Harvey Dent (1989 film series character)

Harvey Dent, commonly known as Two-Face, is a fictional character who appears in Joel Schumacher's 1995 superhero film Batman Forever. Based upon the DC Comics character and supervillain of the same name, he was played by American actor Tommy Lee Jones. A pre-disfigured version of Harvey Dent appears in Tim Burton's 1989 film Batman, portrayed by Billy Dee Williams. As the newly elected district attorney of Gotham, Dent vows to lock up mob boss Carl Grissom (Jack Palance).

Harvey Dent
Two-Face
Joel Schumacher's Batman character
Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face
First appearanceBatman (1989)
Last appearanceBatman Forever (1995)
Based on
Adapted by
Portrayed by

Character arc

His origin story is the same as in the comics, where the district attorney is disfigured when gangster Sal Maroni throws acid on the left side of his face during a trial. "Boss Moroni" as he is referred to in the film, appears in a brief television news segment explaining the origin of Two-Face. Maroni's fate is left unrevealed, although probably murdered by Two-Face like in the comics.

Dent is from there, driven insane to the point of referring to himself in the plural, and swears revenge against Batman (Val Kilmer) for failing to save him. When Batman is pursuing Two-Face, the chase ends at Lady Gotham, the fictional equivalent of the Statue of Liberty. Later, the Batmobile's ability to drive up walls was displayed as Batman eludes a dead end provided by Two-Face and his henchmen.

He is portrayed as having two molls for each side of his personality - the angelic Sugar (Drew Barrymore[1]) for his "good" side, and the tempestuous "Spice" (Debi Mazar) for his "bad" side. He and his men attack Haly's Circus and during a hostage situation, murder Dick Grayson's (Chris O'Donnell) family; he is thus indirectly responsible for the youth's transformation into Robin. The Grayson family were helping get rid of a bomb rigged to explode at the annual Gotham Circus for the social elite. Following their deaths, Dick is taken in as a ward of Bruce Wayne's, although Dick is more interested in taking out Two-Face by himself.

Two-Face later teams up with the Riddler (Jim Carrey) and learns Batman's secret identity. Two-Face captures Robin and Batman's love interest Dr. Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman), and holds them hostage at the Riddler's lair. During the movie's climax, when Two-Face flips his coin, Batman throws a handful of coins into the air. Two-Face then panics and scrambles to find his coin but loses his footing, and subsequently fall. However, director Joel Schumacher reveals in the DVD commentary that Two-Face survives the fall. In Batman & Robin, Two-Face's costume is seen in Arkham Asylum.

Background

Billy Dee Williams was set to reprise his role in Batman Returns with his villainous alter-ego surfacing to attempt to take control of Gotham, but was ultimately written out of the sequel, however, and replaced by Christopher Walken as the corrupt billionaire Max Shreck who had a similar agenda, while the role of the movie's main villain was given to the Penguin (Danny DeVito). Williams took the role of Harvey Dent in Batman on the possibility of portraying Two-Face in a sequel, but director Joel Schumacher cast Tommy Lee Jones in the role, although Al Pacino, Clint Eastwood, Martin Sheen, Willem Dafoe, Nicolas Cage and Robert De Niro were considered,[2] after working with him on The Client. Jones was reluctant to accept the role,[3] but did so at his son's insistence.[4] Mel Gibson was offered the role, but he had to turn it down due to his commitment to Braveheart.

There was a rumor that Schumacher had to pay Williams a fee in order to hire Jones, but Williams said that it was not true: "You only get paid if you do the movie. I had a two-picture deal with Star Wars. They paid me for that, but I only had a one picture deal for Batman."[5] Williams eventually voiced Two-Face in the 2017 film The Lego Batman Movie.[6]

Rick Baker designed the prosthetic makeup for Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face. There was originally a more in-depth sequence at involving Two-Face escaping from Arkham Asylum at the beginning of the film, but it was cut. In Batman Forever, Two-Face replaced Tony Zucco as the murderer of Dick Grayson's parents, who also murders Dick's older brother.

Joel Schumacher mentioned Tommy Lee Jones as a source of trouble: "Jim Carrey was a gentleman, and Tommy Lee was threatened by him. I'm tired of defending overpaid, overprivileged actors. I pray I don't work with them again."[7] Carrey later acknowledged Jones was not friendly to him, telling him once off-set during the production, "I hate you. I really don't like you ... I cannot sanction your buffoonery."[8]

Ernesto Aura did the Spanish dubbing for Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 39% based on 64 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Loud, excessively busy, and often boring, Batman Forever nonetheless has the charisma of Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones to offer mild relief."[9] Scott Beatty felt "Tommy Lee Jones played Harvey Dent as a Joker knock-off rather than a multi-layered rogue."[10] Batman Forever received six nominations at the 1996 MTV Movie Awards, four of which were divided between two categories (Carrey and Lee Jones for Best Villain; and Seal's "Kiss from a Rose" and U2's "Hold Me" in Best Song from a Movie). However, it won in just one category—Best Song from a Movie for Seal's "Kiss from a Rose".

Legacy

As previously mentioned, the casting of Billy Dee Williams[11][12] as Two-Face in 2017's The Lego Batman Movie references the 1989 Batman film, in which Williams played District Attorney Harvey Dent, before his transition to Two-Face.

See also

References
  1. Travers, Peter (December 8, 2000). "Batman Forever". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on July 8, 2008. Retrieved September 7, 2008.
  2. Batman Heroes Profile: Harvey Dent (DVD). Batman Special Edition: Warner Bros. Home Video. 2005.CS1 maint: location (link)
  3. Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight-Reinventing a Hero (DVD). Warner Bros. 2005.
  4. Cindy Pearlman (July 22, 1994). "The Good Son". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on June 22, 2013. Retrieved July 19, 2009.
  5. "Billy Dee Williams Talks Two-Face, Did Not Get Paid For Batman Forever". Comicbook.com. November 2, 2013. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
  6. Shanley, Patrick (February 2, 2017). "Billy Dee Williams on Secret 'Star Wars' Lunch with Donald Glover and Finally Playing Two-Face". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
  7. Benjamin Svetkey (July 12, 1996). "Holy Happy Set!". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Retrieved August 16, 2008.
  8. "Tommy Lee Jones Once Told Jim Carrey I Hate You, I Really Don't Like You". US Weekly. October 29, 2014. Archived from the original on October 29, 2014. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  9. "Batman Forever". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on August 11, 2013. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  10. Bill "Jett" Ramey (November 28, 2005). "BOF Interview: Scott Beatty". Batman-on-Film. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved August 16, 2008.
  11. "Billy Dee Williams on Secret 'Star Wars' Lunch with Donald Glover and Finally Playing Two-Face". The Hollywood Reporter. February 2, 2017. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  12. "Watch: The LEGO Batman Movie Cribs Segment Tours LEGO Wayne Manor". Slashfilm. February 2, 2017. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
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