“It kills me”: Christopher Nolan Gets Sleepless Nights Over 1 Dark Knight Dialogue That Came Hauntingly True Years Later
Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy brought him on the world map of cinema. With an interesting character development and a compelling storyline, the Dark Knight trilogy went on to become one of the most commercially hit franchises of all time. The Dark Knight featured prolific actors like Heath Ledger and Christian Bale as Joker and Bruce Wayne, respectively.
During a recent interview with a reputed media outlet, Christopher Nolan revealed that a particular dialogue from The Dark Knight plagued him for a long time.
Christopher Nolan Was Plagued by A Dialogue From The Dark Knight
The Oppenheimer actor-director duo – Cillian Murphy and Christopher Nolan – recently appeared for an interview with Deadline. While talking about his professional relationship with the Peaky Blinders star, Nolan spoke about their first collaboration, the 2005 released Batman Begins. He went on to talk about a significant dialogue from The Dark Knight, which ended up giving him sleepless nights. He said-
“I’m plagued by a line from The Dark Knight, and I’m plagued by it because I didn’t write it. My brother [Jonathan] wrote it. It kills me, because it’s the line that most resonates. And at the time, I didn’t even understand it. He says, ‘You either die a hero or you live long enough to become the villain.’
He further added-
“I read it in his draft, and I was like, ‘All right, I’ll keep it in there, but I don’t really know what it means. Is that really a thing?’ And then, over the years since that film’s come out, it just seems truer and truer. In this story, it’s absolutely that. Build them up, tear them down. It’s the way we treat people.”
The Jonathan Nolan written dialogue made it to the final cut. The Dark Knight brought colossal success and went on to make Heath Ledger’s version of Joker immortal. With a production budget of $185 million, The Dark Knight went on to amass a staggering box office collection of $1 billion.
Christopher Nolan Reflects On His Bond With Cillian Murphy During His DGA Acceptance Speech
Christopher Nolan’s biographical saga made headlines during this award season. From bringing Nolan his first Golden Globe to becoming one of the biggest critical hits of 2023- Oppenheimer is gradually inching toward the Oscars. After sweeping the SAG award and Producers Guild Of America Award (PGA), the Dunkirk filmmaker was awarded the Directors Guild Of America Award (DGA) recently. During his acceptance speech, Nolan reflected on his bond with Cillian Murphy and honored the Irish actor. He said-
“I can’t believe its 20 years since we started on this journey together, which means it’s about 15 years since I woke up a little hungover and said to [my wife] Emma, ‘Did I go up to Cillian last night and say, You’re the best actor ever?’ The DGA awards are such a special event, I think not least, because uniquely, this event acknowledges and understands that nobody gets up here on their own.”
Oppenheimer has been nominated under 13 categories in the 2024 Oscars. With a whopping box office collection of $926 million, Cillian Murphy-led sci-fi epic is moving closer to the billion-dollar club. Oppenheimer is based on the American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer authored by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.
