Poor Heath Ledger! I was shocked at the news of his death. Dead at 28. Found with a bottle of sleeping pills.
Anyway while reading the yahoo! news report (click here) A particular paragraph caught my eye:
Ledger said in an interview in November that “Dark Knight” and last year’s “I’m Not There,” took a heavy toll. He said he “stressed out a little too much” during the Dylan film, and had trouble sleeping while portraying the Joker, whom he called a “psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy.”
I know Heath Ledger is a very good actor. To correctly portray a character, an actor must internalize or think like the character they are portraying. Could Ledger have snapped while playing The Joker character?
The Joker is one of Batman’s earliest foes and one of the most insane and depraved. Forget about the cute and funny clown that you see in the batman cartoons. The Joker is one sick person. To portray him effectively means sinking into madness.
In ”Batman: The killing joke“ The Joker is at his most depraved. He shoots Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) in the back, effectively paralyzing her from the waist down. Joker then strips her father naked (commisioner Gordon) and forces him to watch the helpless Barbara in various states of undress.
It’s sick.
According to this wikipedia article, Mr Ledger had recieved a copy of the book in order to help him portray the Joker better. Could this have been one of the factors leading to his death?? Did he truly see into the heart of madness? We may never know.
Click here to download BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE in pdf format. See it for yourself.
yeah, heath’s death is definitely a waste. masyado pa syang bata.
I think Heath’s death was closely related to the role of The Joker. He took pills to sleep because he had nightmares of the creature he had become. He was so into his roll as The Joker that it consumed him and he went insane, needing pills for sleep trying to get thoughts of his on being out of his unconcious mind. I truely believe this is the Curse of The Joker at its worst. You may argue saying “Then why isnt Jack Nicholson dead” well have you taken a look at him THE MAN IS CRAZY! The Batman films have never seen a better Joker but the sad part is they will never seen him again.
Anthony Hopkins said on Oprah that portraying the character in Proof caused him to ‘break down’, he mentioned another role where his character was suffering from a heart attack and he wanted to get so deep into it but realized it was too much and just unnecessary, so I think this coming from one of the best actors of our era can prove Christian Bale wrong…acting CAN get a response from the body and I think that was the case with Heath. It might have depressed him.
Now I’m not a big heath ledger fan, but what i do know is that he hated the press, and playing in such a big movie, such a big character, there was press everywhere. I think he was a little overwhelmed with all the press and wanted to get away from them and took a lot of sleeping pills to get a way. I don’t think he knew that all the pills would kill him. I think Heath Ledger did die from portraying the character of the Joker and I’m sure Martin, your right that he was having nightmares and took to much sleeping pills to get away from the fear and pain as well.
Well thats my theory
I feel as though Heath Ledger’s death was caused by the playing of this role, to really play the part well he needed to fully understand the jokers mindframe. That’s it, he was pushed too far and found himself in a place he didn’t want to be, thus trying to get away from it by taking sleeping pills. We can all learn from this.
SendSpace no longer has that pdf available. Where else could I get a copy of that?
Poor guy. Honestly, I didn’t know him beefore, I’m not very good at films and actors, but is play in the Dark Knight was brilliant.
Actors should learn how to distinguish between their work and their real lives, more than in any other job.
Sadly, it’s probably the hardest for them…
I do believe there was a connection between the Joker role and Heath Ledger’s death. He already had a predispostion to depression (probably manic depression), was grieving the loss of his relationship with Michelle Williams and was working long hours portraying an evil character. This all sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. He probably didn’t intentionally mean to kill himself but fatal accidents can happen if the environment is right.
@Rodeheaver
At a comic book store. Or maybe Amazon.
I think as far as circumstances are concerned Heath Ledger was in a perfect storm ie: predisposition to depression, history of insomnia, break-up of a significant relationship, unwanted press attention, overwork, and numerous other factors. His life had clearly become unmanagable. But, if you’ll notice he didn’t die during the Batman filming he died two months later which could have represented another loss for him. He said he “loved” playing the Joker and I imagine he had also grown attached to his fellow actors in that film. A lot of excitement, action, bonding, during the film and then NOTHING – it was all over and he was left having to start over again in a new film. He also had pneumonia. It’s no wonder he died, for as incredible as he was Heath Ledger was still only human.
nothin’ 2 say more than we lost that guy…am really sad about wat happened 2 him , nd kindof feelin’ wat he felt in his last dayz after filmin’ that movie .
i think that ledger probably already had some of his own problems, but, the joker is pure evil, there is nothing that he feels any emotion over. most” bad guys” have a breaking point no matter how terrible it may be, the joker doesn’t. trying to act and be like the joker for that long could get anybody a little messed up. also, can you imagine, the posters for the joker are scary enough, but to have to always see yourself like that, and know that’s why your famous, it would be terrible. the sleeping pills could have been for many reasons, but i think that having to act like the joker was a large part in why he is gone.