“He just did that for us?”: Heath Ledger Shocked Cast in Christopher Nolan’s $1B Epic With His Selfless Act After Showing Up in Full Clown Make-Up

Heath Ledger Shocked Cast in Christopher Nolan’s $1B Epic With His Selfless Act After Showing Up in Full Clown Make-Up
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There’s a reason why Heath Ledger has been highly revered as a veteran actor and why he has often been termed as the best Joker in the Batman movies. Starring against Christian Bale in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Ledger found love and fame from the world but it didn’t come cheap.

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From proving his loyalty to spending hours alone in a room to stay in character, Heath Ledger had to do so much to depict the psychotic role of the Joker. Talking about how selfless the actor was, a crew member from the movie revealed an incident when he showed up in make-up just to prove that he was the Joker!

Heath Ledger as Joker in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (2008)
Heath Ledger as Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008)

When Heath Ledger Showed Up In Full Make-Up To Prove Himself!

Before the people had seen the glory and versatility of Ledger, fans had high doubts regarding the actor until he put on the make-up and that iconic Joker smile.

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Christian Bale was in awe of Heath Ledger's performance
Christian Bale was in awe of Heath Ledger’s performance

Also read: “We were using each other”: Heath Ledger Helped To Calm Down The Dark Knight Co-star After Terrifying Him in the Iconic Gotham Hospital Scene

In an interview on MMASITDOWN, the duo talked about the veteran actor that was. Stating how fans had doubted Ledger’s abilities, a crew member of The Dark Knight talked about an incident involving the actor while on set. Stating how he appeared in full Joker make-up, the crew member turned to Christopher Nolan to ask him what they were shooting now. When Nolan pointed away from Ledger, the crew member realized that the actor had shown up in that makeup just for their sake!

“The first day that he comes in, he’s in full makeup. We break for lunch. I ask the director ‘what are we shooting after lunch?’ and he says ‘Well, we’re going to finish up this side of the room’. I said ‘so do you mean to tell me that Heath [Ledger] has been in hours of makeup and he’s not going to be on camera any time today!'”

He further continued,

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“He said ‘yeah’.Like ‘wow. He just did that for us. I mean that’s for real”

 That’s not all since as per film trivia, the actor has done so much more for the role of the Joker than what meets the eye.

Suggested: “Batman has arrived, now I want to know who the Joker is”: Christopher Nolan Was Not Desperate to Make ‘The Dark Knight’ After Heath Ledger’s Joker Reference

Heath Ledger Isolated Himself For Six Weeks

Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger

Related: “It was totally his fault”: Heath Ledger Ignored His Sister’s Warning About Drugs the Night Before His Tragic Death

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As per IMDB, Heath Ledger hid in a motel for six weeks. During that period of isolation, the actor delved deep into the psychology of who the Joker was. As per his co-star Michael Caine, Heath Ledger surpassed Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of Joker.

“Jack was like a clown figure, benign but wicked, maybe a killer old uncle. He could be funny and make you laugh. Heath’s gone in a completely different direction to Jack, he’s like a really scary psychopath. He’s a lovely guy and his Joker is going to be a hell of a revelation in this picture.”

In the end, Heath Ledger was found dead on 22nd January 2008 before the release of his magnum opus of a role.

Source: MMASITDOWN

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Written by Visarg Acharya

Articles Published: 2037

Visarg Acharya, Associate Content Writer, has been heavily involved in movies, series, and history. Having an experience of 2 years in the field of content writing, Visarg is a seasoned writer. Having a degree in Physics, Visarg Acharya has published a dissertation alongside a plethora of poems and short stories along the way.