Patrick Leahy in "The Dark Knight"

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D) gets more than a nonspeaking cameo in The Dark Knight. He gets a defiant line right before Mr. J stabs him in the face.

A lifelong fan of the World's Greatest Detective™, this is not Leahy's first foray to Gotham, but it's probably his coolest. He's been an animated governor, written introductions, and even appeared with no lines in 1997's Batman & Robin. That, of course, puts him several steps above George Clooney, Chris O'Donnell, and the rest of the cast of that abomination. Had everyone kept their mouths shut - especially the Governator - and just mimed, maybe that Joel Schlockmaker flick wouldn't have sucked so very, very hard. Who knows.

Asked how he prepared for the role, Leahy let's us know he's not a Method actor:

So how did Mr. Leahy manage to find his character’s motivation? Was he thinking of Vice President Dick Cheney, who in 2004 used profanity to curse Mr. Leahy on the Senate floor?

“No, I wasn’t visualizing Dick Cheney,” Mr. Leahy said. “They can’t use that dialogue in a PG-13 movie.”