THE DARK KNIGHT Writer Jonathan Nolan offers a look at the film’s most iconic line

Writer and director Christopher Nolan has such a huge fan base because he has made one mega blockbuster hit after another, including Start, I remember, Dunkirk, The prestige, Interstellarand more recently Oppenheimerwhich earned him his first two Oscars, but many fans would count his out dark Knight trilogy as their favorite.

His take on Batman was literally and figuratively dark, as well as earnestly crafted, leaving the cartoon iterations behind and telling a gritty story that captivated fans from start to finish.

Of course, it’s a franchise he still gets asked about, and still references years later, as it still resonates with fans and the director himself.

In a previous interview where Nolan sat next to his longtime collaborator and Oppenheimer star, Cilian Murphy, Nolan was explaining the man J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist who led the team that created the atomic bomb. Murphy had to pay a toll to take on the role, as Oppenheimer was a man who became a figurative punching bag in the years following the bomb’s creation.

Nolan linked this to a line of The dark Knightwhich he wrote together with his brother Jonathan Nolan AND David S. Goyer. Nolan says that it was his brother Jonathan who wrote the line that he thinks is the most touching in the film, and that in a way still haunts him today.

“I am tormented by a line of The dark Knight, and I’m tormented by it because I didn’t write it. My brother [Jonathan] Written. It kills me, because it’s the line that resonates the most. And I didn’t even understand it at the time. He says, “Either you die a hero or you live long enough to become the villain.” I read it in his draft and thought, “Okay, I’ll keep it there, but I don’t really know what that means.” Is it really such a thing?’ And then, over the years since the film came out, it seems more and more true. In this story it is absolutely this. Build them, tear them down. It’s the way we treat people.”

Now, in a recent interview with THR at SXSW. Jonathan Nolan revealed the origin behind the iconic line:

“It came later in the script. We did one or two versions of the script where we were looking for something that distilled the tragedy of Harvey Dent, but also applied to Batman. The richness of Batman is in how this principled figure, almost Boy Scout-esque, she’s wrapped up in this kind of macabre look and her willingness to embrace the darkness.So I was looking at Greek tragic figures.

What are your thoughts on the meaning behind the classic film line?