Christian Bale is one of the most talented actors of all time. He truly goes above and beyond for any role he takes up, captivating his audience in the most beautiful ways possible. He has featured in many projects that can only be called masterpieces, making his acting the perfect addition to some of the most interesting storylines ever. He has been awarded time and time again for his craft, being nominated for a number of Academy Awards, as well as winning the same for his work in the 2011 film, The Fighter.
The perfect example of this is his work as the Batman in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. The series can easily be called one of the best to come out of the entirety of the superhero genre, featuring an incredible cast, including Heath Ledger, who had, perhaps one of the best performances of his career in The Dark Knight.
Heath Ledger’s Extensive Process To Get Into Character For The Joker
Heath Ledger famously chose method acting to get into character for the genuinely terrifying comic-book villain, the Joker. While there have been many to play this character, both in voice and in live-action, none have taken it as far as Ledger did. Being completely dedicated to doing the best he could no matter the cost, the actor locked himself in a hotel room pre-production, where he would spend days staring at the walls and laughing to himself.
Modeling his voice from Bob Dylan in I’m Not There and the way he carried himself through the same way Sid Vicious and Tom Waits approached their public persona, it is truly incredibly concerning how much the actor was willing to suffer to make sure every was perfect. It would seem that nothing was off the table, including sustaining physical damage for the sake of the scene, something that completely scared his co-star, Christian Bale.
Christian Bale Was Concerned With Heath Ledger’s Acting Style
During an interview, Christian Bale spoke on this, specifically talking about the interrogation scene from The Dark Knight. The actor revealed that before they started filming the scene, Heath Ledger asked him to not hold back when hitting him during the physical altercations during this sequence. It is important to keep in mind that Bale had trained extensively to get into the role of Batman, including becoming a trained fighter, so he actually hitting someone would cause serious damage.
“He was kinda egging me on. I was saying, ‘You know what, I don’t need to hit you. It’s going to look just as good if I don’t.’ And he’s going, ‘Go on. Go on. Go on….’ He was slamming himself around, and there were tiled walls inside of that set which were cracked and dented from him hurling himself into them.”
Naturally, Bale refused, stating that it would look just as realistic if he did not actually hit him and that it was not required. Despite this, however, Ledger did not back down, slamming himself around the interrogation room with so much force that the tiles that lined its walls were cracked and dented by the end of it.
Source: Far Out Magazine
