Heath Ledger's and tiny death sparked
all kinds of rumors that transformed the
actors performance as a Joker in the
Dark Knight into the stuff of legend
what's the truth about the many ways he
threw himself fearlessly into one of the
most iconic roles of modern cinema Heath
Ledger had a long history of sleep
troubles reportedly struggling with
erasing minds for years before
portraying the Joker however his chronic
insomnia became much more prevalent and
aggressive after filming The Dark Knight
his difficulty sleeping was summed up in
a New York Times profile in 2007 mother
films in production it is a physically
and mentally draining role his Joker is
a psychopathic mass murdering
schizophrenic clown with zero empathy he
said cheerfully and as often happens
when he throws himself into a paths he
is not sleeping much during this
interview letter reported that he has
slept an average of two hours per day
over the previous week he even mentioned
taking one ambien to no effect and after
taking another he was only able to stay
asleep for an hour this interview which
took place several months before
Ledger's death shed light onto how sleep
deprivation changed a young actor and an
offhand remark about his resistance to
sleeping medications even eerily
foreshadowed his eminent fatal overdose
on prescription drugs although director
Christopher Nolan gay peace Ledger quite
a bit of creative control over his
version of the Joker he did suggest
several sources of inspiration these
recommendations included the paintings
of Francis Bacon the Anthony Burgess
novel a Clockwork Orange and heavy metal
music
Nolan suggested these so that ledger
could understand the type of Joker he
was envisioning for the film and several
of these inspirations helped to form the
final version that appeared on screen I
thought my jokes for bad one of the
characters from a Clockwork Orange Alex
de large was particularly influential on
ledges to velopment Sophos Joker
character several images of the large
appear throughout the legendary Joker
diary that the actor created during his
self-imposed isolation in order to get
into the Wrights Head scape for the
character since Alex a large is depicted
as a sociopath who steals and assaults
innocent people purely for his own
amusement the Clockwork Orange it is
only not sure that the Joker would
consider him to be a kindred spirit in
fact the Joker's iconic glare in The
Dark Knight is considered to be a
recreation of the famed Kubrick stare
the expression that the large played by
Malcolm McDowell used in the film
should have a Clockwork Orange since
Heath Ledger wanted his affection of the
Joker to be completely different from
any previous versions such as those
played by Jack Nicholson or Cesar Romero
he isolated himself in a London hotel
for around six weeks to cultivate an
entirely new character during a 2007
interview with Empire Leger briefly went
over how his experience preparing for
the role changed him saying I sat around
in a hotel room in London for about a
month
locked myself away formed a little diary
and experimented with voices seeing it's
not the Joker's most iconic features are
his mocking voice and sardonic laugh
Ledger wanted to make sure his Joker's
voice sets him apart from those who
played the part before this was no small
feat that's aside from the greats who
had played the Joker on screen Mark
Hamill had made his focal mark on the
character and animation in order to
formulate his own unique voice for the
Joker let you practice different
pictures and tones he wanted to be sure
that the voice he chose reflected the
personality of the character he was
envisioning saying it was important to
try to find a somewhat iconic voice and
laugh I ended up landing more in the
realm of a psychopath someone with very
little to no conscience towards his acts
according to Nolan Ledger up and
studying ventriloquist dummies because
he found their voices terrifying he
decided to try and emulate one and using
the training on inflections he had
received from a voice coach managed to
mouth his dialogue to create an eerie
sound effect I'm gonna kill you although
not all actors are deeply concerned with
the costumes or props a character uses a
dark night prosthetic supervisor Connor
O'Sullivan said Heath Ledger became
heavily involved for the painting on his
face
apparently ledger and makeup artist John
Kat Leone jr. gravitated to water
Francis Bacon painting that no that had
recommended as inspiration for the
Joker's makeup Nolan went into more
detail about how the makeup design
helped flesh out Ledger's Joker
character saying we have a Francis Bacon
spin to his face this corruption this
decay in the texture of the look itself
it's grubby you can almost imagine what
he smells like besides working with
coglioni our makeup design Ledger was
also very engaged in the wardrobe and
prop departments he worked closely with
a Dark Knight costume designer
Lindy hemming when choosing the right
the Gaul deferred for the character he
even chose the Joker's signature weapon
from a selection of different rubber
knives laid out by the prop team in the
German documentary
Heath Ledger too young to die
Legislature land just how much a son
change to prepare for the Dark Knight's
explaining that galvanizing a character
was quote typical of Heath all those
Ledger was a seasoned method actor he
would already sunk his teeth into
challenging roles he pushed himself even
further than ever when getting into
character for the Joker
after Ledger's and timely death rumours
ran rampant that his turn as a Joker had
taken a toll on the young actor and led
to his demise however a documentary
titled I am Heath Ledger created by the
actors friends and family and released
in 2017 the spells are theories about
his death during an interview with
Entertainment Weekly following a
screening of the documentary at the
Tribeca Film Festival that a ceased
actors sister Kate Ledger officially set
the record straight about the State of
Mind before his death saying he was
having fun he wasn't depressed about the
Joker
although Heath Ledger was incredibly
successful in his portrayal of the Joker
he was initially very skeptical of
superhero films in fact when Nolan began
casting for the Dark Knight's
predecessor Batman Begins he originally
contacted Ledger about playing the
titular character but was turned down
with the note that he would quote never
do this kind of film despite his lack of
interest in comic book movies Ledger
