Nolan Didn't Write The Dark Knight's Most Iconic Line; He Didn't Even Get It Then

Summary:

• The Dark Knight trilogy is largely considered one of the best superhero franchises ever.
• Christopher Nolan, the trilogy’s director, admitted that it was his brother Jonathan who wrote its most iconic line.
• At the time, the director himself didn’t understand its meaning, but recognized his brother’s genius years later.

Christopher Nolan is among the most celebrated directors of our time, and his Dark Knight trilogy is recognized as the best superhero movie franchise of the 21st century.

Curiously enough, it wasn’t the director himself who brought his iconic franchise’s most iconic line to the script; it was his brother and co-screenwriter, Jonathan Nolan.

The Dark Knight’s Most Iconic Line Became World-Famous

While we generally praise Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies altogether, the trilogy’s second installment — the 2008’s The Dark Knight — is typically considered the best of the three films. Largely thanks to Heath Ledger’s Joker, of course, but there were other essential details that made this exact movie stand out so much.

Like a quote that far surpassed even this world-famous movie’s glory: “You either die a hero or you live long enough to become the villain.” Fun fact: not only did Chris Nolan not write this line, but he also didn’t grasp its meaning initially, as he revealed very recently, years after The Dark Knight’s premiere.

“I’m plagued by a line from The Dark Knight, and I’m plagued by it because I didn’t write it. My brother wrote it. It kills me, because it’s the line that most resonates. And at the time, I didn’t even understand it. He says, ‘You either die a hero or you live long enough to become the villain.’ I read it in his draft, and I was like, ‘All right, I’ll keep it in there, but I don’t really know what it means,’” the director told Deadline.

Nolan Later Recognized His Brother’s Genius Idea

Even though the point of this iconic line went completely over Christopher Nolan’s head at the time, he decided to trust Jonathan and didn’t regret it. Because many years after The Dark Knight’s premiere, the director recognized just how well his brother had understood the core mechanics and ideas of the movie trilogy.

“Build them up, tear them down. It’s the way we treat people,” Nolan explained, proud of his brother’s acute artistic vision.

The “live long enough to become the villain” quote has become immensely popular since then and is often used by the true connoisseurs of deep quotes and drama. But while today, you’re most likely to come across it photoshopped on top of Tommy Shelby’s black-and-white smoking picture, it was initially created to capture the nature of The Dark Knight trilogy.

Source: Deadline