http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j04X3B9-dLU
We all loved Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight – heck, beyond the Joker, that movie is hardly a masterpiece – but now, five years later, we can finally get a glimpse into Ledger’s mind when he was preparing for his portrayal of the character. In this clip from the German documentary Too Young To Die, Heath’s father Kim Ledger goes through the actor’s Joker diary, which contains all sorts of stuff that inspired Heath’s performance. Here’s a translation of the video:
This is the Joker’s diary. In order to inhabit his character, he locked himself up in a hotel room for weeks. He would do that. He liked to dive into his characters, but this time he really took it up a notch.
The hospital scene is interesting because when he was a kid, his sister Kate liked to dress him up as a nurse. He was really funny like that. He also was in the movie. This is a make-up test which was done eight months before. Before the end of the shooting he wrote ‘bye bye’ on the back of the page. It was hard to see this.