On a bright, chilly October morning, a throng of people gather to pay respects to the fallen police commissioner, who has become the latest casualty in a crime wave sweeping the city.

Suddenly, a call of “Action!” pierces the silence and a burst of gunfire sends the crowd running for cover.

Then someone shouts, “Cut!” and everyone turns their attention to the lanky, soft-spoken director addressing the extras to orchestrate the controlled chaos playing out on the streets of Chicago.

This is Christopher Nolan, the man overseeing the cast, crew and small army of extras who have assembled to shoot a pivotal scene from one of the most highly-anticipated movies of the year, The Dark Knight.

With The Dark Knight, Nolan returns to Gotham City and its enigmatic protector, Batman. Following up on 2005’s Batman Begins, director Nolan has widened the scope and raised the stakes for its central character, the complex billionaire living a double life as industrialist Bruce Wayne and his alter-ego Batman. “He’s a self-invented hero,” Nolan comments during a break in filming. “I think the fantasy of a man who, through sheer self-discipline and will, has turned himself into more than just a man is a very compelling myth. Batman has no super powers except for this extraordinary wealth. If you had limitless financial resources, and therefore a lot of power, how could you focus that?”

In the sequel to Batman Begins, Nolan reunites with the chameleon-like Christian Bale, who, according to the director, embodies the unique characteristics he sees in Batman/Bruce Wayne. “Christian has a sense of self-discipline about him,” says Nolan. “These are qualities that Bruce Wayne brings to bear in changing himself from an ordinary man into this extraordinary crime-fighting figure; and Christian presents that very credibly and comprehensively.” The Dark Knight is Bale’s third collaboration with the director, after Batman Begins and last year’s The Prestige. Producer Charles Roven concurs: “Christian gives the character the stature, complexity and emotional resonance that you want from Batman.”

Bale relished the opportunity to once again inhabit the skin of the ever-evolving character, whose identity has become inextricably tied to Gotham City’s sense of safety and justice. “Much as it gives him a sense of purpose, he also created a symbol and that symbol can’t have limits,” Bale explains. “He can’t show weakness, ever. So, you have the fight between what is good for Bruce Wayne and what is the right thing to do for Batman, and they’re not always compatible. Bruce is certainly suffering as a result of unleashing this character of Batman and not being able to rein him in. He is sacrificing in many ways, both mentally and physically.”

The Dark Knight plunges the character into a new odyssey that takes Batman halfway across the world to Hong Kong… and Bruce Wayne into the depths of his own soul. “There has definitely been a maturing of the character,” Nolan notes. “He’s more confident and a little more relaxed with what he’s doing and who he is at the beginning of the story. I think by the end of the story, he is tested once again, but in a very fresh way.”

In post-Batman Begins Gotham, the bad guys Batman has put away have left a void where a new crop of criminals vie for dominance. “Inasmuch as he has helped the city, he has to consider that he is also responsible for the escalation of crime,” Bale notes. “He has new enemies to protect the city from, and he is realising, more and more, that this is not something he can walk away from that easily.”

And both Batman and Gotham are about to encounter a “new class of criminal” – The Joker. “In Batman Begins, we focused largely on the origins of the character – how Batman evolved out of Bruce Wayne’s early trauma, his fears and his resolve to fight crime and corruption,” says Thomas. “In this film, Batman is well-known to the police and citizens of Gotham City, but while some consider him a hero, others wonder if he is doing more harm than good; and the arrival of The Joker raises the stakes on that debate.”

Easily the most recognisable of Batman’s enemies, the grinning clown is portrayed in some of the comic series’ most acclaimed and beloved tales as a mad criminal who will stop at nothing to wreak total chaos on the City. Nolan calls The Joker “the ultimate screen villain.”

“He’s somebody without any rules whatsoever,” says Bale. “Somebody whose motive is just pure destruction. There’s no benefit or weakness that Bruce can see. This maniac just wants to destroy. That’s a formidable foe. How do you fight somebody who is bent on destruction, even if it means self-destruction?”

To play the critical role of the historic villain, Nolan cast Oscar-nominated actor Heath Ledger, and has only praise for the fearless, singular performance he delivered. “Obviously, I wanted someone with great talent. But when I met with Heath and talked to him about the way I saw The Joker, it became very clear that he wasn’t afraid to take on such an iconic character,” says the director. “In terms of our story, the character was going to be very different, and it would require a very fearless performance from someone who’s not afraid to put forward his own interpretation and create something quite terrifying.”

Get more of The Dark Knight in the July issue of FiRST.