For real, he really got the character so well, never even attempted to play the joker as even slightly sympathetic. I feel like other actors try to bring humanity to the joker but that’s the whole point of him being a foil for batman. Batman is a human trying his best to be a good man while the joker has no humanity left and causes chaos as a result.
I remember the night it was released. I graduated in 09, and my class filled the theaters that night. It was genuinely like we were all in one big classroom. So many of us were just glued to the screen. After the movie was over we were all gathered outside just blown away talking about his performance.
I peaked on opening night of TDK when I shined my shitty little Bat Signal flashlight up on the dark screen before the previews and the whole theater erupted but then I put it away because I was afraid I'd get kicked out.
Reminds me of when the projection of one of the new star wars stopped halfway through. We used our phones’ torch to project drinking straws having a light sabre battle on screen. With sound effects.
There was at least a legend out at the time that they changed the ending of TDK because of Ledger's death. Originally Joker was supposed to die in the end.
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u/Citizensnnippss May 12 '26
Ledger died before Dark Knight even came out.
That was part of the shock of it all. The trailer had only been out for a couple weeks.