In Memoriam – Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger
Born April 4, 1979 – Died January 22, 2008
Australian actor and director
In Memoriam – Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight – Preparation
During a span of six weeks, Ledger “locked” himself away in a hotel room, forming a character diary and experimenting with voices.
“It’s a combination of reading all the comic books I could that were relevant to the script and then just closing my eyes and meditating on it,” he said about his process.
The diary contains scrawling and cuttings inside.
Christopher Hooton, writing for The Independent, said that the ‘Joker journal’ had several stills from Stanley Kubrick’s film A Clockwork Orange, joker cards, photos of hyenas, unhinged clown makeup and the word “chaos” highlighted in green.
Furthermore, it contains a list of things the Joker would find funny, such as AIDS, landmines, and geniuses suffering brain damage.
It was revealed that Ledger had read Grant Morrison’s writing of The Clown at Midnight (Batman #663) and based the list upon the Batman writer’s prose.
In Memoriam – Heath Ledger – “Joker”
Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker received critical acclaim.
It won numerous posthumous awards for his performance, including the
- Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor,
- Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture,
- BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role,
- Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor,
- Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, and
- Best Actor International Award at the 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards.