With the release of Warner Brothers' "The Dark Knight", both the late Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker and the film as a whole, is garnering an enormous amount of praise and acclaim. Many have deemed it worthy of an Oscar, and the Undersigned agree. This petition implores the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to not only recognize Ledger's performance with a Best Supporting Actor nomination, but to recognize Christopher Nolan and the everyone associated with and involved with "The Dark Knight" for their extraordinary filmmaking achievment.

"The Dark Knight" has delved deeper into its source material than any "comic book film" of its kind, and does it in such a way that it is presented as something far more complex than escapist fantasy. By grounding the film in a hyper- or heightened reality, "The Dark Knight" takes on the attitude of an epic crime drama/thriller than a "superhero blockbuster."

The late (Great) Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker has presented both the filmmaking and the filmgoing communities with the most compelling villain since Hannibal Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs." Ledger went to extraoridinary lengths to completely disappear into the Joker, and when watching the film, Ledger the actor is unrecognizable. This, some say, is the pinnacle of film acting.

Christopher Nolan's direction has put "The Dark Knight" into a category all its own, and placed it leaps and bounds above any superhero film, or even most crime dramas, to date. Combining a compelling story that takes Batman not only into the darkest recesses of his own soul, but across the world and back, with characters that the filmgoer grows to care about, and with an epic scope that goes beyond anything thought possible in the superhero genre, we believe that Christopher Nolan is more than deserving of a Best Director nomination and award.

The film as a whole plays as one of the great crime dramas of modern movie history, and one doesn't even have to look past the "Cowl and Clown" in order to see this. "The Dark Knight" presents a compelling viewing experience that takes the audience out of the theater and into Gotham City, and doesn't bring them back until the last End Credit rolls. This is truely a milestone, both for "comic book films" and for films as a whole. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences MUST recognize this, and give "The Dark Knight" the accolades it so richly deserves.