovers, all sorts of things.

Being confined
to the United Kingdom

was becoming a nightmare.

And we didn't have
the scale here.

Bruce Wayne's
training scenes...

We had to find the foothills
of the Himalayas.

Of course, we've got Wales,
which has got mountains,

and Scotland,
which has got mountains.

But not mountains when you
compare them to the Himalayas.

And Bruce Wayne's manor...

We came close many times.

And it was about getting
a complete package,

rather than having to split it
and have the grounds
in one area,

150 miles away,
the mansion front, and,

you know, we wanted it
for economy of filmmaking.

With the production
start date bearing down
on the crew,

the pressure was on
to satisfy Chris Nolan's
perfectionist attitude.

Relish the challenge.

You know, who wants
an easy life?

Um. I mean, within reason.

Chris Nolan's desire

to use as few visual effects
as possible

was driven by a want to create
a more realistic Batman film.

However, finding locations
that suited that purpose
was proving tough.

And over
in the costume department,

things weren't much better.

Christopher Nolan
wanted a velvet cape.

And he didn't want seams in it.
He wanted like no seams.

I do remember that being tricky.

The cape wasn't just some cape.

It was like a hang glider cape.

So when he whipped it out,
it had that aluminum frame.

Everything had to have
a practical purpose.

But for Ann,
it wasn't so much about
the technical elements,

it was more about the volume.

There were 47 capes in total.

The iconic cape.

Driving cape.

Action cape.

So if you wanted him
on top of a building

looking like iconic
with it blowing in the wind,

then that was
an extra-long cape.

I know there were 47

because I cut them all.

My friend put the cape on
to see how it moved.

We just tied it around his neck
and he ran up and down,

skipping along
like a child in it.

And just as
he decided to do that,

Christopher Nolan
came around the corner

with a whole truckload
of visiting dignitaries.

And it looked like
we were just messing about,

not working.

Such bad timing.

However,
things were looking up.

Watch out!

The Tumbler test track
had been found.

[Rimmer] Then we realized that
the ExCel Exhibition Centre
had been built.

Because it's so vast, if you
slide back all the partitions,

it has a huge ramp.

That was the largest space
we were able to find.

And that worked really well.

Which was made
even sweeter

by finishing
the Tumbler itself.

[Corbould] In the end,

we got it so that
it could jump every time,

land, and keep going,

and keep doing the sequence,

which we were very proud of.

However Chris
Corbould's version of finished

was not the same
as Chris Nolan's.

One of the biggest things was,
what color was it?

I never knew there was so many
different colors of black.

- Make and color?
- Uh, it's a black...

-
- Tank.

There'd be ten swatches
of all different
colors of black.

He'd be, "I prefer that black.
That looks slightly denser."

And I used to
look in bewilderment.

And Chris wouldn't be
the only one.

Somehow, Julian Caldow,

the concept illustrator
for 1989's Batman,

managed to evade
Nolan's security measures...

Yes.

...spying a look
at his new creation.

I can remember going to visit
a fellow concept artist

who was working onBatman Begins.

As I walked to his offices,

I saw this flatbed going by

with this new Batmobile on it,
the Tumbler.

And I was like,
"Is that the new Batmobile?"

Needless to say,
he preferred his own.

I thought,
"What the hell is that?"

I couldn't wrap
my head around it.

Criticism though
was water off a Batmobile's
back to Nolan,

who was now
also overseeing a redesign
of the Batsuit as well.

So this was a more flexible
outfit he wore.

Unlike Michael Keaton...

...who'd been unable
to literally put in

a head-turning performance.

[Greenberger] They came up
with different materials,
thankfully.

But designed with more plating,

'cause they recognized,
in that world,

people are
gonna be firing guns.

A more realistic Batsuit
for a more realistic Batman.

But when Christian Bale
arrived for costume fittings,

something wasn't quite right.

When he first came to England,

he showed up and he was...
not-- I wouldn't say "fat,"

but he was big,
kind of a little bit bloated.

It's just basically
a big zip-up suit.

I can remember
putting it on Christian.

