Back in 2006, long before he started filming The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger was already thinking about his upcoming role as the Joker, “I definitely have an image in my head,” the late actor told Newsarama. “I definitely have something up my sleeve. I want to be very sinister.”
It turns out the young actor, just 28 when he passed away from an accidental drug overdose in January, wanted to steer clear of his much-admired predecessor Jack Nicholson saying, “Tim Burton did a more fantastical kind of thing and Chris Nolan is doing nitty gritty handheld realism. I love what [Jack] did and that is part of why I want to do that role. I remember seeing it and thinking how much fun it would be to put on that mask and attempt to do something along those lines. But it would obviously be murder if I tried to imitate what he did.”
Ledger followed through by making the character his own, while keeping with the purple suit and clown make up, as he masterminded a plot to create chaos in Gotham. A performance that could earn him a second Oscar nomination.
Hollywood.com talked with co-stars Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Maggie Gyllenhaal and director Chris Nolan to find out what they loved most about working with Ledger.
Christian Bale: “I would love it if he were to be walking in the room right now–he would be talking, he’s great company. I looked forward to working with him many times in the future, I looked forward to being his friend for many years to come. But this movie can be a celebration of his talent…he was a fierce talent and I was very fortunate to get to witness that talent and work with it and know the man during his lifetime.”
Maggie Gyllenhaal: “I think what Heath does in the movie is extraordinary and unusual and rare and special even for the most talented and experienced actors. He hits this stride where he is totally free in the movie and I think when that happens it bleeds out onto everyone around you. Acting with him, even though the scene was very scary and when I watched it was full of tension I actually had a great time working with him because anything I threw at him he would take it and threw all sorts of amazing things at me. It was what you always hope for.”
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Gary Oldman: “Heath, in between takes, would laugh and joke and sit down on the curb and have a cigarette and talk about Matilda. And I think it’s just the sort of thing that everybody wants to go “Oh, it’s the role. It drove him…” You’d have to be neurologically fucking mental, you’d have to have a disorder to play a part and let it affect you so much that you can’t sleep and that you – you know what I mean? Don’t you think? People want a darker story than there really is, because my experience of him, and I don’t know if he had substance abuse in the past, and people talk about partying and the stuff he used to do, but I was never witness to that. I worked with a sweet kid who had such a heart, who was a lovely guy. I worked with this guy who was completely committed to the role and the work, wanted more than anything to be taken seriously as an actor. He was on time, he knew the lines, and he was a nice kid.”
Chris Nolan: “Well, working with Heath was terrific. I needed somebody truly fearless to take on such an iconic role and Heath was an extraordinary actor, but he is also very bold with his choices and had been in the past. When I saw him in Brokeback Mountain, for example, that’s an extremely moving performance that is very, very dangerous for an actor. That is to say he plays an introvert, he plays a lonely person that gives nothing to the people around him and he risks doing that to the audience. He risks closing himself from the audience. Nothing in that performance is done from vanity, nothing is done to open out the character to the audience and yet it works. I think that was a very bold choice for that.”
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Aaron Eckhart: “Crews are usually blasé about the moviemaking process but not with Heath. They wanted to be a part of it, they wanted to see what he was doing. I remember after that day was done Heath and I, really tired, I said ‘That’s why I’m an actor.’ Because to work with guys like Heath – because Heath was the consummate actor.”
Christian Bale: “I love the fact that–regardless of whether it ever comes to fruition or not–the fact that Chris has created in this movie even the possibility that people are talking about accolades for an actor in a superhero action genre movie. Usually that is never even considered. Kudos to Chris for doing that and to Heath for coming forward with that devastating performance. He has raised the bar, completely, with it. He was absolutely committed. I enjoyed working with him immensely.”
Gary Oldman: “He’s probably going to get an Oscar nomination.”
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Chris Nolan: “I wouldn’t say [he was fearless] actually. I would say he was a very charismatic, very ordinary person. Very warm, very friendly, he put everyone at ease. He was very considerate of the people around him while he was working, really a great pleasure and a great professional. Those that knew him and those that had the privilege of working with him, it’s pretty amazing the disparity between the person he was and the monster that he created for us for the film. To see that on a daily basis, to see that being created from this very gentle person is a real testament to his skill as an actor and it was very exciting to watch.”
Aaron Eckhart: “This was a movie [set] where kids were all around. Everybody was talking about kids. Everybody was showing pictures of their kids. I was the only one in the trailer that didn’t have kids…[Heath and I would] do crossword puzzles. We played music. We did what people do, you know? Let’s not forget it’s a movie. I know everybody wants to know that about Heath and I don’t really have the answers. But I will say that Heath and I talked about photography, we both loved photography.” [PAGEBREAK]
Gary Oldman: “Really good actors, as Heath was, go along and they have good careers it’s like they’re sort of traveling at subsonic speed, and occasionally they go through the sound barrier. You can think of people like Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon…There’s certain landmark performances where you just think that they just fly. And Heath has done that here. He’s just tuning in to a radio station – he’s got a frequency that none of us can hear. It was like he found something. And I knew it was special the first day I worked with him. I called a friend and they said “How is it?” and I said “It’s good, it’s good,” and they said “How’s Heath as The Joker” and I said “He’s going to be sensational. You can tell already.” How good he turned out to be is beyond my expectation, really.”