quickly changed his tune after watching
Batman Begins he appreciated the realism
that no them brought to the table so
much that he enthusiastically reached
out about playing the Joker in the
sequel before the screenplay was even
finished as I was sort of surprised to
get the call because it really more came
from his end about wanting to get
involved wanting to talk to me about
what would be doing while he was
preparing for the role led to embrace
his nerdy side him read several graphic
novels that no than recommended
including Alan Moore and Brian Poland's
iconic The Killing Joke after his
isolation
lega described his process of utilizing
these comics to help him get into
character saying it's a combination of
reading all the comic books I kid that
were relevant to the script and then
just closing my eyes and meditating on
it in the Dark Knight The Joker makes
two broadcasts threatening the people of
Gotham City and taunting Batman although
no then supervisor filming process he
granted Ledger complete creative control
over these
videos as he wanted to be sure they were
taken from the Joker's perspective
originally Nolan was only planning on
having the actor direct the first video
but he was so impressed with a result
that he changed his mind giving Leger
the opportunity to direct the second to
let sure had already expressed interest
in trying his hand at directing and this
was his first real chance to branch out
into a new artistic endeavor before his
death Leger had already begun directing
several music videos such as grace wood
Roose david bowie cover quicksand and
Modest Mouse's king rats he was also in
the process of adapting the 1983 novel
the Queen's Gambit into a feature-length
film
Berta's untimely death sadly stopped him
from finishing the project Heath Ledger
didn't just push himself mentally to get
into character for the Joker he also
pushed himself physically the actor was
so dedicated to the role that he
actually encouraged Christian Bale to
physically assault him in order to make
one scene more authentic although Bale
tried to convince Leger that the scene
would look just as real if they fade the
fighting Ledger insisted that Bale
didn't pull any punches and even tried
to provoke him to hit harder Bale
himself went into more detail about the
scene during an interview that was
published in the book 100 things Batman
fans should know and do before they die
by Joseph McCabe the actor said he was
kind of egging me on I was saying you
know what I really don't need to
actually hit you it's going to look just
as good if I don't
and he's going go on go on go on he was
flapping himself around and there were
tiled walls inside of that set which are
cracked and dented from him hurling
himself into them his commitment was
total despite Baylor's attempts to
convince his co-star des faking the
fight would still look just as realistic
Leger was determined to have it be as
authentic as possible few actors are so
committed to their roles that they would
happily crack tiles by throwing
themselves into walls Christopher and
Jonathan Nolan may have developed the
Dark Knight's Joker but Heath Ledger
alone gave birth to some of the
characters most iconic moments through
improvisation one of the most notable
examples of ledges contributions came
during a scene in Gotham lock up and he
mockingly applauds after Gordon gets
promoted even though the clapping was on
originally written in the film script
Nolan loved ledges suck a stick claps so
most study ended up including it there
were also rumors alleged chains a
hospital destruction scene improvising
moments when
as confused and fiddles with a detonator
before the explosion follows a few
moments later however the story has had
some holes poked through it suggesting
that the scene may have been scripted
this sudden talent for improvisation was
a surprise coming from Leger as he had
never been known to improvise scenes
before in fact director and lever
counted ledger becoming upset when his
Brokeback Mountain co-star Jake
Gyllenhaal tried going off script saying
Heath just got really upset really upset
like his whole progress was disrupted
Jake is more of an improv actor try this
try that but Heath preparation was
really deep despite the fact that Heath
Ledger had never read a Batman comic
before he began preparing for his role
he quickly fell in love with the
character of the Joker he considered the
Joker to be an instant favorite in his
career and co-star Christian Bale were
called ledger telling him that it was
the most fun had ever had with a
character Bale went on to corroborate
how much Ledger enjoyed shooting The
Dark Knight after rumors of depression
surrounded the young actors death
telling reporters I saw him as having
nothing but the best time playing the
Joker at the end of the day he was
having a wonderful time making this
movie I say he couldn't have been
happier doing him Ledger's own sister
Kate stepped into the spotlight to
dismiss rumors that his overdose was
intentional and even revealed that
Ledger had already been planning to
return as Joker
she said he was so proud of what he had
done in The Dark Knight and I know he
had plans for another Batman he loved
working with Chris Nolan and Christian
Bale and Gary Oldman he just had the
best time ever doing that film Heath
Ledger broke down quite a few boundaries
with his Joker performance in the dark
night when awards season rolled around
most superhero films despite constantly
topping box office sales are rarely
considered by the Academy however legend
is a joker brought quite a bit of
attention to this privacy over the genre
and earned him a multitude of honors
including a Golden Globe British BAFTA
and the Screen Actors Guild Award see
I'm not a monster
I'm just ahead of the curve
making great strides for superhero films
wasn't the only way Ledger's posthumous
awards change his legacy he became one
of only two actors to win an Oscar after
death before him Peter fainted one for
his work in the 1976 satirical film
Network after passing from a heart
attack led
be nominated for Best Actor for his role
in Brokeback Mountain back in 2006 but
never got to see a win his father Kim
accepted the award for the dark night on
his behalf with a beautiful statement on
his legacy this award tonight would have
humbly validated heaves quiet
determination to be truly accepted by
you all here his peers in an industry
that he's so loved check out one of our
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[Music]