We were either side of him,
and had to hold it.

"Basically, Christian,
you need to just sit.

"Pretend you're going to
sit down and we'll pull up."

It's not like putting on
a normal pair of trousers

or a jumpsuit, for sure.

There was concern
as to whether Bale would manage

to cut his weight in time.

What I didn't realize was,
that was part
of the whole routine.

You get up to a certain weight
and you start chiseling it back.

Uh, and he was dedicated
to that mantra.

Christian Bale
was soon a lean, mean,
fighting machine.

What is the point
of all those pushups

if you can't even lift
a bloody log?

And he'd need to be,

because the location
for his early training

set in the Himalayas
had been found.

In Iceland.

Desperate,
Chris, his wife Emma,
and Larry Franco

ditched their rule
about looking outside Britain.

They were struggling
to find somewhere.

You know,
we had to make a movie.

[Syson] So, they took sort of
minimal crew out to Iceland,

with, uh-- fighting
the elements, you know.

Isolated in a remote
part of the country,

any accident
could be catastrophic.

You were hours
from the nearest hospital.

But the Icelandic team
are very...

You know, they're all
very tough and very used to it,

and take it in their stride.

But the Americans
didn't quite have
their sea legs yet.

We were halfway up a mountain,
and it was freezing cold,
and the wind was blowing.

Walking across the shale
to get to the location,

we had a little bit of a scare
when Larry Franco,

um, there was something loose
under his feet,

and he hurt himself
quite badly.

Yeah, it was hard.

But, thankfully...

He was extremely brave

and picked himself up
and kind of carried on.

But it wasn't just
the set's remoteness.

A glacier lake the production
planned to film at

was melting by the minute.

The famous battle on the lake
with Liam Neeson.

[Rimmer] We were spring, right?

And the whole thing was,
how can we guarantee

that this ice lake
will be an ice lake?

It was forecast
the lake was actually--
the weather's gonna get warmer.

We went in on there
the day we arrived

and started filming
that particular fight.

He falls through the ice.

Chris wanted
to shoot that for real.

So a contraption was made.

He fell into a closed cage.

Anything, when you're
going into a place

where it doesn't have much
infrastructure, you know,

that was a tough shoot
out there in Iceland.

It was only a week, but
it seemed like a fuckin' year.

Christopher Nolan
was pushing his crew

to the limit
in search of perfection.

But were cracks
beginning to form?

So, with first week
in the can, the crew
returned to the UK.

And the frosty mood was thawed

by news that Bruce Wayne's
manor had been found.

I think it had been used
by the Hare Krishnas.

It was called Mentmore Towers.

But it just had the grandeur,
and the scale,

and it was made available.

Along with a huge
hangar not far from London

where they built the set
elements for Gotham City.

Almost 800 feet long.

I mean, it was huge.

It was 160 foot high.

[Rimmer] They were the zeppelin
hangars in World War I.

And then, it was used
by Building Research Institute,
I think.

And what they did is they'd do
burn tests on buildings.

They made an apartment block
and two office blocks.

The idea began to form

of keeping the shells
of the buildings

and we dress
the streets of Gotham

around three preexisting
buildings in there.

And the fact
that it was inside, and...

just the enormity
of the lighting.

I thought it was genius

because Batman
mostly comes out at night.

So instead of doing
four months of night work,

we blotted out
all the light from the stage.

So, we ended up
having quite a normal life.

And bringing
the right mood

to those studio sets
would prove critical.

Gotham is like
its own character.

And the Nolan mandate
was simple.

"Make it real."

With the monorail
and city structure,

that made it special.

[Corbould] 800,
900 foot long, I think.

It would go from one end
of the stage to the other.

The crew
even created some natural
meteorological events.

The train was going
on the tracks above

and everything below
that had water in it

was erupting in steam.

So we had these massive,
massive, great,
steam generators.

I've never seen so much steam
in all my life.

But the funny thing was,

it would start raining

because all the steam
went up to the roof, condensed,

and then came back down as rain.
It was the weirdest thing.

