sureAV421

http://www.batman-on-film.com/batmovienews.html

Ledger confirmed and it's called THE DARK KNIGHT!
Author: Jett
Monday, July 31, 2006 - 5:46 AM, 4:39 PM, 8:24 PM CENTRAL TIME: I can confirm that Heath Ledger will indeed be The Joker in the next Batman film (which was broke by LATINO REVIEW originally) and it will be titled THE DARK KNIGHT (per Warner Bros.). Take it to the bank boys, it’ll be in the trades tomorrow and we'll have the official annoucement here at BOF!

Y'all are going to LOVE this! I think. Anyway, this comes in from probably my best source who confirmed many things for BOF in the past (such as the Katie Holmes and Ken Watanabe casting; the offer made to Ledger). Here goes:

As you have long suspected, the two main villains in the BATMAN BEGINS sequel will be The Joker and The Penquin.

I can confirm (as I did a few weeks ago) that while an offer has been made to Heath Ledger, Ledger has not signed any deal, and is reluctant to do so (at the moment.) Ledger is not a lock.

It seems Nolan has been listening to you guys when it comes to casting his other villain, however. I can confirm that an offer has been made to Phillip Seymour Hoffman for the role. Yet Hoffman has indicated that he may not get involved in the sequel.

Also, industry reaction to the Ledger 'leak' has been much like the fans: A fair bit of head scratching, and a generally tepid response.

So the scuttlebutt long reported by BOF that The Penguin will be in the sequel looks to be true (The rumor is that he'll be a British arms dealer/mob boss with designs on Gotham). Also, this was the second time in a very short time frame that I heard that Ledger, while offered the part, had not yet signed on. While I'm down with the offer to Ledger due to my trust of Chris Nolan, I've on record saying that I would've prefered someone else for the part (like my choice, Lachy Hulme).
UPDATED: WB has confirmed to BOF that Ledger has indeed been cast as The Joker in the next Bat-film -- THE DARK KNIGHT.

BJacks

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread....tpost&t=472156

Maxflier

Glad to hear things are finally moving along with the next movie, although i'm not too keen on the idea of 2 big villains being in the movie together.

Jericho

You mean like the Scarecrow and Ra's Al Ghul?

Maxflier

No, i said 2 big villains.

PopcornTreeCt

The Penguin won't be a big villain. But Joker should have his own movie.

gryffinmaster

Interesting quotes and such on SuperHeroHype:

http://www.superherohype.com/news.php?id=4601

dx23

The problem is exactly that. Scarecrow is a big villian in the comics and he could have had more developed role is he was featured individually in the film. One of the problems with Shuemacker sequels, besides the bad direction and neon lights, is the saturation of characters in a film. The Joker should be featured as the main and only villian in the next film. It would have been great that if Cilian Murphy wouldn't have been wasted in the Scarecrow role, because, I think that he would make a pretty good Joker. He is better suited than Ledger.

Anubis2005X

Any word on a romantic interest for Bruce Wayne?

pbishop69

I'm excited about another Nolan Batman film, (you can't top Nicholson) but Ledger sucks as well as his movies. What is Nolan and Warner Bros. thinking? It's bad enough that Ledger is The Joker, but The Penguin better not be in this movie. The character of The Penguin is simply NOT interesting. Doesn't anybody realize that? Oh well.......

KC

bballing

2 big villains will be very hard to pull off in my opinion. Not a good idea.

Interested to see how Ledger does this, if he takes the job.

NitroJMS

I'm wondering who they'll get to play The Penguin. The only actor that looks the part other than Danny Devito is Bob Hoskins.

Doughboy

So is it just titled The Dark Knight? Not Batman: The Dark Knight? Damn it! Don't they realize I alphabetize my DVD collection?!

Artman

So I guess they're only doing a sequel at a time? I was hoping they'd do a back to back thing... but at least this gives us some promise for Supes 2 in 09.

I'm thinking Penguin's role would be similar to Falcone's, or at least I hope that's how they play it. Don't mind if Katie comes back (she's gotta be at least a little better) - we wouldn't have to waste time introducing a new love interest.

Supermallet

Well, I'm giving a huge thumbs up to the title.

As for Heath Ledger, I'm going to give Nolan the benefit of the doubt, since he has not yet let me down and The Prestige looks amazing. Considering his quote about Ledger, I'll take his word for it.

Meanwhile, The Penguin, if done correctly, could be a great foil for The Joker. Again, Nolan has not let us down yet. My favorite Burton Batman film had The Penguin, so let's see if The Penguin can strike cinematic paydirt once again.

LorenzoL

I'm not sure about Ledger as the Joker but I'll reserve judgement until I watch the movie.

for the title of the sequel.

Jericho

Well the Penguin is pretty fat Still, the Scarecrow is a big villian in Batman lore and Ra's Al Ghul was the main villian in the film I suppose. I don't think you'll see both play major roles in the next film, but you might see both appear in the film.

As a side note, I wonder if they've given consideration to bringing back the Scarecrow? Maybe for a teaser, a la James Bond. Or they can reserve him for another appearance down the line.

B.A.

I want to see a damn one-sheet already.

Goldberg74

Nice to see some news and that the ball is rolling.

Eric D.

Is Harvey Dent still going to be in this film, or was that idea abandoned?

Supermallet

If they have Harvey Dent, I really hope they do The Long Halloween as the storyline. In fact, it would be great if Batman 3 was called Batman: The Long Halloween, although that will probably be a bit obscure for people.

raven56706

did i read this correctly... phillip seymour hoffman as the penguin?

SuperBatMan

Dent will be in it, as they'll be setting up the story for Two-Face at the end, most likely.

The Penguin is rumored to be a British arms dealer in business with different mobs in Gotham. It doesn't sound like he'll have a huge role in TDK, but he will be there.

Supermallet

However, Hoffman has not confirmed he will do it.

FantasticVSDoom

Ledger doesnt bother me so much, but I absolutely loathe the penguin...I think the love interest should be Selina Kyle to wash the bad taste of the penguin out of my mouth.