During the press junket for The Dark Knight the white elephant in the room was the ghost of Heath Ledger. We had all just seen the film, loved it, and loved what Ledger did in bringing the maniacal character of The Joker to life for the first time since Nicholson did it in 1989’s Batman. The difference here, of course, was that there would be no questions for Heath Ledger as he died unexpectedly on January 22, 2008. While this presented an obvious question in how to market the film, which was Joker-centric, the decision appeared to be an easy one for Warner Bros., they continued to embrace the character and the actor that brought him to life. They memorial page that remains live and I suspect always will.
During the junket we asked everyone to talk about working with Heath and his performance as The Joker. I have listed all their answers below as you will read responses from Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Chris Nolan (writer/director), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Rachel Dawes), Gary Oldman (Lt. James Gordon), Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent/Two-Face) and producers Emma Thomas and Charles Rovan.
Some answers are longer than others and some are much shorter. Gary Oldman was the most animated and excited as he really seemed to care for Ledger often referring to him as “kid” and goes on to say, “I had a lot of affection for him.” But I won’t ruin it all now, here is what they had to say.
…I found that [connection] with Heath. His immersion into the character makes it incredibly easy to work opposite and up everybody’s game.
I felt a real enjoyment. I was almost kind of chuckling inside and I didn’t want to let it show when we were doing our first scene, which was in the interrogation room and I saw what he was going to do with it, and I felt I recognized the satisfaction he seemed to be getting in the pleasure from the role to be similar to the satisfaction that I get from acting as well. I felt very comfortable working with him.
The guy was wonderful company and when he took off The Joker stuff he was Heath again. He was wonderful company.
I think what Heath does in the movie is extraordinary, unusual, 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. Anything I threw at him he would take it and throw all sorts of amazing things at me. It was what you always hope for.
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.
Was he also fearless as a person and not just in character?
No, I wouldn’t say so 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.
How much of The Joker did Heath actually bring to the character outside of what you had on the page?
I think he brought an immeasurable amount. What was on the page was a very clear indication of the way in which The Joker’s energy would be directed and the way in which he presented himself to the people around him. In terms of being the life of that character that’s something that had to come from Heath. He had to figure out a logical basis for the way in which The Joker does everything and he applied that uniformly to each aspect of The Joker. From the way he moves, the way he moves his hands, the way his face moves, what the voice was. He was very careful to construct an iconic performance and he always knew it would have to be iconic, but never losing sight of the reality of it. He plays the guy as a human being the whole time and The Joker’s form of evil is a very human form of evil and I think it is very important you believe in him as a human being as well as a monster.
Was there ever a point during filming there was something he did that actually surprised you? Surprised you what he actually brought to a scene?
I would say, honestly, every scene he did as The Joker was surprising in some way. I always knew he was going to be able to produce the degree of intensity that we needed, to do something extraordinary, but I really had no idea how he was going to do that. The performance is very complex and it has very particular elements that make it up and the things he’s doing with his voice, the range it has from the high pitch to the low pitch, there’s an unpredictability to everything and that is what you felt on the set every day, the unpredictable nature of the character. You felt that in the performance as well and there were always choice he made and the way he chose to perform them that were not at all what I had in mind when I visualized the scene at script stage but really seemed to work. He really did his homework, he had the entire film precisely plotted out.
About a year ago, you said something like, ‘This kid, this kid is going to blow you away.’
Yeah, I did say that. I was right, wasn’t I? I was right. I got a sense of it the first morning I worked with him, and I thought fuck, this kid’s a bit good! I called L.A. and I spoke to a friend of mine who asked, ‘What’s Heath like?’ and I said, ‘He is sort of tuned in, it’s like a frequency – he’s found a radio station that we can’t hear.’
He found something. That happens to actors sometimes… You know, I think over the years when I think of performances – Nicholson in Cuckoo’s Nest. Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon. That sort of work where you look and go, ‘Wow, that’s going beyond… that’s special. I think he’s sort of done that. I think there are times when an actor would just like… go through the sound barrier.
Gary, what was he like as a person?
