It is still eight long months away until the most anticipated movie of 2008 arrives in theatres, but finally there is more information and more talk about the highly secretive film, The Dark Knight.
IESB had the privilege to talk to Mr. Heath Ledger on his role as the most infamous Batman villain, The Joker. Here’s an excerpt from the interview courtesy of IESB:
IESB: You’re going right from I’m Not There where you have to put your spin on a character set up by other actors and right into Batman where the Joker has been done by not only Jack Nicholson but Cesar Romero, etc as well as the comics. Does it compare at all?
LEDGER: I really don’t know. It’s like chalk and cheese. My preparation process for this and my process for the Joker are completely different. I mean, for the Joker I locked myself away in a hotel room for six weeks. I just formulated a voice and a posture and found a real psychology behind the Joker. I really put a lot of work into it. And the experience also on a production scale, by the way, is obviously a completely different shoot. Batman is just such a machine. It’s huge and I’ve never worked on anything that big. And the movie is going to be surprisingly good! It’s far exceeded my expectations.
IESB: Were there any specific comics you based your version off of?
LEDGER: Well, The Killing Joke is the one that’s being passed around and Arkham Asylum kind of. But I really tried to read the comics and put it down. You know, I was a big fan of Jack Nicholson – still am – his portrayal of the Joker was perfect for Tim Burton’s world and if Tim Burton had come to me and he was doing the sequel and he asked me to play the Joker in his movie, I wouldn’t do it. I couldn’t. Because you couldn’t touch what Jack Nicholson did. It would be a crime. When Chris came to me, I’d already seen Batman Begins and I really liked it. Because I’d already seen it, I already knew the world, which he had created. I instantly knew of an angle. I instantly knew a way into this character. A way to create a character to fit into this world and so it was fairly immediate. I’ve got straight away the fact that we’re both on the same page in terms of where we want it to be. But I guess we have to wait and see. I haven’t seen any of it yet.
I have to admit, when I had initially heard Heath Ledger was going to play The Joker, I was baffled by the casting choice.(I was hoping for Crispin Glover to get the role) I kept comparing him to Jack Nicholson, and from his interview he pointed out that is something that fans shouldn’t do. After seeing a few menacing pictures of Ledger and hearing very positive things so far about his look and portrayal of The Joker, I have had a change of heart. I am looking forward to seeing this man play The Joker and hopefully wowing audiences worldwide.
You can check IESB later this week for the full exclusive interview with Heath Ledger.
excelente troslalim de desos y proibas con rarcifa igatismo. morria a dindesumo y bicorino eutico con ncianos emosuco!
& now he’s passed away not knowing that this movie was he’s greatest acting performance & brought him to another level of iconic status!!!
I’m quite stoked myself. The Dark Knight should be quite interesting.
At first when I heard Heath would play the Joker I was like wtf!
Now I think the guy is perfect. He not only looks great as The Joker, he is showing amazing dedication to studying the character.
Whatever we end up thinking of his performance, i admire the effort that’s going in to it, and the balls it takes to do it in the first place.
Heath Ledger as Joker was laughable the first few days, but then the info and pictures just flooded out and I think differently now.
This movie will most likely be better than Batman Begins, which is no easy task by any means.
I’m not going to be superhyped for TDK, Spider-Man 3 taught a valuble lesson that I will always remember (that and Peter Parker’s emo dance down Main Street).
Here’s a guy who seems to be really dedicated to getting the part right.Its just that kind of dedication that makes for great acting.I was really exited about this movie but now im extatic;they’ve already got a batman whos character nears perfection,now if they do as good a job on Joker as it seems they will,this movie will even surpass its much-acclaimed prequel.
“I have to admit, when I had initially heard Heath Ledger was going to play The Joker, I was baffled by the casting choice.(I was hoping for Crispin Glover to get the role) I kept comparing him to Jack Nicholson, and from his interview he pointed out that is something that fans shouldn’t do. After seeing a few menacing pictures of Ledger and hearing very positive things so far about his look and portrayal of The Joker, I have had a change of heart. I am looking forward to seeing this man play The Joker and hopefully wowing audiences worldwide.”
I agree 100% I felt it was a bad move. I thought it would have been Brokeback Knight. but after seeing pics and reading up on it, I agree 100%. I think he might live up to the Jack Nicholson Joker.
I am going to keep my current opinion that he wasn’t the best choice for the Joker. I guess in hopes that maybe…just maybe he will be able to pull it off. Either way I’ll be either impressed or not overly destroyed that hollywood destroyed another great comic book character.
The fact he mentioned the Killing Joke, which is one of my favorite one shot books is a good sign.
I just love this man. In recent interviews he has impressed me more and more. I’m fairly confident this give will be a whole new kind of Joker portrayal. Let’s not make comparisons between Ledger and Nickolson, they are playing a different character, with the same name.
It sounds like he did alot of work to really make the character his own. He read some material took some ideas as a jumping off point and then really ran with it.
Honestly, I have a feeling that this will be a classic portrayal and a benchmark of villainry in film for some time to come.
I am really hoping that this movie has an “Empire strikes back” feel to it, and The Joker ends up “winning” at the end, leading into the third act.
despite what any haters may say, and judging by his voice from the teaser and the pics online, i think heath will own this character and it will rock.
i expect to have a grin from ear to ear watching this movie. ;)
I am looking forward to seeing Ledgers’ portrayal of the Joker. The more I read about it the more I ma interested.