Eek. My favorite Ledger role:
Posted on 08/01/2006 7:09:31 PM PDT by Rodney King
New Batman Joker Is… Heath Ledger!?
Batman Dark Knight Joker Heath LedgerOf all the recent superhero movies, Batman Begins was probably the most complete, offering a gritty, realistic background to the Batman story. Forget all that for the sequel, though, because Batman's going Brokeback.
For the sequel to Batman Begins, entitled The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan has ditched any idea that The Joker should be played by an actor so wildly charismatic that he's able to blow everyone else off the screen, like Jack Nicholson did. Instead, for The Dark Knight, Nolan has chosen to cast Heath Ledger - the mumbling bloke from Brokeback Mountain - as the Joker.
Batman Begins was such an unusually accomplished superhero film that there were only two possible responses to it. One was 'hurry up and make a Batman sequel' and the other one was 'please God don't let Katie pissing Holmes be in it again.' And Batman director Christopher Nolan seems to have listened to this feedback and delivered news of a new Batman movie - The Dark Knight.
The Dark Knight starts shooting at the start of next year, and will probably be released in summer 2008, but everyone already sort of knew that. The dilemma was who to cast as The Joker, the villain in The Dark Knight. Everyone from Christopher Ecclestone to Sean Penn has at some point been linked to The Joker, but those names couldn't have been further from the truth.
Instead, Christopher Nolan wanted to find a Joker who - instead of splashing acid up Jerry Hall's face to a funky Prince soundtrack like Jack Nicholson - was more serious. Serious like mumbling incoherently about anal sex and shooting themselves in the chest after an argument with the Dad from Everybody Loves Raymond. And that just leaves one possible candidate - Heath Ledger. And Christopher Nolan sure is excited:
"I'm excited to continue the story we started with Batman Begins. Our challenge in casting the Joker was to find an actor who is not just extraordinarily talented but fearless. Watching Heath Ledger's interpretation of this iconic character taking on Christian Bale's Batman is going to be incredible."
We're not too sure about any of that - Heath Ledger is going to have to pull an insane performance out of his arse to play the Joker properly, and we haven't seen a performance like that from him. However, don't forget that Heath Ledger was in The Patriot with Mel Gibson, so if he wants to play the Joker as pissed-up Jew-slagger, he'll have learnt from the best, OK sugar tits?
I could see Heath playing that role.
Yes, but would you want to?
Batman, why can't I quit you?
Batman begins was the best Batman movie yet. Period.
I trust the vision of the Joker will not be a hokey cartoony Joker, but a scary sociopath criminal.
Mel Gibson would be perfect for the role. No acting required.
I couldn't agree more. It was done the way Batman should be done!
Maybe he's after the Boy Wonder..
Eek. My favorite Ledger role:
Agreed.
That said, a good choice for Joker that would have compared to Nicholson's legendary performance should be Al Pacino or Terrence Howard.
Well, in this case it is a reference to a term MEl used during his arrest.
This movie can't come too soon for me.
Aren't people sort of getting sick of movies where a guy dresses up like a bat? How many batman movies can they make? Why do people want to watch so many batman movies?
I enjoyed that movie. Ledger did a fine job in "The Patriot."
Yes, it was a great batman, even better than Tim Burton's first Batman. (Out of respect for the dead, I won't mention Schumacher's Batmans).
I think the line said to a female officer was something like: "What are you staring at sugar tits."
Another Batman movie. Great. Who'll play the Caped Crusader this time? That role has become like jury duty for lousy actors.
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