8 Little Known Ways Aaron Eckhart Made Nolan’s Two-Face Awesome

7. He Viewed Two-Face As Harvey's Wish Fulfilment

Framing Harvey Dent's entire journey, from idealistic DA through to mass murderer in one film meant audiences could properly digest his whole journey, making the ultimate lengths he goes too all the more shocking. The danger with this is that the transformation could look stilted; even though it was done over three films, Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader took some major leaps in characterisation. Of course, that isn't an issue in The Dark Knight, mainly thanks to how Eckhart plays Dent through the first half of the film. He may be Gotham's chance of a legitimate saviour (as opposed to Batman's vigilante justice), but just as the Dark Knight isn't a bad guy, neither is the White Knight a fully good guy. In this real world, Dent suffers from the same fallacies we all do and they help make the Joker's point that even the best of us can fall all the more potent. In fact, Eckhart was very keen to explore this aspect of Nolan's Two-Face; when discussing the character's motivations, Eckhart stated "Harvey dreamed of doing what he might later be doing as Harvey Two-Face," turning the subsequent rampage into a sad version of wish fulfilment.