New interview with Fichtner:
Fichtner Breaks the Bank
Exclusive: Actor discusses his Dark Knight role.
US, February 11, 2008 - William Fichtner, costar of the television series
Prison Break, told IGN that he has a small role in
The Dark Knight as a bank manager held up by the Joker in the film's opening scenes.
"[He's the] Bank Manager," Fichtner said during a phone interview to promote the DVD release of 2007's
The Amateurs. "I met Chris Nolan briefly and it was kind of a last minute thing."
Fichtner, a character actor who has appeared in almost 40 film projects, including
Heat,
Contact,
Go,
Crash and
Blades of Glory, said that he was eager to jump into the role even though he doesn't have a proper name. "I spoke to Chris and he told me about this opening scene in the film that they were going to shoot with IMAX cameras," Fichtner said. "He told me a little bit about it and what it was and I thought it was really cool. Especially with his visual sense, he's just such an interesting director and does really unbelievable things. [So] I thought, yeah, as long as it's kind of an uncredited thing, sure. It was really kind of one of those things, just sure, I'll be a small piece of this puzzle."
Nolan said in earlier interviews that he wanted the opening scene to resemble the heist in
Heat, which may explain why Fichtner was recruited for the role. The actor said he was unaware of any homage to the film, intentional or not.
"Actually that's the very first time I heard that
Heat analogy," he said. "I never heard that before. But if he was thinking that, that's certainly something for him to think, but I really like him and it's kind of a neat thing and a cool Batman thing and an uncredited thing, so yeah, sure."
Fichtner also said that he doesn't worry about how a director approaches him for a role, only whether he finds it interesting or challenging.
"I think that maybe he was looking for someone like me just to kick it off at the beginning of the film," Fichtner said. "I try not to get into too much of the thought process of the casting of something; it has to come to me as something that's cool. To be honest with you, to say yes to that small thing, to that little uncredited thing, it was really because of Chris Nolan doing it than anything else. I really, really dig this director. I met him a couple of times and I don't know him well, but I like him and he's best buddies with a friend of mine, so [I said] sure."
Stay tuned to IGN for more news, interviews and updates about
The Dark Knight and other exciting new movies!
http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/851/851187p1.html
t: The "hissing" sound effect when he did that was great, too. Very fitting.
