Genius Marketing #1: Why So Serious? (The Dark Knight)

Since I brought up the Joker and his (new?) catchphrase yesterday I thought I'd geek out a bit and throw some accolades of my own at the marketing genius (or team of marketing geniuses) behind the promotional campaign for this summer's The Dark Knight, which I somewhat hate to admit is maybe my most anticipated movie of 2008. (I don't really know what else is coming out. Snow Angels? Ellen Page and Olivia Thrilby making out? Oh, right, Cloverfield on Friday, another film aided by another genius marketing ploy.)

But back to Batman. Or, back to the Joker. How do you replace Jack Nicholson's performance? Well, you get a really handsome and talented young guy willing to act a fool and you make him ugly to go along with his own brand of crazy line readings. Heath Ledger is still sexy, sure, and more magnetic than new-to-the-franchise Maggie Gyllenhaal, but that Joker make up is quite a severe look. What's weird is that I think he's kinda right on, if nuts. "Why So Serious?" It's almost as if Heath is asking Christian Bale, not the Joker asking Batman. Cuz, talent and good looks are one thing but Christian Bale is always working. One thing I like about Heath is how much he's willing to play and have fun. (Have you seen those pictures from the set of the new Terry Gilliam movie?) Heath is a lot more like Gary Oldman than I'd thought before. When Batman Begins came out I thought it was Bale who was like Oldman, but maybe Bale is his own brand of crazy. Anyways, the point of this post was to talk about how cool the ads for Heath's turn as the Joker looks like it will be. So how about some ads?



I doubt The Dark Knight will top The Prestige but if it does it will be fucking fantastic. Also: If I could get a job doing this kind of advertising, I'd be pretty happy, and probably pretty rich. But, hey, I don't even have MS Publisher any more. Nor have I had a copy of Photoshop in half a year. --RWK