there have been recent secret screening of The Dark Knight going on in various locations around the country. This may be of no surprise a couple of months short of release, however, what is of interest and concern is a scene the scooper talks of, which due to the tragic death of Heath Ledger, may never see the light of day because of reactions in many of the screenings.


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The scene involves Ledger’s Joker character pretending to be dead and being pictured in a body bag. Apparently the aftershocks of Ledger’s unfortunate death are such that many in the screening reacted rather badly to this moment and now execs are considering excising the scene altogether.


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This I think is a serious misstep if Warner really go through with it. The Dark Knight is Ledger’s final complete role and to butcher it for the sake of a few overly sensitive people in a screening seems like reactionary bullshit. What makes the thought of cutting his scenes even less palatable is that the general word from the screenings is that not only is The Dark Knight superior to it’s predecessor but, as promised, Ledger’s interpretation of the Joker is every bit as mind-blowing as we’ve been promised. Reports say he is the complete anti-thesis of Nicholson’s 1988 mean-spirited clown and every bit the show-stopping unhinged psychopath the Joker should be. It appears as though the true tragedy will be that this may have been the big breakout role that put Ledger on the map and made him a superstar.

Do the right thing Warners. Leave Heath’s biggest and best role alone. Those getting upset by this scene aren’t people who deserve to appreciate what Nolan and Ledger have done.[B][/B]

Well that didn't take long to find an update. From CinemaBlend:

Now our buddy Clint over at Moviehole says his sources tell him that all is well. He confirms what we told you earlier, that the scene has apparently disturbed the audiences it’s been shown to, but says that they’re leaving it in anyway. His source says, “I KNOW for a fact that that scene is in the film. I also know that WB has made no such mandate and that Chris [Nolan] is honest when saying that he will not change what was intended with The Joker.”

Unfortunately neither of us knows the identity of each other’s sources, or we could play a game of whip it out and measure to figure who has the real deal. It’s interesting the way MH’s source words his denial though. He says that the scene is still in the film, and that the WB has issued no mandate to change it. That doesn’t actually contradict what our source told us. His assertion was merely that the removal of the scene is being considered by higher ups. Obviously it’s still in the film right now, since it’s being shown to test screening audiences. So I’m not entirely ready to say Heath Ledger’s Dark Knight performance is safe, but this is at least a good sign.

And if the WBs higher ups out there are still actually considering yanking a piece of Heath’s legacy from the movie, then the almost universally negative response fans have had to the idea of taking the scene out, can’t help but tip them in the right direction. Their message, in our comments section, via email, and on other sites all around the web has been clear: Leave Heath’s performance alone! We can take it.
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Yep...it would be a HUGE tragedy to this movie if they do cut that scene. Of course, if they do cut it, they'll reinstall it for the Director's Cut special edition DVD... 8DRTV75