Crave Online: Is The Dark Knight a metaphor for the broader political issues in the world today?

Christopher Nolan: To be honest with you, in the writing of the films we try not to be too conscious of any political parallels or any thing that we might want to include from the real world because I think the terms of the storytelling demand that you be a step removed from today's political environment. But now that the film is finished and I can look back at it there's certainly a huge concern in the film and the fear of anarchy and chaos in society that I think is probably something's very pervasive in today's culture.

Crave Online: How do you raise the game from the first movie and yet keep these characters really grounded in reality?

Christopher Nolan: I think the big challenge really in doing a sequel is to build on what you've done in the first film, but not abandoned the characters, the logic, the tone of the world that you created for the first film. So there are elements the audience will expect you to bring back that you need to bring back. You also have to balance that with the need to see something new and to see something different and that's been the challenge through the whole of making the film.

Crave Online: Is it a fight with the studio to do this kind of story with one of their big comic book properties?

Christopher Nolan: No. I don't really fight with the studio. I never have because I think you loose. It's quite a powerful organization that's paying for the whole film. My experience and my way of working with them has been a very positive collaboration, really. I think the thing that I try to do as a filmmaker is try to be very communicative to the studio and to everyone else. I try to really explain to them what it is that I am doing so that any big disagreements about the nature of what the thing should be are had right on day one of putting the script together rather than when you're actually shooting the film or editing the film.

Crave Online: Do you think with the success of Batman Begins you were able to push this film further?

Christopher Nolan: Well, definitely having done the first film people could now understand the tone of what were trying to do and the feel of it, what it was going to be, if you like. That is a huge advantage. With the first film it was very difficult for us to explain to people exactly what it was that we were going to do that was different from previous incarnations of the character on film.

Crave Online: Do you think you could ever push it too far with a franchise like this?

Christopher Nolan: Well, you certainly can push it too far, but interestingly there are different ways to be disturbing. I mean, I don't talk a lot about the previous films because I didn’t make them and they're not mine to talk about. But certainly if you look at Batman Returns with Danny DeVito as The Penguin, eating the fish and everything, there are some extraordinarily disturbing images in that movie. But they're coming it at from a surreal point of view. I think the ways in which this film is disturbing are different. We try to ground it a little more in reality and so I suppose there's a sense there that might get under your skin a little more if it relates to the world that we live in. As I say though, there are different tones that can be taken with adapting this character to the movies. Indeed, in the comics, one of the things that Paul Levitz at DC Comics first talked about when I first came onboard for Batman Begins is that Batman is a character who traditionally is interpreted in very different ways by the different artists and writers who've worked on it over the years. So there's a freedom and an expectation even that you will actually put something new into it, that it'll be interpreted in some different way. I think of any of the superheroes Batman is the darkest. There is an expectation that you're going to be dealing with more disturbing elements of the psyche. That's the place that he comes from as a character. So it feels appropriate to this character.

Crave Online: Was there a ratings battle because there are some images that are so really horrifying for a PG-13?

Christopher Nolan: Well, if you assess the film carefully and analyze it with other films it's not a particularly violent film actually. There is no blood. Very few people get shot and killed, compared with other action films. There's plenty violence in the film, believe me. We tried to shoot it and dress it in a very responsible way so that the intensity of the film comes more from the performances and the idea of what's happening and what might happen. A lot of the intensity comes from the threat of those things that may happen that then don't. There's definitely an intensity to that and I think the MPAA were very responsible in their assessment of the movie. I made it very clear to them that I'd gone into this knowing that it had to be a PG-13 and everyday on set when we were dealing with violent issues I would be careful to tone things down and say, 'Okay, we're not going to use any blood squibs. We're not going to shoot things that can't possibly be in the film.' So it's a very bloodless film. We're dealing with a hero who won't carry a gun and who won't kill people which is almost unique in terms of an action film. It's a conversation that I've had with the studio, with the MPAA and everyone else at different stages to say that it's very hard actually making one of these huge scaled films with a heroic figure who's not prepared to kill people. But I think it's an interesting challenge and I think that it takes the story more interesting places.

Crave Online: But what happens to Harvey Dent is so grotesque, was that image a problem?

Christopher Nolan: No. Everybody involved really, I think, understood the fanciful tone of the extremity of it. When we looked at less extreme versions of it they were too real and more horrifying. There's something, whether you're looking at a film like Pirates of the Caribbean or whatever, about a very fanciful, very detailed visual effect that I think is more palatable to an audience and is less repulsive and more fascinating. It's certainly morbidly fascinating, but it's clearly unreal. I think the visual effects are very well done and the guys involved did a terrific job, but the design of it is clearly fanciful.

Crave Online: Did you change anything about the Joker in the film after Heath Ledger's passing?

Christopher Nolan: I'm very confident that the performance has been edited exactly as it would've been had Heath not died. It was very important to me that his performance be put out there exactly the way that we had intended it and that he had intended it to be seen as well. Watching him come up with the characterization was a pretty exciting and pretty amazing thing because you're looking at an actor craft an iconic presence for a character, but making it human at the same time. That's an incredible thing to do and the way in which he's done it is extraordinarily complicated and everything about what he does from every gesture, every little facial tick, everything he's doing with his voice. It all speaks to the heart of this character. It all speaks to this idea of a character who's devoted to a concept of pure anarchy and chaos. It's hard to get a handle on how those elements combine. The physicality reminds me of the great silent comedians. It has a bit of Keaton and Chaplin about it. The voice is very difficult to imitate. Every film set, one every crew there are dozens of talented mimics who are always taking off different performances or lines that they've heard from actors before, but no one could do The Joker. No one has been able to imitate it successfully. It's very elusive and complicated, but working with Heath you would see that he very precisely worked out every aspect of him.

Crave Online: Some reports suggested that Heath went too far with The Joker character and that led to his death. Is there any merit to that?

Christopher Nolan: I'll answer that simply to say that it diminishes his skill as an actor. The job of an actor is someone who takes on a character and distinguishes between real life and a character. Anyone who's spent time on a movie set knows that it's a very artificial environment and the great skill of someone like Heath Ledger or Christian Bale, all these guys is that they can be jobbing along in a workaday environment and then when the camera rolls they can find this great character.

Crave Online: Are you signed for a sequel on this?

Christopher Nolan: Nope.

Crave Online: So what's next for you?

Christopher Nolan: I have no idea.

Crave Online: The IMAX stuff blends in perfectly. How is that going to be done on standard theatrical versions and on home video?

Christopher Nolan: Well, on the standard 35mm version we did 35mm extractions from the IMAX frame. The IMAX negative is so clear and grain free that there's a great sharpness and clarity to them. Obviously, the differences are nowhere near as dramatic as there is on the IMAX screen. For home video, certainly the Blue Ray version will be actually changing the format size and actually using the IMAX footage because you can actually see the difference on that high resolution.

Crave Online: The frame will be a little bit different, the 16 x 9 versus the IMAX, right?

Christopher Nolan: It will, but some of the smaller IMAX theaters are a smaller aspect ratio which is 16 by 9 as well. It's still quite a difference from the 2.40 to a 16 by 9 so I think you'll get some sense of it.