The Dark Knight Rises Script - Deleted Scene 2

Opening scene.

INT. POLICE INTERROGATION VIEWING ROOM

Commissioner Gordon and two other police officers stand in front of the two-way mirror, blocking any view of who is inside the interrogation room.

COMMISSIONER GORDON
Okay, boys.  We’ve got him here just for questioning, and then he’s back in his cell, understand?  We’re not playing games with him anymore.  Statement, then cell.

The two officers look at one another and then back to him, and nod.

COMMISSIONER GORDON
Alright then, let’s do this. 

As they file out of the room, we see that sitting at the table on the other side of the glass, handcuffed and forlorn, is the Joker.

INT. POLICE INTERROGATION ROOM

One of the officers stands by the door, the other sits down at the table opposite the Joker while Gordon remains standing.  The Joker rests his handcuffed hands on the table around a polystyrene cup of coffee, with a weary but still menacing smile.

JOKER
You could’ve at least warmed it up a little, Jim.

COMMISSIONER GORDON
(sighs) I could, but then how could I be sure you wouldn’t throw it in my face?

JOKER
Heh heh, I guess you couldn’t be sure at all.  But then, you can never really sure of anything these days, can you, Jim?

COMMISSIONER GORDON
You can refer to me as Commissioner Gordon or ‘sir’.  I am not your peer, I am not your equal, and I am certainly not your friend.  Now we’re going to talk about your little stunt with the boats.  Guess your plan didn’t work out quite as you would have liked.

JOKER
Oh, you got me there!  I guess all my hard work and effort went to waste.  What a shame, a crying shame.  Ain’t too much sadder than the tears of a clown, right?

COMMISSIONER GORDON
You can’t quote lines from a song, that’s copyrighted material and we’ll have to pay big bucks to use that; and you can’t expect to play games with the lives of the people of Gotham and get away with it.  Not anymore.

JOKER
Oh right, your little bat friend.  Say, you don’t happen to know where he is right this moment, do you?

COMMISSIONER GORDON
(hesitantly) He’s… out finding Dent. 

JOKER
Right, right.  Gee, wouldn’t it have been great if he’d been able to start looking for him straight away?  Like, if this whole situation with the boats was a test, and both of the detonators were duds?  Because if that was the case, then the illustrious Batman wouldn’t have been tied up with my shenanigans; he’d have been free to find Dent right off the bat, and your little friend Harvey wouldn’t have been able to get to your wife and kids.

COMMISSIONER GORDON
Yeah but that would be even more far-fetched than you being able to organise such large-scale destruction in the first place.  I’ll see to it that you never see the light of day, ever again.

Comm. Gordon’s phone starts to ring and he steps out of the room.  The two officers left in the room look uneasily at one another.

JOKER
Well, boys, it’s just us. Are you sure neither of you wants to go check and see if Jimbo’s okay?

OFFICER 1
No, we’re not allowed to leave you alone, I can’t take my eyes off of you.

The Joker laughs, and starts to sing the horn part of the song “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”.

OFFICER 2
Dude, why does that give me such de ja vu?

JOKER
I’m not going to lie, I really feel like I recognise you, man.

OFFICER 2
Right?! Same here!  What’s your name?  Like, your real name, not this ‘Joker’ business.

JOKER
(seriously) I can’t tell you that.

OFFICER 2
Fair enough.  I’ve changed my name a few times too. 

JOKER
I don’t care.

OFFICER 2
Dude, seriously, you’re so goddamn familiar. 

OFFICER 1
Shut up, man, he’s supposed to be going back to his cell, we can’t finish this session without the Commissioner.

OFFICER 2
You shut up. (to The Joker) Oh my god, I’ve got it.  Padua Stadium High School.

The Joker visibly lightens up.

 JOKER
What?  It isn’t… it can’t be… Cam?

OFFICER 2
Patrick Verona, you old fuckin’ dog!

The two men shake hands, laughing.

JOKER
Well, you’ve certainly grown, Cam.  An officer of the law, no less.

OFFICER 2
Yep, oh and it’s not Cameron anymore.  When I left Gotham the first time, when I met you and Bianca and everyone else, I took the name Cameron to kind of escape my past.  When things didn’t work out with B, I came back here and sort of reassumed my old persona.  I’m back to being John Blake.

JOKER
John Blake, eh?  I kind of prefer Cameron.

OFFICER 2
You always did like to be different, Pat.  And you always liked to put on a spectacle - I remember a certain someone arranging for the school band to accompany him as he sang an Andy Williams song to try to win over Kat Stratford.

The Joker looks bashfully down at his hands

OFFICER 2
Whatever happened with her, Pat?
 

JOKER
Well, you see, it’s like this.  I lose my job, we start to have money problems. She tells me I worry too much, tells me I ought to smile more.  Then she starts to gamble, gets in deep with the sharks. One day, they carve her face. And we have no money for surgeries. She can't take it. I just want to see her smile again. I just want her to know that I don't care about the scars.*

OFFICER 2
Whoa.  That’s pretty deep.

JOKER
But eventually I got sick of her whining and killed her.  I tried to play husband. I tried to taste the life of a simple man. It didn't work out, so I took a souvenir... her pretty head.*

OFFICER 2
That’s… that’s the wrong film, dude.

JOKER
What?

OFFICER 2
That’s Se7en, bro.  Save that bit for when you meet Fox, that’s his film.

JOKER
Shit, you’re right man.  My bad!

The two men laugh again, and Officer 1 looks on, baffled.

OFFICER 2
Well, I guess we’re done here.  There’s nothing left for us to do.

JOKER
So I’m free to go?

OFFICER 2
Looks that way to me.

OFFICER 1
Uh, Blake?

OFFICER 2
Did you not hear me tell you to shut up?

Blake punches the other officer in the stomach, who doubles over in pain and curls up on the floor.  Blake un-cuffs the Joker and leads him out of the room. We hear them laughing and joking down the corridor and a moment later Comm. Gordon re-enters the interrogation room and does a double take when he notices that Blake and the Joker are gone.

COMMISSIONER GORDON
What the hell happened here?  Where are they?

OFFICER 1
Commissioner, they started reminiscing about going to high school together and then the next thing I know, Blake’s punched me in the gut and he's un-cuffing his old friend and they’re heading out the door.

COMMISSIONER GORDON
What the - okay, well for starters you’re fired, and so is he.  That fucking idiot.  That’s one more thing to add to my list of ‘Things I Hate About Blake’.  I’m up to 10.

FADE OUT WITH GLITTERY GRAPHICS AND LETTERS TO CLEO SOUNDTRACK



* quotes taken from imdb.com ...and mashed up a little.