The Dark Knight

After reading several articles on the death of Heath Ledger in Time magazine and on CNN.com I believe that his difficulty in becoming the characters he played was very disconcerting to him. Statements such as: "In a way I was spoon-fed a career," he told the Glasgow Herald in 2005. "It was fully manufactured by a studio that believed it could put me on their posters and turn me into a product. ... I hadn't figured out properly how to act, and all of a sudden I was being thrown into these lead roles," is very indicative that he basically got into acting by happenstance. And also: His death was particularly poignant to gay New Yorkers. "He is a gay icon," says John Lopez, 22, who works in a gourmet food store that Ledger frequented.(Time.com, January 23, 2008)


His biography indicates that he ended up in drama only because he had two electives to fill and he chose drama instead of cooking. After leaving school, going to Sydney to find acting jobs, and then trying many different roles so as not to be typecast in any particular one which didn’t work out for him, he came to the United States. It seems to me he was searching for his identity. Another quote he made was “I’m only doing this because I’m having fun. The day I stop having fun, I’ll just walk away….I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life.” (Vanity Fair, August 2000) And also “I start to get bored, not with the choices I was making, because I didn’t really have a choice. The choices were being made for me – I was being thrown into projects,” indicates that he wasn’t extremely happy with the path his life had taken, almost as if he wasn’t in control of his own fate. And yet, that he was extremely happy with his life with Michelle Williams and loved doing the simple chores around the house like cooking, doing dishes and playing with his daughter were what he truly loved. Ironic in that “cooking” is what he turned down as an elective.

He also said “I’m the worst auditioner, really, really bad. I mean, you’re being judged and I’m just so aware of it that it consumes me. I can’t relax; I’m tied in knots, so the voice is very taut and tense. (EW.com, May 2001) In both his first and last roles, he portrayed a clown. (http://www.imbd.com/) If you’ve ever dressed up as a clown you can understand how it frees you to be silly and do whatever you want, because you know nobody knows who you are so you can break out of any inhibitions you may hold. Maybe this is why he played the joker so successfully; because he could be somebody else, not the nervous actor who gets tense and uptight in auditions. I also believe that the final break-up with his fiancé in Sept. of 2007 must’ve had a big impact on his life. He no longer lived with them in New York and was no longer seeing his daughter every day like he could then. I think that the combination of all of these things probably contributed to his Valium and sleeping pill use so that he could rest and that truly the overdose was probably an accident.

The actors chosen for the movie “The Dark Knight” couldn’t have fit their characters much better. Just as the book points out, you have to have the right sort of person to play each character as they actually need to become that person and take on a different persona as that person they are playing. Caine as his butler pulls off ‘butler’ duties phenomenally as he not only assists the Batman with advice about his duties as Batman but he acts as Batman’s confidant. He totally fulfills his objective of making us believe completely in the reality of the character as the book points out is so important for an actor. The audience can believe he’s the butler.

Morgan Freeman’s portrayal of Lucius was also very convincing. He is very believable as the mastermind for the inventions that make the Batman who he is. His deep voice sounds so strong, confident and intellectual in his descriptions of the devices for the Batman. And even though he is not pleased with the fact that the Batman used his technology for sound waves to eavesdrop on the whole of Gotham he understood why he was doing it and allowed it even though he didn’t condone it which showed his loyalty to the Batman.

I thought the Batman character would have been the most difficult to accomplish in this movie, so Bale did an outstanding job of convincing us that not only was he Bruce Wayne, but an altogether different individual when he put on the black suit. I watched a clip of the filming of this movie and I think it would be difficult to keep all of your lines, your mannerisms, and your wits about you when you have cameras in your face, stage hands roaming around and lights, cords, and other production pieces around you. Bale did a great job of changing his voice when he became the Batman as well as the stiffness of jaw projecting a tough, crime-fighting hero. I got the feeling that he had some kind of mouthpiece in when he was Batman as he didn’t speak as clearly as when he was Bruce Wayne. But as Wayne, he portrayed the community supporting rich guy who was looking out for the best interests of Gotham, and even though he liked to flaunt the fact that he had money he didn’t do it in a way that was “in your face.” I think his role and the action scenes he needed to fulfill were done extremely well. The intertwining similarities of Batman and the Joker, each with nothing if they didn’t have each other to pursue, really draw you into the action of this film. Also, his dilemma with whether he should go on as the Batman or stop since so many had been killed because of him makes his character realistic in a real-life way.

Eckhart’s portrayal of D.A. Harvey Dent was also done masterfully in almost the same manner as the Batman. He had to perfect portrayal of two different characters; the good Harvey and the bad Harvey; although his roles weren’t intertwined throughout the movie since he was good at the beginning and bad at the end. Whoever did his makeup deserved an award in itself. Interesting in that it showed the good Harvey/bad Harvey sides with his face after it'd been burned. Somewhat hard to believe he would be up and running around with his face half burned off but then we remember, hey, this is a cartoon!

And finally, the portrayal of the Joker by Ledger definitely made him worthy of his award. What I found the most interesting were his movements and mannerisms. His hopping around or tiptoeing if you will made me think of the little joker in parades dressed in black and white. What better way to portray a Joker. Also the way he kept his lips pursed when he spoke and licking his lips all the time as if he was drooling and twisting his fingers in the air helped you to believe he was a rotten little bad guy, psycho, whack job, etc. His snickering and his out and out ability to just shoot someone, or cut someone up without giving it a second thought just re-affirms the crazy, haphazardly actions of a Joker. His makeup was also done masterfully and realistically; even the way it showed that the white had come off his forehead when Batman pounds his head into the table at the cop shop.

The characters along with the set and a fast moving pace with all the action in this movie made it interesting to watch and to believe that there really was a “Gotham” city. You are torn between believing it’s a real story or a cartoon. The Dark Knight title is also so appropriate; connotations of the Knight in shining armor, the fact that Batman is black, the Batman light only shows up at night.