Lost in the megawatt power of Christian Bale and Heath Ledger sparring for Gotham's soul is a range of talented supporting players, including Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine. In this Filmazing exclusive, Gary Oldman, who plays Lieutenant (soon-to-be Commissioner) Gordon in The Dark Knight, shares his experiecne on the film and brings his vast villain experience — Air Force One, The Professional, The Fifth Element, Dracula...Beethoven? — to comment on Ledger's performance.

Q. Were you excited about coming back as [Lieutenant] Gordon?

A: Yeah, yeah, I had a good time working on the first one, and I had a good time [on Dark Knight]. I like working with Chris [director Christopher Nolan] and Christian [Christian Bale, who plays Bruce Wayne/Batman]. Sadly I don’t get to work with Michael Caine, but I’m sure that maybe in the third one we can fix that...

It was exciting to come back and do it again, and do it so explosively, no pun intended. [Nolan] really turned the heat up on.

Q: [Gordon]’s much more flushed out in The Dark Knight.  He’s got a much bigger and more important role.  Were you surprised at first when they asked you play Lieutenant Gordon? I mean, let’s face it, Gary Oldman is not the first person you think of to play a big city police chief in movies.

A: A good guy? Was I surprised?  I don’t know, I didn’t really think about it.  You know things come in and they come across your desk, and you look and you consider, and you think, "Oh, well maybe. Oh I could do that, couldn’t do that. I’m interested, I’m not interested." [On Dark Knight],I thought, "Yeah, you know, I’ll have a go at that."  Chris believed I could do it.

Q: So he came to you for this.

A: Yeah.

Q: And he made some interesting choices too. I think a lot of actors would be tempted to play him really burly and outgoing and everything.  Yours is a lot more soft spoken, a little more subtle than I think a lot people would do it.  Was that your idea or was that Chris’s idea?

A: Yeah he’s quite reserved or he’s quite quiet. You try to give the impression that there’s deep water there, that there is stuff going on.  I think it’s partly on the page — certainly in the first one I felt that it was there on the page — and then I came to it with my own thing.

I guess that Chris liked it and basically said on the first day, "Oh is that how you’re playing him?  Okay, I quite like that. Let’s do another take."  And then in the second one I would like to think that he was writing for me because of what I’d done in the first, so I think it’s a combination. I think it’s a combination of what was originally set up in the first one.

Q: Is it enjoyable playing a good guy for a change?

A: Yeah, I’ve played some good guys. You guys have got such short memories — I’ve played a lot of good people!  Beethoven is not a bad guy.

I’m known for those whacky evil [roles].

Q: You do evil so well.

A: But Heath does evil brilliantly doesn’t he?

Q: Oh my god, amazing.  Those were interesting choices too.  He’s a younger actor; did you learn anything from him in his choices?

A: Working with him it was not so much I "learned," but [I] was reminded that I really don’t want to do that kind of stuff anymore. I thought, "Rather you than me."  Chewing your nails off and twisting your head 360 degrees, you know it’s hard to do that. It’s hard to do that so I didn’t envy that.  But he’s miraculous in it.