The Dark Knight In Heath We Trust: A Ledgerbration: The TDK Joker Appreciation Thread - Part 1

[redfirebird2008]

GOAT

 

[Gothamsknight]

GOAT

Agreed!

 

[BaelaTargaryen]

 

[Gothamsknight]

^^ And rightfully so. Ledgers Joker wasn't just the greatest comic book film/villain performance ever, it's easily one of the greatest film performances of all time. He stands alongside the greats like Darth Vader, and he appears on every top 10 list i've seen. Heath Ledgers Joker is, without a shadow of a doubt, legendary in every sense of the worse. iconic, bone chilling, scary, magnificent.

 

[The Joker]

Michael Jai White (Gambol) talks about working with Nolan and Ledger. Some great stories he tells.

 

[Brother Jack]

I hope that helps put to pasture the narrative that Ledger went "too deep" into the Joker and that's what killed him. It's always been sensationalist BS.

 

[Gothamsknight]

Michael Jai White (Gambol) talks about working with Nolan and Ledger. Some great stories he tells.

Saw this interview last night. I always suspected the role didn't somehow "warp" ledgers mind and I'm glad Michael finally put that b******* to rest. Really sounds like they had a blast on set together.

 

[James.B]

'Finding Steve McQueen' Star William Fichtner Shares Stories of Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, and More

A good friend of mine who produced Memento, Aaron Ryder, is really close with Chris Nolan. I didn’t personally know Chris, but my friend Aaron called me and said, “My buddy Chris Nolan is making this film, and he has this role at the beginning of the film, and he’d love to talk to you about it.” I said, sure, I’d love to speak with Chris about it, so we had a phone call conversation about it. He told me all about the role, how we meet the Joker for the first time, and all of this. I said, “Just do me a favor, send me the scene.” I read the scene and got right back to him, “Absolutely.” It’s one of those things, you can never know, and it was the same thing with Crash. I remember at the time my agent going, “It’s just this one scene, this one part,” which often times doesn’t mean a lot to me. I don’t really care; it’s what it is.
Chris’ description of who the guy was, what the scene was, what was happening in this moment, what kind of bank it is, and what kind of bank manager he was, in one conversation, Chris just shared a lot with me about what he thought was happening here. Like a Ridley Scott, some of these directors who are just amazing – they don’t have a million things to share with you on the day. They tell you things that put you down the road. There’s a big trust factor and they let you go.
I remember the first two days – and I think it was the first two days of principal photography – is when they shot that scene with the IMAX cameras in the bank. Chris had all sorts of people around him, and the special effects guys were incredible. I remember when I was walking with the shotgun and shooting, they asked, “Where are you going to aim?” I said, “Over here,” and in take one, I fired that thing, and when I fired it, something blew up and I thought, “Holy ****. These guys are good!”
It was also the chance, on the first day of principal photography, to meet Heath [Ledger] that day. I had never met him before. I remember one thing… He was pretty quiet with his headset on, thinking about whatever he was doing and his process, but I remember when we started rolling the cameras and the camera was on him, I thought, from one actor to another, I was watching him going, “I love, I love what this guy is doing right now. He’s dialed into what this role is,” and it was really cool. That was a good memory, and may he rest in peace.

 

[WhoMani]

This is another recent interview of Michael Jai White offering more stories of his time on The Dark Knight and Heath Ledger. Apparently it wasn't supposed to be a death scene but simply The Joker giving Gambol a Glasgow smile. He also noted that some of the things from the script weren't in the finished movie and that we were supposed to see more of the Scarecrow in The Dark Knight.

 

[Gothamsknight]

Wow I was not aware that gamble wasn't supposed to actually die. Do you guys think it was actually dodto a violence issue? There was also a scene of Lau burning on top of the pile of cash that they cut. Anyway, fantastic interview!

 

[WhoMani]

Wow I was not aware that gamble wasn't supposed to actually die. Do you guys think it was actually dodto a violence issue? There was also a scene of Lau burning on top of the pile of cash that they cut. Anyway, fantastic interview!

Michael Jai White speculated that either Ledger's death might have effected that part of the story or that Nolan simply decided to cut this subplot out of the movie.

 

[Gothamsknight]

Michael Jai White speculated that either Ledger's death might have effected that part of the story or that Nolan simply decided to cut this subplot out of the movie.

yeah, it could have. Pretty interesting how we haven't heard about it until now.

 

[The Joker]

Randomly came across this on Youtube. What a crowd.

 

[Gothamsknight]

Randomly came across this on Youtube. What a crowd.

I saw this recently. Reminds me of my midnight showing on opening night back in 2008.

 

[BaelaTargaryen]

 

[Gothamsknight]

Thats messed up

 

[James.B]

‘The Joker ’ – Premium Format figure at Comic-Con.

The Joker Premium Format™ Figure by Sideshow Collectibles

 

[The Joker]

^ That is incredible.

 

[Gothamsknight]

My god, that's a thing of beauty.

 

[BaelaTargaryen]

 

[Boom]

*Nods in agreement*

 

[The Joker]

Well deserved. The power of Ledger's performance still stands strong.

 

[Gothamsknight]

Absolutely well deserved in every way. Easily the greatest performance in the last 21 years and one of the greatest performances in the history of the cinema. Also the greatest I've ever witnessed in the cinema.

 

[BaelaTargaryen]

 

[The Joker]