I have finally finished coding the new layout of Christian-Bale.org, now expect new gallery layout to be up very soon. We are SOTM over at Pattinson Online. Thanks to Joy & Isabel for making this site one!

I have finally bought The Dark Knight DVD and makes many screen captures for all the baleheads & visitors. There are over 4000+ screen captures uploaded to the gallery and expect new layout of main site & gallery to be up as soon as by the New Year’s Day. Wishing all visitors a Happy New Year!

GALLERY LINKS:
- The Dark Knight: Screen Captures > Movie
- The Dark Knight: Screen Captures > Menu
- The Dark Knight: Screen Captures > Galleries
- The Dark Knight: Screen Captures > Gotham Tonight

The Dark Knight has listed as The Seattle Medium Ten Best Films of 2008.

The Dark Knight (****) – Batman (Christian Bale) is forced to deal with his most cunning adversary, the Joker (Heath Ledger), an anarchist who creates mayhem. Hands down the best comic book-turned action film every made. The film is gorgeously photographed (Wally Pfister), perfectly directed (Christopher Nolan) and blessed with stellar, career-defining performances by Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and Morgan Freeman. See it in the Imax Theater or on Blue Ray DVD. 

I have uploaded new candids of Christian strolling in Brentwood on December 27, 2008.

GALLERY LINK:
- Candids in 2008: In Brentwood – December 27

MTV News runs through the most massive showbiz stories of the year…

By far the most talked about movie this year was Batman: The Dark Knight which pitted the late Heath Ledger’s Joker against Christian Bale’s caped crusader.
The sad death of Ledger- from an accidental overdose- in January definitely made the public more interested in the second of Christopher Nolan’s Batman films. Also in the cast were Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Aaron Eckhart. The Dark Knight has nearly grossed $1 Billion in revenue and some are predicting Oscar success for the late Ledger come February.
The other big superhero movie of 2008 was Ironman- which starred a revitalised Robert Downey Jr. The film kicked off a new franchise as Downey Jr- also excellent in Tropic Thunder this year- played Tony Stark and his flying alter ego.
Gwyneth Paltrow- who looked stunning at the UK premiere- was the film’s love interest with Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard playing the baddies. A sequel will be released in 2010.

Source: MTV News

1. The Dark Knight (12A)
The greatest film of the year – this stunning movie is every bit as good as fans hoped, exceeding the high standards set by predecessor Batman Begins.
The hype centred around the tragic Heath Ledger, whose performance as the Joker is a truly fitting tribute to his great talent. He portrays a genuinely terrifying villain, a man who has no interest in money, only in causing mayhem for the sake of his own entertainment.
On the other hand, Batman (Christian Bale) is a troubled soul who is torn by his morals, which the Joker gleefully plays on whenever possible by setting him up with impossible dilemmas.
Many viewers found the second villain, Two-Face, an unnecessary distraction but I felt he worked well, adding a different element and setting up the big climax perfectly. This is a film everyone should see, comic book fan or not.

Source: Sunday Mail

44: W.

Christian Bale was initially cast as George W. Bush, and even underwent weeks of prosthetics tests before filming began. However, he withdrew from the production at the last minute, prompting Oliver Stone to immediately look for a replacement. Josh Brolin was subsequently given the role following his notable performances in No Country for Old Men (2007) and American Gangster (2007).

3: The Dark Knight

Despite endless speculation on which actor had been chosen to portray The Joker, Heath Ledger had always been Christopher Nolan’s one and only choice for the role.

Even though Christopher Nolan offered her the part, Katie Holmes decided not to reprise her role as Rachel Dawes. Instead, she opted to co-star with Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah in Mad Money (2008) that same year.

Before Maggie Gyllenhaal officially stepped in for Katie Holmes, there was widespread, fan-based gossip that either Rachel McAdams or Emily Blunt would take over the role of Rachel Dawes.

After seeing his performance in Thank You for Smoking (2005), Christopher Nolan thought that Aaron Eckhart would be perfect for the role of District Attorney Harvey Dent. Nolan and Eckhart had almost worked together on Memento (2000) years before.

As a joke, one bat suit was made with nipples, as in Batman & Robin (1997). It was presented to Christian Bale as the real bat suit, but he knew instantly it was a joke, having seen a few design pictures during preproduction. He did pose for some publicity photos in the “nipple” suit.

In preparation for his role as The Joker, Heath Ledger hid away in a motel room for about six weeks. During this extended stay of seclusion, Ledger delved deep into the psychology of the character. He devoted himself to developing The Joker’s every tic, namely the voice and that sadistic-sounding laugh. Ledger’s interpretation of The Joker’s appearance was primarily based off of the chaotic, disheveled look of punk rocker Sid Vicious combined with the psychotic mannerisms of Malcolm McDowell’s character, Alex De Large, from A Clockwork Orange (1971).

It’s Sir Michael Caine’s opinion that Heath Ledger beat the odds and topped Jack Nicholson’s Joker from Batman (1989): “Jack was like a clown figure, benign but wicked, maybe a killer old uncle. He could be funny and make you laugh. Heath’s gone in a completely different direction to Jack, he’s like a really scary psychopath. He’s a lovely guy and his Joker is going to be a hell of a revelation in this picture.” Caine bases this belief on a scene where the Joker pays a visit to Bruce Wayne’s penthouse. He’d never met Ledger before, so when Ledger arrived and performed he gave Caine such a fright he forgot his lines.

Aaron Eckhart described his portrayal of Harvey Dent as simultaneously coming from and being apart from the same world as Batman (Dent is the white knight of Gotham, as opposed to the Dark Knight). His challenge was “looking for the similarities and the tension between the two; to find what’s similar to Batman and then what’s opposite to him.” Eckhart prepared for his role by studying split personalities.

The Batman Comic Books “The Long Halloween”, “The Killing Joke”, “The Man Who Laughs” and the first two comics to feature the Joker character served as an influence on the film’s storyline.

Made more money than Batman Begins (2005) entire domestic run in only 6 days of release.

Other actors under consideration for the coveted role of Harvey Dent – pending Aaron Eckhart’s availability – were Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, and Josh Lucas.

Holds the record for reaching the $500 million mark the fastest, after 45 days. The former record holder was Titanic (1997) (98 days).

During the hospital scene, when The Joker is dressed as a nurse, his name tag on the outfit reads Matilda. This is after Heath Ledger’s daughter by the same name.

Source: Movie Fone/IMDB/OhNoTheyDidn’t

I’ve replaced a high resolution still of Christian from movie, Terminator 4 on the gallery.

GALLERY LINK:
- Terminator 4: Stills

Below, please find a summarized transcript of answers given by director Christopher Nolan during thelive screening of The Dark Knight, available only to select lucky Blu-ray owners. To refresh, BD-Live is the Blu-ray technology that allows for more interactive special features on your disc, like being able to arrange “screenings” with your friends or record commentary tracks yourself. There were some enjoyable moments, such as when he took not one, but two pee breaks, explaining that he needed to make a shorter film next time. Fortunately, the BD-Live format let him pause everyone’s movie simultaneously. He also reused the same joke three times in different formats, thanking an actor or a contributor by name when someone asked how awesome it was working with said person.

Q: Good casting on Anthony Michael Hall. He is an excellent actor
A: Hall was a pleasure to work with. He is a very talented actor. Thanks for your question Anthony Michael Hall’s mother.

• The studio is being very understanding about my process. The question of doing a third film is all down to story and do we have a story we really are excited about. David goyer and myself are exploring that right now. Read the rest of this entry »

Hope you all have a wonderful Happy Merry Christmas & Happy New Year toward 2009 with your family & friends!