As Heath Ledger’s “Dark Knight” performance generates Oscar buzz, it’s underscored by the tragedy of his January death from a prescription drug overdose. The Joker was Ledger’s last completed role, and his fellow “Dark Knight” actors recall working with the 28-year-old.
CHRISTIAN BALE: “I have wonderful memories of working with him and of the great company that the man was himself. There’s an awful lot of that which I don’t want to talk about publicly, but I wish to God he was sitting here with us. I view this movie as an incredible celebration of his talent. It’s absolutely tragic that this is the last complete work that he did.
“I had spoken with Heath before we started ‘Batman’ so I knew we were going to be getting this very different portrayal, this wonderful punk, ‘Clockwork Orange’-style anarchist Joker who’s fiercely intelligent as well and that despises hypocrisy and is holding up a mirror to Gotham and declaring it to be utterly hypocritical. I can’t help but be just impressed beyond belief in what he did because it’s such an iconic villain.”
MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL: “I think that Heath does something in this movie that’s really extraordinary. I think it’s rare and unusual even for the greatest and most experienced actors to find themselves in a stride that’s as free as he found himself in this movie. I could feel that when I was working with him.”
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: “Of the actors I’ve worked with he was one of the easiest, most delightful presences on set. Not at all evil, dark and intense when he didn’t need to be. He was very kind to everybody around him. That is certainly not the Joker.
“I had met Heath before a couple of times. When he heard we were doing the Joker, before we actually had a script, he came and told me that he was interested in doing it. I knew from talking to him that he figured out how he could do this. We talked about the character of Alex in ‘Clockwork Orange,’ for example. He was terrifying to the audience and yet somehow oddly charismatic. When somebody that talented wants to take on something so daunting, and is confident that they can do it, I had never felt so sure of anything.”
GARY OLDMAN: “I wasn’t sure what I would feel. I’d never been in a situation like this where you’ve got a premiere coming up and you’re thinking, ‘Well, Heath isn’t going to be there. How am I going to feel when I see it?’ I honestly feel like I had forgot he had died. I just watched this great performance. Heath makes you forget …
“I must say this. There’s that gossipy other thing that wants to find the darker story here, and I don’t know about substance abuse or what was happening, but I never saw any of that. I saw an actor who was on time, knew his lines, was committed to the part and in between those takes would sit on a curb, smoke a cigarette, have a laugh, talking about his daughter Matilda. It wasn’t someone who was so contaminated and weirded-out with the part that they went mad. I just really do think that it’s a very, very sad and tragic accident. In the words of Sid Vicious, ‘Go out in a blaze of glory.’ This is a blaze of glory.”
