The Dark Knight trilogy was an overwhelming success for Warner Bros., with two of the most recent sequels each earning over $1-billion in box office receipts worldwide. We’ve rounded up 60 rare behind-the-scenes images from the series for your viewing enjoyment. Continue reading to see them all.
5 Interesting Batman facts:
- It took a little time for Bob Kane to refine the Batman character. Nowadays, Batman not only refuses to use guns, but hates them completely. This is logical, considering a gun killed his parents, and ever since he has stalwartly refused to use firearms in his crime fighting. However, in early issues Batman was something of a costumed Sherlock Homes, doing more detective work than fighting, but still carrying a six-gun at his side on his night patrols. Bob Kane soon changed this, saying that Batman wearing a gun didn�t “Feel Right”.
- Hugh Hefner admits that, aside from publishing, one of his early projects was cartooning. In 1965, at the Chicago Playboy club, the Hef decided to have a Batman themed party that celebrated the campiness of the comic. He had actors dressed as Batman and Robin at the party, using the goofy “Golly gee whiz” lines from the comic, and the old Batman movie serials were screened. Little did Hef know, Yale Udoff , an ABC executive was attending. When he saw the crowd’s positive reaction to the goofy Batman and Robin, he immediately ran to a pay phone and called ABC with an idea for a new Batman TV show.
- The first time Batman that was ever depicted in a movie that had any kind of release was “Batman, Dracula” in 1964, directed and produced by none other than Andy Warhol. Few people have seen it, and all prints are thought to be long gone, but what we do know is that the detective was played by longtime Warhol collaborator, Gregory Battcock, and it was completely unauthorized by DC Comics. Some surviving footage appeared in a later Warhol film “Jack Smith and the destruction of Atlantis”.
- Originally, Batman took place is New York city, like many comic books of the time. Later, the writers decided to have it take place in a fictional city with a fictional history, so they could give the comic its own world. A writer opened a New York phone book randomly, saw “Gotham Jewlers” and so the name was born. The location of Gotham city has always been a bit hazy, sometimes it was depicted on the East Coast, and a few times it was located in the Midwest, near Superman�s hometown of Metropolis. However, popular canon now states that Gotham is located on the East Coast, specifically in the state of New Jersey.
- Over the years man big names in Hollywood have played Batman, but who’s played him the longest? That title goes to Kevin Conroy, who voiced the animated batman in Seven cartoon series, six video games and five animated movies – in total spanning 12 years. Many have named him as “The Voice of Batman” without question, and he brought some originality to the role with his unique take on the character. While in the comic it’s said Batman disguises everything about him when he dons the cape and cowl, before Conroy’s portrayal most people played Batman and Bruce Wayne as very similar.
