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If there was a hotter ticket in New York last night than the debut in IMAX of the first minutes of "The Dark Knight," I don't know what it was. Certainly I was primed for massive enjoyment from the start and no, that had nothing to do with the wine and delectible treats up for grabs on the Upper West Side of Manhattan last evening.

In short, it looks like director Chris Nolan may have delivered once again. The six minute opener is a clean, crisp, and confident start to the next installment of the franchise. Think the bank heist in "Heat" with a little 70s "Dog Day Afternoon" thrown in. And though the moments we saw of the Joker in full on action were brief, any fears I had for Ledger's interpretation were put to rest. With a few words and idiosyncratic moves (there's a swagger to this madman), Ledger has created something all his own. Read more...

Tags christian bale, christopher nolan, heath ledger, the dark knight, the joker

Even as filming continues on "The Dark Knight," Heath Ledger is reflecting on the character he has finished portraying. "It's the most fun I've had with a character and probably will ever have," Ledger told me today with a mix of wistfulness and relief. Relief because as the Oscar nominee said, "It was an exhausting process. At the end of the day I couldn't move. I couldn't talk. I was absolutely wrecked."

So who is the Joker we'll meet next summer? "He has zero empathy," Ledger said, adding that one of the goals for this character was to scare the crap out of audiences next year. Asked about the inspiration for the performance, Ledger cited nothing less than classic Kubrick. "'A Clockwork Orange' was a very early starting point for Christian [Bale] and I. But we kind of flew far away from that pretty quickly and into another world altogether."

When I brought up Sid Vicious as another reported influence on the character, he confirmed the punk rocker was on his mind. "Yeah, I guess so," attested Ledger. "There's a bit of everything in him. There's nothing that consistent."

Ledger quickly added with a smile, "There are a few more surprises to him."

Tags christian bale, heath ledger, the dark knight, the joker

Lots of cool "Dark Knight" content revealed today. Over at WhySoSerious.com, the Joker seems to up to his usual tricks, posting cool clues about the upcoming Batman flick. Our friends at Warner Bros. claim they have nothing to do with the site, but clearly powerful forces are at work here.

The teaser trailer is up (if you can get into the site ... traffic must be awfully heavy) and nearly as cool, it's got a complete dossier on Batman's arch-nemesis. Check it out.

Tags batman, christian bale, christopher nolan, the dark knight, the joker