New York, July 14, 2008 – We were kind of dreading that Heath Ledger eulogies would dominate talk at the premiere of The Dark Knight on Monday, but while the movie’s stars offered words of praise when asked, the black carpet chatter was refreshingly upbeat.  The stunts – Chin Han, who plays Lau, demanded to know where we’d heard that he gets beaten up a lot in the movie; the makeup – Aaron Eckhart said that the heavy coat of cosmetics that transformed him into Two-Face made him more attractive.  Michael Caine revealed the key to playing the quintessential English butler Alfred. “You just keep cool.  All butlers are cool.  They’re not fazed by anything”, Caine told us. 

The intense interest in Ledger’s last movie had crowds filling the streets and blocking traffic around the AMC Loews Lincoln Square Theater.  The actual Batmobile was parked at the corner where passersby could ogle it.  The Bat Pod motorcycle stood at the theater doors, creating a traffic jam for attendees who had to wait while the stars posed for photos before heading inside. At one point, we saw Peter Sarsgaard, Ed Westwick and Ethan Hawke standing in a huge crowd waiting patiently for a break in the photo ops.

The premiere drew a lot of star power.  Josh Hartnett, Emile Hirsch, Edie Falco, Patrick Wilson, Mariska Hargitay, Lauren Conrad and Gossip Girl stars Blake Lively, Chace Crawford and Penn Badgley all got a sneak peek at the movie.