Bale: Ledger Will Be a Great Joker
Filed under: Action, RumorMonger, Fandom, Scripts, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Yes, Heath Ledger is officially the Joker, in a movie which is officially named The Dark Knight. You can shut down the rumor mill now, at least as far as those two issues are concerned. I know, people keep talking, but the important people -- the ones who know things -- have confirmed it for us. The most recent confirmation came from none other than the Dark Knight himself, Christian Bale, who just gave an interview to Film Focus. You can read the full text of the interview over there, but allow me to share with you the important bits. - Yes, the movie will be called The Dark Knight. In case you somehow did not know this, the Dark Knight is an old nickname for Batman, so the title makes sense. Bale absolutely loves the title, partially because it does not include the word "Batman". He thinks this helps to separate director Christopher Nolan's take on the franchise from anything that has come before.
- Heath Ledger will do the Joker, and Bale thinks he will do it very well indeed. He told Film Focus Ledger was very much into the first film, and is "very passionate" about his role in the second one. More of my own thoughts on this in a later post.
- Don't ask Bale -- or anyone else involved with the franchise -- many Batman related questions, or he says people will be "coming out and shooting you in the head." Um, alrighty then.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-07-2006 @ 5:05PM
The Jeremy said...
I seriously doubt the WB brass are going to allow the film to be released simply as *The Dark Knight*. That is very risky for a franchise property. Very risky.
As for Bale saying that Ledger is "very passionate" about the film...well, I'm very passionate about the film...doesn't mean that I'm qualified to portray The Joker.
Still feels like damage control for a studio casting pick that they actually thought would generate positive buzz (I guess from *Brokeback Mountain* which I find odd unless Joel Schumacher is secretly the casting director) instead of the "meh" thud that it did inspire.
Then again, there's still time to make corrections regarding the cast regardless of contract status.
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8-07-2006 @ 5:53PM
Porchland said...
I don't care if they cast Richard Simmons as The Penguin, just PLEASE leave Katie Holmes at home with (the imaginary?) Baby Suri.
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8-07-2006 @ 8:58PM
D E Webb said...
If they`re gonna rehash a Batman villain that`s been onscreen before(NO ONE will top Jack Nicholson`s Joker!),they need to cast someone as Mr. Freeze,because Ah-nuld SUCKED.
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8-07-2006 @ 9:27PM
ULE said...
"I seriously doubt the WB brass are going to allow the film to be released simply as *The Dark Knight*. That is very risky for a franchise property. Very risky."
I don't know how risky it is, but it sure aint gonna happen. No way. Even though it would be really cool and a clever move. But "Batman" will at least appear in big type in close proximity to the title, so that if it's not actually in the title, it will appear to be in all the promotion materials.
Probably it will be "Batman - The Dark Knight". Or maybe "Batman: The Dark Knight". Hopefully not "Batman: The Ballad of The Dark Knight" ;) But a creative and elegant use of something like "The Dark Knight - A Batman tale/story/whatever" could be real cool too.
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8-07-2006 @ 11:36PM
Luke said...
I thnk Ledger would be great as the joker, he doesn't need any prosthetics for the smile (see previous films)
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8-08-2006 @ 5:30AM
The Hope said...
NOT LEDGER, THIS IS A BAD MOVE. HE DOES NOT HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO DO A VERY EDGY JOKER. NOT LEDGER.
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8-08-2006 @ 8:02AM
Derek said...
They could call this movie 'crapcake returns', and people would still see it
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8-08-2006 @ 8:21AM
S.M.Mehdi Hassan said...
Christian Bale rocks as the new Batman. I liked the character of Joker played by Jim Carrey in Batman Forever (1995). To me it was one of Jim’s best works. Let's hope that Heath gives a thumbs up performance.
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8-08-2006 @ 2:55PM
The Jeremy said...
How do you figure, Derek? That was the title of the Superman film, and it didn't break $200 million domestic. Tee hee.
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9-10-2006 @ 12:24AM
Pranav said...
"I liked the character of Joker played by Jim Carrey in Batman Forever (1995). To me it was one of Jim’s best works."
Hey Mehdi ... U surely seem to have forgotten ... Jim Carrey played the RIDDLER and not the JOKER!
Ledger will undoubtably bring out the grey shades of a younger JOKER more importantly because no one thought BALE could pull it off but he did; I think Ledger, Nolan, Bale and Co. can certainly top the previous movie.
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