We created our own
micro climate in there.

However,
not everything

could be built inside
these gigantic hangars.

So the crew were forced
to scour the world

to find a city that could also
double as Gotham.

They used Chicago for Gotham.

[Greenberger] Chicago architecture
has not changed

as rapidly
as New York architecture.

Those classic, older buildings
don't get used as often

so it can't be recognized
by film fans going,

"Oh, that's by
the Wall Street district."

The first minute anyone saw
Times Square,

the Statue of Liberty,

they go,
"Oh, it's New York City."

And it breaks the suspension
of disbelief.

With the mantra,
"Make it real,"
ringing in their ears,

the crew went above and beyond.

Chris, as everyone's aware,

likes to do things in camera.

So, that meant
doing things practically.

[Franco] I can remember
the production manager.

He organized all the bridges

that go from Wacker Drive
across the river there,

they all go up
at the same time.

And today, you would think

that was a CG shot.
They wouldn't have done that.

But, yeah, that kind of thing.
It's a big deal.

Logistically, it's really hard.

Wacker Drive
also served as a location

for Chris Nolan's
more cinematic car chases.

[Rimmer] Ultimately, he didn't
have the scale here in the UK.

Chris, you know, really likes
Lower Wacker Drive.

It's this incredible
almost freeway underground.

It's a great road.

I mean, one of the biggest
successes with the Batmobile

was actually the driver.

Because if you look
at the front of the Batmobile,

your driving screen is like
a size of glass like that.

His nose is up to that,

pressing against
that bit of glass

just so he can get as much
peripheral vision

as he possibly can.

Very unnerving vehicle to drive.

It was in excess
of 100 mile an hour

when we were doing
the fast chase scenes

through Lower Wacker Drive.

I remember
the camera vehicle guy
coming over and saying,

"What have you got
in that thing?

"We can barely keep up with it."

After over 100 days
of filming,

Christopher Nolan
called wrap on production.

But for post-production,
the fun was just beginning.

The bats were something
that Chris had to allow
visual effects for.

He had to direct the SWAT team

to be totally attacked by them,

until it was believable.

And as the release date neared,

the expectations
of a changing audience grew.

By 2005, you had a couple
of successful superhero films,

not that far distant.

There was a lot more potential,
and therefore,
the bar was higher.

The same generation
of kids who had seen Batmanback in 1989...

You ever danced with the devil
in the pale moonlight?

...then suffered
through Batman & Robin...

Cowabunga!

...now had
supersized expectations,

thanks to the likes
of X-Men and Spider-Man.

Batman had a completely
different feel.

Suddenly,
Christopher Nolan's
"make it real" mantra

didn't seem like such
a sure thing for success.

There was a concern
about the darkness of it.

On June 15th, 2005,

Christopher Nolan's
Batman Begins

finally hit theater screens
across the globe.

Fan reaction was as almost
as euphoric as it was in '89.

And the movie delivered above
it, so they were like,
"Thank God!

"We have
a really good Batman movie."

Fans and crew alike
gave the film
a resounding thumbs up.

[Julian Caldow] I remember going to see it
and I just sort of thought

Nolan completely understands
this character.

Earning over
$370 million worldwide

against a budget
of 150 million.

You know, you really felt
Batman's journey
to becoming Batman.

I think it looks incredible.

It was very, very exciting
because it was a good movie.

Good news
for Michael Uslan,

whose life-long pursuit
to put a dark,
gritty Batman on screen

had paid off, yet again.

Christopher Nolan is a genius.

He elevated
what a Batman movie could be.

So that when you walk out
of one of Chris Nolan'sBatman movies,

you no longer have to simply
say, "Gee, that was a good
comic book movie."

You can now say,
"That was a great film."

Your father would be
very proud of you.

With Nolan's great,
gritty grounded approach

to bat-based superheroes
resonating with audiences,

Warner Bros.
really only wanted one thing.

They just really wanted
to make a sequel.

But did anyone
at Warner Bros. think to ask

Christopher Nolan
if that's what he wanted?

