The Dark Knight Actor Thinks His Role Was Reduced Due to Heath Ledger’s Death

Many audiences consider Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight to be one of the best superhero films of all time, but even for all its strengths, it still presented some questions that have yet to be answered, with star Michael Jai White thinking that the reason we never explicitly saw what happened to his Gambol character in the film was to showcase as much of the late Heath Ledger‘s performance as The Joker as possible. Clearly the ambiguity over what happened to his character hasn’t resulted in much criticism of the film, with even White claiming it’s still perfect, regardless of unanswered plot points.

In the theatrical release of the film, we see Joker confront Gambol, holding a knife to his face, and while it’s implied that Joker cuts his face, we merely see the character topple to the ground. White feels as though Nolan is such a perfectionist that, if Gambol’s fate was so certain, the filmmaker would have clarified such a point.

“The intention was that’s all that was supposed to happen: he had his face cut. That’s why in a movie that is that perfect, we’re now sitting here wondering what the hell happened to it,” White confirmed to CBR. “That shows you that was a bit of a mistake because that character was intended to go on. If the death of the character was intended, you know a guy like Christopher Nolan would make that very clear as far as good storytelling. My guess is that because of the unfortunate fate of Heath Ledger that I think maybe there were some things altered to preserve most of his performance and I think maybe the bookend of where Gambol was supposed to go kind of went to the cutting room floor.“

White isn’t the only one still interested in reflecting on the narrative, as co-star Aaron Eckhart, whose Harvey Dent/Two-Face died at the end of the film, recently shared how he wouldn’t have gone along with Jim Gordon and Batman’s coverup of the villain he became, had he survived the ordeal.

“No, he would’ve told the truth. That’s the great thing about Harvey Dent,” Eckhart confirmed with The Hollywood Reporter when asked if his character would lie to Gotham City. “Despite whatever is going on, he’s a truth-teller and he’s a moral center. And not only that, he’s the face of truth, right? I don’t want to say he’s not hiding behind something, but he’s not. Now, when he becomes Two-Face, he is. But Harvey Dent was out there fighting for every man and woman, for truth and justice, and he put himself on the line. But having done so, he got bit, and he was forever changed. But you don’t want to lose your Harvey Dents in life. No matter how much money or pressure there is, no matter how much coercion, control, or corruption there is, Harvey Dent is going to stay true to the moral center and the truth.”

Robert Pattinson stars as the Caped Crusader in the upcoming The Batman, which is slated to hit theaters on March 4, 2022.

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