Christopher Nolan’s last movie Oppenheimer earned Robert Downey Jr and Cillian Murphy their first Oscars. The filmmaker himself picked the golden knight himself in 2024. Similarly, Heath Ledger also earned his Oscar, albeit posthumously, after playing The Joker in Nolan’s The Dark Knight. One can say the visionary director is an Oscar-winner maker!
The Dark Knight was released in 2008 and featured Ledger as Joker. Unfortunately, a number of months before the film was released within the theatres, Heath Ledger passed away on account of a drug overdose. While receiving the Golden Globe Award for Oppenheimer in 2024, Nolan recalled the last time he was on the Golden Globes Awards stage was when he took Ledger’s award in his absence after the actor’s demise.
The movie not only earned Heath Ledger an Oscar, but it surely also did outstandingly on the box office. The Dark Knight opened to $158.4 million and went on to gross $533.3 million within the US. It earned $1 billion at the worldwide box office (per Box Office Mojo). Even today, Heath Ledger’s performance as Joker is stated as iconic. Among the dialogues and the way in which he performed them are unparalleled. Nevertheless, Nolan himself was unsure about Heath’s voice because the Clown Prince of Crime within the Christian Bale led superhero/comic book movie. Scroll below for the deets.
What Did Christopher Nolan Think About Heath Ledger’s Voice As Joker?
Based on IndieWire via Showbiz Cheatsheet, Christopher Nolan was unsure about Heath Ledger‘s Joker voice, and his crew was also confused about it. Speaking of Ledger’s voice as Joker, Christopher Nolan said, “There have been moments while you go, ‘Oh, that’s exactly right,’ and there are moments while you go, ‘I hope this is nice because I do not know.’” He added, “The voice was actually scary because it could shift in pitch.”
The Dark Knight maker continued, “You never quite know which way the pitch goes to go along with the voice. Just because the physical movements were [unpredictable], you didn’t know what he was going to do along with his hands, the way in which he moved, it was at all times a surprise. The actual tone of his voice was a surprise, too. Sometimes threatening and sometimes more sing-song and lightweight.” Nolan added that the actor’s performance confused the film’s crew.
The Oscar-winner mentioned, “After a few days, they said, ‘He’s the business,’ as they are saying. They may just tell.” Heath set a benchmark for his portrayal, and the cinephiles will always remember it.
What Next For Christopher Nolan?
Nolan recently wrapped filming for his upcoming epic fantasy motion film, The Odyssey, one of the awaited movies scheduled to release next 12 months. The film starts Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson and Charlize Theron, amongst other stars.
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