[Rob Instigator]

They will have to re-do the ads and marketing for this movie, which was depending very much on the Joekr character played by ledger.
Ledger stated that he found playing the Joker very horrible

The role as arch villain The Joker disturbed Ledger, according to The Associated Press. He called the character a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."

 

 

 

[afterthefact]

Apparently they question Jack Nicholson about what he thought of Heath Ledger's death, and all he said was that he had talked to him and said "I warned him."

Makes you wonder...

[LifeDistortion]

How bad can a PG-13 movie be? What's the most shocking thing he does? Carves up someone's face? I'm merely speculating of course, I'm no spoiler fiend.

 

[gmku]

Yeah, I don't get this. He was a great actor but this a comic book movie, not Hamlet. I have a hard time believing that he took the role so seriously (or that Jack did) that it so darkened his perspective on things.

[Rob Instigator]

how do you know the movie will be PG-13? it is just starting post-production and will not be rated yet. the first one was rated R (Batman Begins) right?

the deal is that as an actor you have to "become" yoru character so that you can react honestly in character, and not appear to be acting. The Joker is not a buffoon. The Joker character is as evil and demented and unflailingly sadistic and cruel and malicious a character as there has been in any comic book or movie or novel. To play him convincingly you have to allow yourself to become unhinged in a way that , for actors who get REALLY into it, can be very hard to escape. those psychopathic thoughts, the urge to kill at random, to cause as much pain and suffering and to do it ILLOGICALLy can be a real strain I would guess.
That is why Jack nicholson warned him, and why he has called the Joker his favorite role.

[Rob Instigator]

calling some thing a "comic book" as if that means it is for 12 year olds is quite ignorant man.

have you read the dark Knight returns? have you read Frank Miller's Year One and Year Two ? Have you read the Killing Joke by Alan Moore? these are scary scary literature at times man. really sick and warped and in no way meant for children.

.

[gmku]

Well, sure but... It still just doesn't seem plausible to me. Does this mean the guy who plays Dexter is going to turn into a serial killer?

[LifeDistortion]

Please, actors have protrayed much more disturbing characters then this. How about Robert Deniro in "Taxi Driver", how about Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. Not saying this dark verison of The Joker wasn't hard to do, but compared to those portrayals, could it have been any more emotionally or mentally draining?

[gmku]

Oh, Robbbb.... .you know I'm smarter than that. I didn't mean it that way.

No matter the movie is based on, no matter how high-brow or low-brow the movie, I still think a great actor is going to distinguish between life as a character and life as a human being. I can see how a role might influence one's outlook, or teach something, but in the end, it is just a role.

[nicfit]

Originally Posted by LifeDistortion

Please, actors have protrayed much more disturbing characters then this. How about Robert Deniro in "Taxi Driver", how about Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. Not saying this dark verison of The Joker wasn't hard to do, but compared to those portrayals, could it have been any more emotionally or mentally draining?

not to be off topic, what about "The Machinist"?

[gmku]

Originally Posted by LifeDistortion

Please, actors have protrayed much more disturbing characters then this. How about Robert Deniro in "Taxi Driver", how about Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. Not saying this dark verison of The Joker wasn't hard to do, but compared to those portrayals, could it have been any more emotionally or mentally draining?

Exactly. Playing dark characters doesn't turn an actor "for real" into that character--unless that actor has a problem to begin with--anymore than creating the characters turns the writer into anything.

[Rob Instigator]

How do you know it was NOT? deniro himself has aaid that Taxi Driver fucked him up for a long time.

hannibal Lecter did not do the grisly shit in that silence of the lambs movie. he was in jail from most of it remember? it is a completely different character. the hannibal lecter charatcer is so rigid and anal and analytical, and that is why he is scary. he is sure of himself and not out of control.

the Joker character however is a homocidal maniac in every sense of the word.

maybe heath ledger is a sensitive guy, maybe the thoughts he had to think to become the joker were so severely distatsteful to him. you never know so don;t try to claim you do, man.

[gmku]

Meh, sorry. I just don't buy it. This line of thinking also worries me because it's along the lines of that whole movie-watching makes people violent argument. I also think this doesn't give actors enough credit. I think they're tougher and smarter than all that.

[mangajunky]

I am disgusted at the way some people will dismiss an art form because of their preconceived notions. To compare the Joker to Dexter is incongruous.
You might as well compare Bach to Raffi.
(aw great - now I have bananaphone going through my head...are you happy?)

[Rob Instigator]

gmku, most actors I ahve ever had the pleasure to know have a very mercurial sense of self, the actors who BECOMRE their roles. \
people like Joe pesci, who essentially oplays the same guy in every movie, have no such problems, but people like christian bale , who has said that the machinist messed him up physically and mentally by the way, really do absorb so much to become their characters that it affects them psychologically.

some actors end up losing themselves in the long run, and we have all seen many instances of that, even with people who did not portray psychopaths.

[gmku]

Okay. I'm willing to concede there may something to it. It just seems a little far-fetched to my little mind.

[fluxequalsrad]

ok so did they finish the movie or not?

[Tokolosh]

Heroin can do funny things to the mind.

[Rob Instigator]

and watching violence will definitely make people who have a propensity towards violence, that much more violent. it is true.

people who do not howvere are desensitized to th violence, which does not mean they will become violent, but that violence no longer affects them emotionally. all this is verifiable

[Rob Instigator]

Originally Posted by fluxequalsrad

ok so did they finish the movie or not?

they have just begun post-production/