Jared Leto is the next actor to portray The Joker in the DC Cinematic Universe, but fans remain skeptical of his performance as they wonder if he would be able to top Heath Ledger‘s chilling performance as the Clown Prince of Crime in 2008’s “The Dark Knight“.
Ledger tragically died at the age of 28 from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills and other medication 6 months before the film’s release, but he received generally positive acclaims from critics and won various prestigious awards for his insane, frightening depiction of the Joker. Rumour has it that he had gotten too deep into preparing for the role as Batman‘s archenemy.
Now, a sequence from a German documentary about the late actor has resurfaced online, giving viewers a glimpse at how Ledger created his Academy Award-winning role as The Joker in the film.
The clip, which was uploaded onto YouTube by Broadview Pictures in 2014, was taken out from a 2012 German documentary, “Too Young to Die”. The documentary, which covers the life and death of Heath Ledger, featured a clip that showed Ledger’s father, Kim Ledger, leafing through a journal that Ledger kept.
The sequence was re-shared by a Reddit user on Sunday night, capturing fans’ attention once again as they are still fascinated by the impact that the actor’s performance left on the viewers.
According to Kim, Heath used to lock himself in a room in preparation for his chilling depiction of The Joker in the Christopher Nolan-directed film.
Kim said:
He pretty well locked himself up in a hotel, in his apartment, for a month or so, to sort of galvanize the upcoming character in his own mind.
“That was typical of Heath on any movie. He would certainly immerse himself in the upcoming character. I think this was just a whole new level,” he added.
As seen in the clip, the journal is filled with images of playing cards, the character from comics, Hyenas, and multiple stills of Alex DeLarge from Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange”. The word “Chaos” can be seen written in caps and highlighted in green as well. Towards the end of clip, Kim showed a few pages of his son’s dialogues from the film when he meets Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhart) at Gotham General Hospital.
Check out the clip below:
Ledger co-starred in the film with Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman.
Sources: Comic Book, EW.
