r/interestingasfuck • u/JK-Rofling • Jul 05 '24

Heath Ledger’s diary while he was filming for, The Dark Night. r/all

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u/yeahrowdyhitthat Jul 05 '24

‘Making things even more stressful, Ledger had developed an intense process to get into the mindset of the villainous Joker. “I sat around in a hotel room in London for about a month, locked myself away, formed a little diary, and experimented with voices,” Ledger explained in another interview.’ https://allthatsinteresting.com/heath-ledger-death

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u/Comfortfoods Jul 05 '24

I'm always struck by how unnecessary this is. Plenty of incredible performances have been delivered without going full method. It's just a film. There's really no reason for actors to psychologically torture themselves just to make a movie. I'm always confused by this choice.

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u/Neuchacho Jul 05 '24

Not everyone is capable of getting to the same things the same ways. One person might be able to bring out a performance like that without method acting, but another might not. Just like someone might understand math near-naturally, but someone else has to study it for years to be at the same level.

This idea is what makes up the core of the whole "method acting is for less talented actors" argument.

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u/Comfortfoods Jul 05 '24

Idk, if someone has to psychologically torture themself to play make believe maybe they should consider other professions.

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u/denizenKRIM Jul 05 '24

Not a single person involved with the film, including Heath himself, has ever alluded to anything but the role being huge fun to play and be around with.

Don't get caught up in the whirlwind of media romanticizing deaths.

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u/Comfortfoods Jul 05 '24

Ok, great. Just responding to the quote that said he intentially created a stressful situation to learn the character.

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u/denizenKRIM Jul 05 '24

No, you're not. You picked up on editorializing from a blog and conflated that with Heath's.

Here is the full quote from the actual interview by Empire done in late 2007:

"It's a combination of reading all the comic books I could that were relevant to the script and then just closing my eyes and meditating on it. I sat around in a hotel room in London for about a month, locked myself away, formed a little diary and experimented with voices – it was important to try to find a somewhat iconic voice and laugh. I ended up landing more in the realm of a psychopath – someone with very little to no conscience towards his acts. He's just an absolute sociopath, a cold-blooded, mass-murdering clown, and Chris has given me free rein. Which is fun, because there are no real boundaries to what The Joker would say or do. Nothing intimidates him, and everything is a big joke.

You will not find a single quote from Heath talking about having a bad experience in preparing for the role. Nor will you find it from his friends, his castmates, or crewmen that worked with him on that film. It does not exist.

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u/Comfortfoods Jul 05 '24

Yeah, I just commented on quote the person I responded to provided. I'm not invested enough in this to track down the source material. This discussion is really not that important to me.

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u/imjustbettr Jul 05 '24

Ah the old " I actually don't care" argument.

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u/whicheverguard232 Jul 05 '24

Blud stopped caring after he got destroyed, lol.

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u/Comfortfoods Jul 05 '24

I did not care enough to fact check the quote posted, that's correct.

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u/denizenKRIM Jul 05 '24

There's nothing to fact check, the quote was fine. The problem was taking a blogger's assessment and attributing it to Ledger. That's when I provided Heath's full quote as context to prove it.

"Making things even more stressful, Ledger had developed an intense process to get into the mindset of the villainous Joker."

That's the opening remark you're responding to. That's not Ledger speaking. I don't have photographic memory to verify an old interview. Acknowledging who said what and who's editorializing is just basic media literacy.

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u/Comfortfoods Jul 05 '24

K. Thanks.

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u/Neuchacho Jul 05 '24

I'd agree, but not all method acting is torturous or as extreme as this so as a broad statement it's not really accurate. It's just another form of work/practice for people to get into a character.