The Joker from The Dark Knight is one of the most sinister negative characters in the cinema. This effect is achieved without a frightening appearance, on the contrary, the villain uses makeup and costumes to a minimum. The danger comes from his unpredictable actions, in which logic is often completely absent.
Some viewers who first saw the legendary blockbuster about Batman do not know who played the Joker in The Dark Knight. All the most interesting about this character and actor, brilliantly embodying his image on the screen - in our article.
Joker story
This negative character first appeared on DC Comics comic pages. He is one of Batman's main enemies. His costume and weapons are stylized as clown gear. The Joker from The Dark Knight is a complete mystery. His past remains a mystery. He has existed on the pages of comics for more than 70 years, but who he is and how he became a supervillain is unknown. There are several versions of the appearance of the Joker. According to one of them, he was either a petty gangster, or an illusionist-loser, who joined the criminal group. Once, while trying to rob, the villains ran into the police and Batman. In the shootout, everyone was killed, except for one criminal who fell into a vat with chemicals. He survived, but his face and hair were mutilated with acid, and the unfortunate after what happened lost his mind. He called himself the Joker. So Batman had a new enemy.
The second version of the Joker’s past is related to the 1989 Batman movie. The name of the future villain was Jack Napier. He was the main assistant to the dangerous gangster, who learned about the connection of the Joker with his wife. He betrays a partner, and he falls into a tub with acid. Jack survived, but was disfigured: the skin turned pale, the hair turned green and the nails black. He turned to a plastic surgeon for help, but due to poor-quality work, he received muscle damage, and a smile froze on Napier’s face forever. In the same film, Batman recognizes in the new enemy the criminal who killed his parents.
In The Dark Knight, the Joker talks about two versions of the appearance of his terrible scars. First, he says that his own father disfigured him, and then he says that he wounded himself due to problems in family life.
The Dark Knight - Heath Ledger as the Joker
This is the sequel to Batman: The Beginning. The film was released in 2008. The director of this and the previous tape is Christopher Nolan. He also removed the last part of the trilogy - "The Dark Knight: The Revival of the Legend." The Joker from The Dark Knight immediately attracted the attention of the audience. He was very different from the images that Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson embodied on the screen at one time . The latter were clamped by the strict framework of the script. Their villains are good in their own way, but they lack some insanity.
Many did not recognize, because of makeup, who played the Joker in The Dark Knight. The news that this image was created and brilliantly embodied by the young actor Heath Ledger surprised even his fans. He already had to play different roles - a criminal robbing banks to help impoverished farmers, a cowboy in love with a coworker, a noble knight, a petty crook, using his superstition of German peasants with his brother for the purpose of making money. But the role of a truly crazy criminal, the Manager got the first time.
The appearance, psychology and abilities of the villain
For the film, the character’s story has been changed. He lost his name, but the appearance remained almost unchanged. For realism, the Joker’s face has a sloppy make-up that is almost absent in some scenes. Instead of a painted clown smile, two scars stretching from the corners of the mouth to the ears. Left the character with long light green hair and dark circles around the eyes.
The Joker from The Dark Knight is a psychopath, a maniac and schizophrenic. Moreover, he has the highest intelligence. The villain is a brilliant planner who is well versed in the psychology and motivation of other people. Therefore, many of his plans could not be frustrated even by the astute Batman.
Preparing an actor for a role
Heath Ledger very seriously approached the work on creating the image of his hero. To do this, he was locked in a hotel room for a month so that nothing would distract him. It was necessary to come up with a gait, demeanor, distinctive features and the voice of the criminal. The Joker in the movie “The Dark Knight”, according to the idea of ​​the actor, was to inspire real fear in the viewer. It was necessary that everyone believe that the villain does not bluff and does not specifically terrify, but enjoys what is happening.
The hardest part was given to the actor by the voice and intonations of his hero. In the end, he combined in this image of a cinematic villain the features and behaviors of Joker Nicholson, Alex from A Clockwork Orange and Sid Vicious (musician from the infamous Sex Pistols band).
Good dubbing is one of the components of the success of the picture.
A lot of things in the positive perception of the hero (especially when it comes to a foreign film) depends on the quality of the voice acting. Few know who voiced the Joker in The Dark Knight. The work was extremely difficult - it was required to choose the correct character intonation. Heath Ledger worked hard on the voice of his hero, so it was important to convey all its shades correctly. Voiced by the Joker actor Vladimir Zaitsev, perfectly coped with the challenge.
The New Joker Story - Who Will Replace Ledger
In 2016, the release of a new film on the Batman universe is planned - "Suicide Squad." The main characters in the film are supervillains. The film will not do without the Joker. As it became known, Jared Leto will play it.
The negative impact of the role of the Joker
The last fully finished film of the actor was the blockbuster The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger went all out. As he admitted in an interview, the role of the Joker, a maniac psychopath, was given to him with great difficulty. Depletion was not physical, but psychological. Ledger began to sleep only 2 hours a day, which further aggravated his condition. Negatively affected the actor and the breakup with Michelle Williams, the mother of his daughter.
On January 22, 2008, the actor was found lifeless in his apartment in Manhattan. Death came from acute intoxication as a result of taking several drugs: painkillers, tranquilizers and analgesics. The actor slept very badly and was treated for pneumonia. The dose of drugs he took was fatal. Heath Leger was only 28 years old at the time of his death. The role of the Joker was appreciated - for it the actor received the Oscar posthumously.
It can not be said that the image of the Joker played by him is to blame for the actor’s death. He only became one of the reasons that influenced the psychoemotional and physical condition of Ledger. But from this the image of a maniac psychopath does not become less sinister.