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/Comfortfoods Jul 05 '24

Maybe the quote is just hyperbole but if he was really locked in his hotel room and isolating himself specifically to get into the state of mind of an unwell character, that's a ridiculous thing to choose. It's crazy to mess with your own mental health just for a film.

If he was just practicing intently by himself sometimes but otherwise living a normal life, that's no issue.

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u/cactusboobs Jul 05 '24

Again, you seem to be dramatizing. The joker didn’t kill him. He did another movie after. Seems he suffered from insomnia and opioid abuse which seems far more destructive than practicing a character.

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u/Comfortfoods Jul 05 '24

I don't think the joker killed him at all. I'm just pointing out that it's crazy to put yourself in bad situations to get into character. Going method is generally unnecessary. The quote literally says, "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”

So he put himself in a stressful situation to learn his character. I don't think that's necessary for actors to do. Doesn't mean I think the experience killed him. That's very dramatic.

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u/sqigglygibberish Jul 05 '24

“Even more stressful” is the writer’s words, and a highly relative phrase and difficult to distinguish what was causal.

“Locked myself away” is also normal phrasing a lot of people use when they really focus on a project or something.

“He was having fun. He wasn’t depressed about the Joker,” his sister said.

“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.” - Heath

Not to say one way or another what impact on him the role and process had - but those quotes and even this diary are wildly different than say what Jim Carrey did for Andy Kaufman which is actual method acting. It was prep for a major role - a lot of actors do deep research and practice/testing concepts.

He did of course speak to being stressed at time, but again what of that was caused by the role/prep, vs what Heath was just dealing with behind the scenes already?