The Art and Making of The Dark Knight Trilogy

My friends and I went to see The Dark Knight Rises and were killing time in the bookstore next door when this caught my eye. Obviously, I had to have it.

I wish I had a coffee table worthy of this gorgeous book. Designed by the enormously talented Chip Kidd, this book is full of production skills, concept art, and comic book panels to give the reader a broader understanding of the work that went into producing The Dark Knight Trilogy. The images are supported by great interviews and insight from the cast and crew. It’s like having the DVD bonus features in book form.

The book is organized in such a way that the reader can pick and choose which part of the process they want to learn more about. My brother is a musician so I will definitely point him to the “Editing, Music, and Sound” chapter as part of my ploy to turn him into a famous film score composer.  My many writer friends will probably be more interested in the “Screenplay” chapter. I, of course, read the whole thing cover to cover because ZOMG BATMAN!

 As I took out my credit card to pay for this $45 book I muttered, “I’m going to regret this.” I don’t. The quality of the images and the breadth of information make this a Dark Knight keepsake I’ll hold on to for a long time. Every fan of the movies should get this book.