Heath Ledger’s take on The Joker in the 2008 film, The Dark Knight was iconic and transformative. When the actor appeared on screen, the audience was transfixed on Heath’s maniacal version of the clown prince of crime.
The video below provides us with some insight on the late actor’s process.
In order to inhabit his character, Ledger locked himself up in a hotel room for weeks and created a little scrapbook/journal, which reveals clippings from Batman comics, Stanley Kubrick‘s A Clockwork Orange, his trademark playing cards and various clowns, as well as his hospital room monologue. In a chilling final note, the last page features the words “Bye Bye” scrawled across.
This is an extract from the documentary “Too Young To Die” with the actor’s father, Kim Ledger.