Batman Beginsredefined superhero movies

by giving fans and the studio
exactly what they wanted.

Batman Begins made a fortune.

Having made
373 million at the box office

and successfully rebooting
the ailing franchise,

Warners wanted to make
a sequel ASAP.

Unfortunately,
Chris had other ideas.

Nolan's like,
"I'm making The Prestige.

"I'm telling you right now,
that's my next movie."

Warner Bros.
wanted to keep Chris happy
so they said,

"All right, go and do your thing
and we will be

"waiting for you with open arms
when you return."

With a deal
including a share
of the sequel's profits.

- Let's hear it for him.
-

The Prestige proved
another box office success,

and another
successful collaboration
with Christian Bale.

The Prestige made 109 million

against a modest budget
of $40 million.

That is great.

And then,
as promised,

Nolan turned his attention
back to the Bat,

teaming up once again
with David Goyer

and this time with his brother,
Jonathan Nolan.

Batman Begins is about
Bruce Wayne,
a boy who lost his parents,

and wanted to protect others.

The Dark Knight is about
the people of Gotham

looking to their protector
to save them,

Batman, now
a fixture of Gotham City,

who Gordon can call on
without problem.

What challenges await?

Order versus chaos.

Batman's been bringing order
so where's the chaos?

-
- Ta-dah!

Joker is an agent of chaos.

And then you add Harvey Dent,
who goes through
this horrible disfigurement,

becomes Two-Face,
just really satisfying.

Now in charge
of an increased budget
of over $185 million,

their story was
heavily inspired
by the graphic novels,

The Killing Jokeand The Long Halloween.

And this man should know
because he wrote
The Long Halloween.

I had seen a documentary
on The Beatles.

And I really wanted
to do something

with four people
who had come together

for a good reason,

but then were no longer
who they were

at the beginning
of the experience.

And I knew
that it was Batman and Bruce,

because I did consider them
two different characters,

Gordon, and I was pretty sure
it was gonna be Catwoman.

And I just happened
to be talking to Mark Waid,

and he said, "I hope you're
gonna do something with
Harvey Dent, with Two-Face."

Not a lot of people
looked into his past.

And it really
just fell together.

That was now my fourth Beatle.

Harvey Dent
had already featured

in both the widely successful
1989 Batman

and '95's Batman Forever

as his alter ego, Two-Face.

I wanted to play Two-Face.

Which, of course,
did not happen.

Patience, Billy Dee.
There's still hope.

But anyway, Two-Face
couldn't be the only villain.

Because, let's be honest,
Batman will never be
able to avoid

the Joker.

And once again, inspiration
came from the pages of comics.

[Henderson] Brian Bolland and Alan Moore,

they had written
The Killing Joke,

this definitive take
on the Joker's origin.

And it really framed the Joker
in something

that was equal parts terrifying
and kind of sympathetic.

He was someone's kid,
or he was someone's husband,

instead of it just being
some giggly goofball.

The Joker will always be
Batman's arch rival.

I think we all have
an inherent fear of clowns.

Let's just say it.

Uh, so that's part of
the reason why it works.

Nobody knows who the Joker is.

I'm not sure the Joker
knows who the Joker is.

Which was all good
for Jeffrey who came on
as a concept designer.

Nolan gave him the almost
impossible job of creating
the Joker's new look.

Something familiar,
but also completely different.

That's right up my alley
'cause the Joker is like

my favorite character
of all time.

In The Dark Knight, the take
was much more pragmatic
and real-world.

We wanted there to be kind of
a biological reality to it

where if a guy really had
cut scars in his face,

or really was deranged enough
to disfigure himself,

what would
that actually look like?

How would that affect the smile

because all that musculature
here when it pulls up

and exposes these teeth back?

All that kind of stuff.

While Jeffrey
grappled with those
rather gruesome issues,

first AD Nilo Otero
was doing his own prep.

We do... We had a 128-day
schedule on The Dark Knight.

On a normal studio movie,

that probably would have been
an 80-something day schedule

with a massive second unit.

I agree completely with Chris

that second units are, uh,
not as good as first units.

