Exploring Acting and Directing in 'The Dark Knight' Film

After the most recent Oscars ceremony, much of the world’s attention is on Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of the Joker but the real inspiration for his work is Heath Ledger’s 2008 performance. Although there was protest when Christopher Nolan announced that Heath Ledger would be cast in The Dark Knight, his incredible dedication to becoming the Joker would ultimately earn him accolades and popularity along with a posthumous Oscar award. This was not the first time the Joker character would make an appearance in a Batman film, so Ledger had big shoes to fill. With Nolan’s directing and writing, Ledger had all the necessities to be a great Joker. Heath Ledger’s performance combined with Christopher Nolan’s unique directing style has made The Dark Knight one of the most iconic superhero movies of all time.

In order to make this his most memorable performance of all time, Ledger pushed himself mentally and physically than he ever did. Once he heard about a sequel to the iconic Batman Begins, he reached out to Nolan about playing the Joker even before the screenplay for The Dark Knight was released. Heath locked himself up in a hotel room and in his apartment for over a month to prepare to be the Joker. Ledger would use this isolation to clear up head space before taking on the role of the Joker. He also used this isolation to help him create a totally new and unique version of the Joker that had never before been seen. The superhero community always judges actor’s takes on the Joker by their voices and the actor’s take on the iconic Joker laugh. Heath took this part of the Joker very seriously as he took six weeks to develope a unique voice for his character. According to Christopher Nolan, Ledger was studying ventriloquist dummies because he found their voices terrifying. His, “Why so serious?” line that he would say would be cemented as a legendary quote from the Joker. When Ledger would say, “Wanna know how I got these scars?” it would tell two damaging stories throughout the film. The first story is about how the Joker’s dad deformed his face with a knife and the second story he tells is how he deformed his face to make his wife happy. The two stories conflict but it can be believed that the Joker did it to create fear. The answer is that they aren’t physical scars but emotional ones. Ledger kept a very detailed diary that often contained his script for the film. He kept this diary on set and he often would look through it to get into character before scenes. By doing this, it would allow Ledger to immerse himself into the character of the Joker. The journal also contained pictures of the Joker from the comics, Hyenas, and multiples pictures of Alex DeLarge from the movie A Clockwork Orange. This dedication led Ledger to have heavy input on the wardrobe and makeup decisions for the character. He was so in love with being able to control what his character wore that he started to do his own face paint for the movie. The prop team even allowed Ledger to decide between an array of rubber knives for his signature weapon. Ledger even got to direct a part of the movie under supervision of Christopher Nolan. Under Nolan’s supervision, Ledger got to create hostage videos so that it would look like it was taken from the Joker’s perspective. To push Ledger physical limits, he would often ask Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman) to assault him during their on-screen scenes to make them more authentic. Although Bale wanted to pull his punches, Ledger asked him not too and even encouraged to hit him harder during one scene. In another scene where there where tiles on the set, Ledger was throwing himself around so hard that he ended up denting and cracking the tiles on the set. This impressive dedication to the Joker would eventually pay off for Ledger but it ultimately would lead to his premature death. The amount of time and effort Ledger put into the Joker would end up having him battle with insomnia and to the abuse of prescription sleeping pills, which would kill him at the age of 28, months before the movie hit the theatres. Ledger’s death sparked uproar in the community as it brought fame to his performance. Even though most superhero movies are dismissed by the Academy, Ledger’s performance as the Joker brought attention to him from the Academy. Ledger’s performance as the Joker won him a multitude of awards like a Golden Globe, British BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild award, and a ton of U.S. and Australian critics awards. His performance was legendary making him the second actor ever to win an Oscar after death. Ledger gave of the most unsettling yet amazing performances of all time. Due to his dedication and commitment to doing his best, Heath Ledger was able to provide one of the best performances of the Joker to ever hit Hollywood.

Before Christopher Nolan decided to make Batman in his own unique style, Batman was sort of looked to as a joke. Old movies based on Batman treated him like a joke or a lighthearted character and even as a simple character. Nolan changed the game by reimagining the character as a darker, more thoughtful and complex hero. When he released Batman Begins, people were praising Nolan and calling him a hero for saving the Batman franchise. Christopher wanted to stay true to the comics as much as possible. The Dark Knight does a good job of keeping the audience engaged with its intriguing story that has a strong impact on the viewers. Nolan never fails to keep his audience at the edge of their seat. Almost every superhero relies heavily on CGI and special video effects, but Nolan decided to mostly stay away from CGI. Nolan dedicated so much time and work into this film that every scene is absolutely essential to the main story. Another aspect of this film that makes it great is the dark and realistic nature of the people involved in the story. It even proves to the audience that even the best of people can give in to the temptation of evil. We get an early glance of this when Harvey Dent says, “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” We see the current state of Gotham’s people with crooked cops, politicians and the mobs and criminals that plague the city. Due to the amount of crime that happens in Gotham and the Joker who is constantly causing Batman to question the rules he has for himself; we see Batman show an uncontrollable amount of anger and brutality. He did a great job about keeping Joker’s origin story a mystery, by having him simply just show up and cause havoc. Nolan wanted his Batman to be this way because it reminds the audience how human Bruce Wayne really is. This also shows the audience how Batman is constantly faced with the problem of breaking his one rules, which is to never murder anyone. This rule is the only thing that keeps Batman from crossing the line of good and evil. Another reason why The Dark Knight is one of Christopher Nolan’s masterpieces is because it focuses on right vs wrong, good vs bad, and sane vs insane; other superhero films focus solely on the attributes of superhuman or godlike characters. Nolan also shows character development through Harvey Dent by having him become Two-Face in the middle of the movie, creating a tone shift. By doing this, it throws off the balance of good and evil. Harvey’s fall into becoming a villain is mainly based off of fear and revenge, since his fiancée Rachel dies in an explosion. Nolan also sets the tone of the movie by opening up with an iconic bank robbery scene that sets the mood for the entire film and Heath Ledger gives one of the greatest entrances of a character. Christopher Nolan gave The Dark Knight the perfect ending, he made Batman sacrifice his name to save what he cares about most, his city.

To conclude, the film flawlessly displays a groundbreaking take on what superhero movies can strive to be. It gives the viewers a taste of action, suspense, and drama all while proving that there’s a fine line between good and bad. The film also does an astounding job of showing that even the best people in society can be pushed to corruption with just a little bit of madness. The acting is fascinating and the screenplay is transcendent. Christopher Nolan screenplay and Heath ledger’s performance have set the bar insurmountably high for all other films to follow. This bar that was set by them, has yet to be surpassed. Heath Ledger’s performance combined with Christopher Nolan’s unique directing style has made The Dark Knight one of the most iconic superhero movies of all time. Requiescat in pace, Heath Ledger.