“The Dark Knight” is considered by some fans to be the greatest Batman film so far, and much of the praise has to do with Heath Ledger’s iconic performance as The Joker. Ledger took the character and made it his own, and his Joker has earned its place in pop culture history.
When Heath Ledger was first cast as The Joker there was a lot of backlash, but the criticism was quickly silenced as soon as the film was released. Ledger dedicated himself to the role completely, and he even managed to convince Christian Bale to hit him for real.
The book 100 Things Batman Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die features excerpts from interviews with Ledger and Bale that were conducted around the time of the film’s 2008 release, and in one of the interviews Bale revealed that Heath egged him on after he told him he didn’t need to actually hit him.
“As you see in the movie, Batman starts beating the Joker and realizes that this is not your ordinary foe. Because the more I beat him the more he enjoys it,” Bale said via THR. “The more I’m giving him satisfaction. Heath was behaving in a very similar fashion. He was kinda 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 slamming himself around, and there were tiled walls inside of that set which were cracked and dented from him hurling himself into them. His commitment was total.”
Bale also mentioned that the interrogation room scene was the first scene he shot with Heath Ledger, and that Ledger never broke character when he was wearing The Joker outfit and makeup.
“Our first scene was in an interrogation room together, and I saw that he’s a helluva actor who’s completely committed to it and totally gets the tone that Chris [Nolan] is trying to create with this. We’re not going for actors revealing their enjoyment of playing a wacky caricature. We’re treating this as serious drama. You go into character and you stay in the character. I love that. I find that so ridiculous that I love it, and I take that very seriously. Heath was definitely embracing that. When he was in the makeup and the garb he was in character the whole time; and when he took it off he was absolutely fantastic company to be around.”
Ledger’s commitment to the role definitely paid off, as “The Dark Knight” will be celebrating its 10th anniversary next year, and the legacy of Heath Ledger’s Joker will live on forever.
With the help of allies Lt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and DA Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Batman (Christian Bale) has been able to keep a tight lid on crime in Gotham City. But when a vile young criminal calling himself the Joker (Heath Ledger) suddenly throws the town into chaos, the caped Crusader begins to tread a fine line between heroism and vigilantism.