Oh, great. The saddest thing is really, it’s a shame he’s not here to talk about it. I don’t mean this in a disrespectful way – it’s just Christian [Bale] is very private, it’s quite intense, and it’s very private, the way he works on Batman, you know? That’s not to say he doesn’t have a sense of humor. But it was more fun to hang out with Heath! Because people want – because he died – people want a dark story. [EXPRESSIVE SARCASM] He was so obsessed with the character, and he was contaminated with the Joker, and he couldn’t sleep, and all of that stuff. No, in-between takes he would sit on the curbside and smoke a cigarette, and laugh, and talk about his daughter Matilda. I thought he was a beautiful kid. He was wonderful. I had a real affection for him. Charismatic… is not… you need a whole new word for charismatic. Um, but it’s pretty special work, huh?
He’s probably going to get an Oscar nomination. They don’t always acknowledge this kind of genre. They don’t see this work – I don’t know why – it’s just, it’s just action, it’s just an action movie, and We’re the Academy! But they probably will [nominate] with this.
Heath – I think it’s one of arguably the most psychologically, disturbing villains I’ve ever seen in a movie.
I was thinking earlier if I didn’t know in advance it was Heath Ledger, I wouldn’t have guessed it was him. Was it like ever that? You said he “was on a different frequency,” was it like that on-set, thinking he’s tapped into something completely out there?
Yes, there are just certain choices an actor makes – and it’s not like you lose yourself and you lose a sense of who you are – but you know that, it’s like a band in a group. Sometimes the band just plays a song and they find a groove. And uh, and you can tell with Heath that he just found that thing. It’s what musicians call, you know… in the crack. He was right in the crack.
I just had great time with Heath. I don’t know Heath that well, but I really cherished my time that I had with him to work; to be in the make-up trailer with Heath while he was discovering his face and me discovering my face. Listening to him, and getting into character, and whistling and all this other kind of stuff. That was fun. I was getting into my character and looking at him and going ‘Okay, you know, what am I going to do with my face?’ Because he really created his look. That character Heath loved so much. You know, he really cared about The Joker and wanted to work on Joker.
We hadn’t rehearsed that scene in the hospital. I didn’t know what to expect that day, but I knew Heath was doing some amazing work. I had worked with him a little in the movie, but I was excited about it. I didn’t have that much to do that day in the bed. I just sort of sat there, and Heath did his thing. And once he started doing his thing, I was an actor in the scene, but I was a fan. I was looking at him and going, ‘Wow dude! That’s pretty good!! That’s pretty good stuff!!’
We’re doing it, and uh, I say, ‘Okay, man. I’m going to this. Heath, you do this. Put your hand… do this!’ We started working together and we came up with an energy there and the crew was electrified by Heath. That doesn’t always happen. 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.
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.
Do you think it was hard for him to leave the character behind once filming stopped?
No, this was a movie 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 showed me pictures and talked about it and would come in say, ‘She did this and she did that.’
I know everyone wants to know 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. I know he was making music videos and it’s an honor to have worked with him. I love talking about him in this movie, because he is so wonderful.
Casting him, he was one of the first of the new roles cast for the film. We didn’t even have a script yet. It was very early days. Chris had met with Heath at various points over the past few years on a couple different things and it never actually worked out that they worked together. When I think Heath heard The Joker was in the film, he had an idea of what he would do with that and we heard from his agent that he was interested so Chris met with him even though it was very early days. They had a great meeting and were completely on the same page as to what the character could be in Heath’s hands. So that was that. And working with him was just a dream, he was an amazing professional and a really great guy.
We could tell from the dailies or even from just being on the set that he was throwing himself into this. And one of the reasons we were so interested in working with him is because if you take a look at his body of work before The Dark Knight you can see the different characters that he plays, he completely embraces—he’s fearless about it. That’s the best way to describe how he throws himself into his performances. We felt that if he was going to do that for this role it would be really staggering to watch.
Stay tuned as I will have full interviews with the above folks in the coming week as well as a contest filled with Dark Knight goodies such as jackets and shirts, which you are sure to enjoy.
