Heath Ledger knew how great his Joker would be

Andrew Garfield recalled Heath Ledger being “smug” about 2008’s The Dark Knight, wherein he performed The Joker.

Heath Ledger’s flip as The Joker in 2008’s The Dark Knight stays one of the chilling performances of this century, the actor finally profitable a posthumous Oscar for the defining portrayal of The Clown Prince of Crime. Based on peeks and teases, we knew we would be in for one thing particular when the movie got here out. And so did Ledger himself, absolutely conscious simply how highly effective the efficiency and The Dark Knight would be.

Recounting working with Heath Ledger on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Andrew Garfield (Anton) remembered the star telling him about his go as The Joker. “He had just done the Joker, he had just finished doing The Dark Knight, and he was so smug about it. I was like, ‘How did that go?’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, it’s really good.’”

However, Heath Ledger wouldn’t discover all the things to be humorous surrounding the promotion of The Dark Knight, particularly with how some publications have been depicting The Joker. “I remember his like, Empire magazine cover came out and he was like, ‘Oh, they used a f*cking sh*t photo. And I was like, ‘Are you kidding me, dude that looks f*cking incredible.’ And he was like, ‘Nah, the pose is all wrong, it looks kinda like a conventional version of what an actor…you’ll see.’ And yeah, I did see.” The cowl in query, from Empire’s January 2008 version, is a nonetheless from the scene the place Ledger’s The Joker is in jail, accompanied by the insanely corny textual content, “He’s a cold-blooded, mass-murdering clown!” Yeah, we are able to see why he took difficulty with it…

Tragically, Heath Ledger would by no means see the theatrical model of The Dark Knight, dying six months earlier than its launch. He would turn into solely the second – and is the newest – actor to win an Academy Award posthumously. Ledger has one other Oscar distinction, as his and Joaquin Phoenix’s wins for taking part in The Joker made them the second pair to nab statues for taking part in the identical character. The first was  Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro for Vito Corleone; they would later be joined by Rita Moreno and Ariana DeBose for West Side Story’s Anita.

Heath Ledger died throughout the making of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, with the likes of Johnny Depp, Jude Law and future fellow Batman villain Colin Farrell standing in for his character.