The Today Show Visits 'The Dark Knight'
Filed under: Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips
God bless Al Roker. Has the guy even seen one Batman film, read one Batman comic -- does he even know who the character of Batman is? Apparently not, because he comes off as a complete moron while interviewing some of the cast of next summer's The Dark Knight; most notably Christian Bale and Aaron Eckhart. Roker visited the set of The Dark Knight, and filed a report for The Today Show (which you can see above). Here's how Roker opens his interview with Bale (of course it's much funnier to watch): Roker: "When we last saw Batman, we had gotten rid of the ... villains. There was a homicidal ... guy ... with the Joker out there. Where do we pick up here?" What? Who preps you for this sh*t Roker?
Oh, but the screw ups don't end there for The Today Show; halfway through the interview and set coverage, they flash a doctored-up, fan-made photo of The Joker in an attempt to pass it off as Heath Ledger's version. Who's doing the research? There were plenty of Ledger pics to choose from. Sloppy production work, folks. Very sloppy. Moving on ... we don't get much in the way of new footage here, but we do see Bale talking about the Batman character (with tons of footage from Batman Begins thrown in), as well as a brief chat with Eckhart regarding Harvey Dent. They also show a behind-the-scenes clip of what appears to be a political rally for Dent. Not much, but it's worth it just to watch how uncomfortable Roker looks during this entire thing. Note to The Today Show: Get yourself a real movie critic to do this stuff from now on.
[via The Movie Blog]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-30-2007 @ 12:44PM
Akbar Fazil said...
him dancing the Battusi and using the 60 batman song... travesty.
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 12:46PM
come on said...
Wow, pissy much?
First of all, Al Roker is the "nerd" of the Today Show, so if you're going to send anyone to get an exclusive on the new Batman flick it's him. Would you rather have them send Gene Shallit?
Secondly, consider the Today Show audience. It's not the same as your readership. Who's still at home at 9:00 am watching TV? You, obviously... but we're talking housewives and retired people mostly. So what good would it do to talk about Scarecrow and Ra's Al Ghul, when the point is just to introduce the sequel featuring the Joker? Also, the intent was to get Christian Bale and Aaron Eckhart (to a lesser extent Nolan) to talk about their characters in basic terms so that people familiar with the franchise might get a nugget of info, but it won't lose the bigger demographic. But why air it at all then? Chances are moms are going to take their kids to see it, so it might make sense to get them familiar with it.
Finally, the Joker pic was an oversight. It happens. Also, chances are this piece was produced months ago before official pics were released.
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 12:55PM
Philip said...
They put that much work into all their pieces. Not a suprise, really. One of the most anticipated movies of 2008, and definitely one with the most fan following. The best Al can do is this. This is why the Today Show continues to struggle to grow.
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 12:51PM
Sam said...
You mean like Gene Shalit?
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 1:35PM
Philip said...
Dear come on:
We, the readers of Cinematical, do hereby NOT apologize for insisting that interviewers know what the hell they are talking about when interviewing someone. We also do not apologize for expecting the MSM (mainstream media) to be able to utilize the Internet for purposes of gathering data. Current pics of the Joker have been WIDELY available since August. And since they did an interview with the effin DIRECTOR they could have bothered to ask him for permission to use one of the official ones. We also do not apologize for expecting Al to have done his effin homework before taking on an interview which would be seen by millions of people.
No sir, we do not apologize. If you don't mind inconsistencies in your media reporting, I suggest you visit CNN.com sir. This might not be the site for you.
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 1:58PM
come on said...
Dear Phil (can I call you Phil?),
I was not asking for an apology from anyone. I'm just defending an okay morning show fluff piece and the people who put it together. I know that the MSM is the enemy and everything, blah blah... But as far as "inconsistencies" and "lazy reporting" go, it's not that bad. Not worth getting so wound up about, methinks. Anyway, I think the AM (Alternative Media) can better fulfill its purpose by filling the gaps rather than complaining about them.
Hugs and kisses.
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 2:35PM
Philip said...
I like hugs and kisses.
Yes Phil is ok. Sounds better than asshole. Which you would have been greenlighted to use in a response haha.
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 2:44PM
Joe said...
Well, that was just silly. Please, make no attempt for the uninformed (like Roker himself) to discern the difference between this film and the other films . That would actually make for an interesting segment.
Reply