And Chris doesn't put himself
up in that position
because he's a shooter.

It's a very different
way of working.
Chris wants to control

every image in the movie.
Thank you very much.

On set,
Nilo would act
as Chris' field marshal.

'Cause there has to be
one person in charge,

that everything goes through.

And that's my job.

However, he was faced
with some unique challenges.

We were trying new stuff.
Uh, we were
gonna shoot IMAX cameras.

That was the first time
Chris did IMAX.

Now, IMAX cameras,
that's a rarity.

The system
puts everything in jeopardy.

For Nolan's
second Batman movie,
The Dark Knight,

the budget had gone up.

And with a bigger budget,

Chris was planning
a bigger film.

Much, much bigger.

[Otero] It was the first time
Chris did IMAX.

Nilo reverted
to his standard practice.

[Otero] I break the script down
by scene.

And I figure out
a shooting schedule.

And I go back and forth
with Chris, as, you know,

is this three days' work,
is this one day's work?

But he was left
with a sense of foreboding.

It was just an incredible number
of moving parts.

And safety is a matter
of people first.

And understand that Chris
isn't gonna do it the easy way.

Meanwhile,
the character that made
everyone uneasy

languished in development.

- Development.
- Hell.

No, not quite
development hell.

Because when it came
to the Joker,

Nolan didn't go
the easy way there either.

You can't really overstate

what a huge, huge impression

that Nicholson
playing the Joker had.

You can call me Joker.

To not lean into him
and to abandon all that

and say, "I'm doing
completely my own thing

"and I'm not gonna be bound
by this expectation."

There are these kind of
goal post references

like A Clockwork Orange.

Yes!

Late '70s
English punk rock,

new wave kind of stuff.

The Thin White Duke era
of David Bowie.

You have to be
a really accomplished

ballsy filmmaker to do that
and pull that off.

Whoever was chosen
to play the Joker

would do so
without the presence

of Katie Holmes on set.

According to legend,

she didn't really want
to come back

for The Dark Knight.

She wanted to do other parts

and move on with her career.

Let me put it this way,
Chris' work style is monastic.

There's no assistance.
There's no chairs.

There's no... You know?

Unless you're over 65 years old,

or a knight
of the British Empire, or both,

which is to say
you're Michael Caine.

People are strongly encouraged
to hang out on set
when they're not working.

You know, as opposed
to go sitting in your trailer.

Some people don't like that.

Whatever the reason,
Katie decided

to pass on the sequel.

She was replaced
by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Fancy that.

[Greenberger] Maggie Gyllenhaal went
to Katie Holmes and said,

"May I have your blessing
to take this part?"

You can't ask me
to wait for that.

[Greenberger] Katie graciously
gave it, so...

Again, you've got
people of substance
in all the key roles.

Substance in all
the key roles,
apart from the Joker.

When Heath Ledger was chosen
over the likes
of Robin Williams,

Adrien Brody
and Paul Bettany...

That was hugely,
hugely controversial.

No one thought
that guy was the guy.

At the time,
Ledger was more well-known

for doing like
romantic comedies.

You're gonna
pay me to take out
some chick?

Mmm-hmm.

[Sneider] I think that they were
obviously huge shoes to fill

when you're following
in the footsteps
of Jack Nicholson,

who's one of the greatest
actors of all time.

The weight
of delivering
a central performance

in the sequel to one of 2005's
top ten grossing films,

worthy of being placed next
to industry veterans
like Michael Caine

and Morgan Freeman,
was immense.

But there were signs
that with Heath Ledger,

there was more
than met the eye.

Brokeback Mountain.

They did the best they could

after my folks was gone.

But was
the Brokeback Mountain actor
himself broken?

And one thing
he said to me was that,

if he wasn't
an absolute nervous wreck

about doing it,

then it wasn't the job for him
to take.

You should be
a little terrified.

It's scary stuff.

Jack Nicholson came out and said

that he had called Heath Ledger

and warned him that the Joker
can mess with your mind so much

that if you're not careful,

you can be...
you can be destructive.