Article by Kevin M. Gallagher, Jr
Aaron Eckhart is promoting his new film, Wander, and it didn’t escape us that the film stars 2 Two-Faces.
While he doesn’t have much to say about sharing the role of Two-Face with Tommy Lee Jones during his interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he does get into his past work on The Dark Knight. The conversation turns to Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight, and Harvey Dent/Two-Face when Aaron Eckhart makes a connection to independent film:
When I’m on a big-budget movie, I’m not doing that. It’s more corporate. However, that being said, I’ve always had very great experiences on studio movies. The Dark Knight comes to mind and if I were to talk about The Dark Knight, I would say it was just a big-budget independent movie.
Thinking of The Dark Knight as an independent movie is, in this writer’s opinion, high praise; especially reading Eckhart’s thoughts on the difference between “independent” and “studio” movies. As the actor says in his interview with THR, it’s a big reflection on Nolan and how he runs his sets:
That’s the way Chris handles his movies. Nobody really goes back to their trailers too much. It’s not an extravagant set in terms of what’s off-set. Everybody is expected to be on-set all the time and involved in the movie. The crew is exactly the same way, and that’s what I really liked about The Dark Knight. Chris is firmly in control of everything that goes on in that movie. Now that I think about it, the difference between independent and studio film is when you have an auteur.
ON HARVEY DENT
With all the talk about The Dark Knight, it’s no surprise the interview touched on Aaron Eckhart’s character of Harvey Dent/Two-Face. At the end of the film, Batman and James Gordon agree to lie to keep the legacy of Gotham’s White Knight intact. Batman takes the blame for the Two-Face murders and there’s peace for the next 8 years. When asked if he thought Harvey, prior to becoming Two-Face, would approve of this plan, Aaron Eckhart had this to say:
No, he would’ve told the truth. That’s the great thing about Harvey Dent. 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.
STAYING HUMBLE
After reading his statement on this, it’s clear to me that Eckhart 100% gets the character, and Dent/Two-Face is a hard character to get; there are so many levels. It furthers the fact that he was easily one of the best, if not the best, performer in The Dark Knight and that the film is really the story of Harvey Dent. Eckhart was a bit more gracious, saying:
I thought, “You can’t have room for that many main players, right?” You’re talking about Gordon, Joker, Batman, Rachel. You have all of these characters, and yet, they all have equal play.
Reliving The Dark Knight through Aaron Eckhart’s perspective gives new depth to the movie. It certainly makes this writer want to sit down with it immediately for a re-watch. You can read the entire interview with The Hollywood Reporter to get Eckhart’s full thoughts on his experience with The Dark Knight.
Do you agree with Eckhart? Would Harvey Dent disapprove of Batman and Gordon’s decision? Let us know in the comments!
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