Here’s how The Dark Knight’s memorable interrogation scene was almost more brutal. Batman Begins brought the title character back to the big screen after an eight-year absence, with the movie being Christopher Nolan’s first major blockbuster. It took the hero back to his roots and featured a great cast, with Christian Bale playing Bruce Wayne/Batman and Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Cillian Murphy rounding out the ensemble.
The sequel The Dark Knight is often cited as a groundbreaking entry in the superhero movie genre, with Nolan refining what worked in Batman Begins while adding rich thematic layers. While many fans cast doubt on Heath Ledger’s suitability when he was first announced as The Joker, his performance would become iconic; sadly, Ledger passed away at the age of 28 before the movie’s release. Ledger is by turns terrifying and hilarious, from showing off his lethal pencil “trick” to telling various characters conflicting stories about how he got his scars.
The Dark Knight purposefully keeps The Joker’s origins a mystery, with the character fuelled solely by causing pure chaos. He also sets out to make Batman question his moral code, which is best displayed in the famous interrogation scene. This comes in the aftermath of the epic chase sequence where the villain and his men ambushed Harvey Dent’s convoy, only for Batman to save the day. Dent and his girlfriend – and Bruce’s childhood friend – Rachel Dawes are snatched soon after, with Batman confronting The Joker in the interrogation room to learn their location.
It’s one of the key scenes in The Dark Knight, with The Joker goading Batman throughout the scene, leading to him brutally assaulting the villain. The Joker wants him to know his brute strength is worthless in this situation and he has no real power, but he eventually gives up the location to force the hero to make a difficult moral choice. The moment ends with Batman dropping The Joker, but it almost wrapped on a more violent note. In a visual breakdown from Imgur user joinyouinthesun that includes excerpts from a Chris Nolan interview with Hero Complex, the director revealed the sequence ended with Batman kicking The Joker in the head after learning Rachel’s location.
The director trimmed that moment since it was a little too intense, and because it felt “too petulant” for Batman. The Dark Knight was noted for how far it pushed the violence for a PG-13 movie, though it features little in the way of blood. The original cut of the movie featured a shot of mob boss Lau actually burning to death on top of the money pile Joker burns later in the movie, but this was also trimmed for being too dark.
