Heath Ledger or Cristoph Waltz?

[Kurosawa]

Such different characters, such different actors and one of them is gone now...don't see the point really.

 

[I'm Old Greg]

Ledger by far

 

[Lunar_Wolf]

Ledger. Love his Joker, role in Brokeback Mountain and 10 Things.

Waltz was fantastic in Basterds, but I have to see more from him.

 

[El Payaso]

I think you are underrating Tarantino's writing here. He spent around a decade writing that script/character. I think a lot of people underrate the writing for the Joker character in TDK as well.

Both actors had magnificent scripts. Now Waltz had just that and Ledger had decades and decades of different interpretations to abse or not his take on. And those previous takes that did not influence him were as important as those that did.

 

[redfirebird2008]

Both actors had magnificent scripts. Now Waltz had just that and Ledger had decades and decades of different interpretations to abse or not his take on. And those previous takes that did not influence him were as important as those that did.

There's another side of the coin with that argument, though. Remember the homophobic reactions to Ledger being cast as the Joker? Ledger had a ton of pressure on him as soon as he was cast. It was pretty impressive that he was able to help create a version of the Joker that was fresh enough to make a strong impact despite the decades of interpretations.

 

[The Joker]

I think Ledger had the greater challenge. Ledger had to take an iconic character and do something different to the style of Cesar Romero's, Jack Nicholson's, and Mark Hamill's takes on the character. No easy task. Not to mention he had huge expectations of him from millions of fans across the world to do their beloved character justice.

Not only did he succeed in playing the Joker in a wonderfully unique way that had not been done before, but I think by and large he surpassed expectations of the fans and audiences.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Ledger. Love his Joker, role in Brokeback Mountain and 10 Things.

Waltz was fantastic in Basterds, but I have to see more from him.

I thought the argument just have to do with Waltz in IB and Ledger's performances in TDK.


Like what hippie hunter said before, performance wise Waltz was harder to pull of and better. Landa wasn't as a luxurious or flashy a role as Joker. It took a lot more subtlety. And for that I say Waltz was better because he had to perform a greater range than Joker.

But character-wise, Joker was better. In this role, Heath was able to go all out and go crazy with it. Its a hard role, but also a fun role to play.