The first actor and performance I would like to talk about in this series of posts is Heath Ledger and his portrayal of the Batman villain: The Joker, in the 2008 film The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan). This performance won Ledger an oscar, unfortunately the award was given posthumously, it is widely believed that it was the performance that ultimately cost him his life as the method was taken somewhat too far and caused serious mental illness in Ledger that he sadly couldn't handle. It is worth mentioning at this point that this is not and never will be completely confirmed but with the information we have, this seems like the most likely outcome. One of the things that Ledger did in preparation for this role was he locked himself in a isolated hotel room for around six weeks. During this time he read the source material for the film, practised voices for the role and all the while kept a journal of his experience. He did this in order to explore and portray a darker version of the joker than had been previously explored on the big screen. The resulting journal had some intense ramblings from Ledger from when he was in character, as well as some drawings of hyenas, stills from A Clockwork Orange and a Joker card. Most harrowing and insightful of all was the ending of his journal, it simply said "BYE BYE". The journal also contained lists of things that The Joker found funny; things like AIDS and the idea of geniuses suffering from brain damage (he was trying to achieve a dark character after all). Perhaps interestingly, in between takes Ledger dropped the character and was said to be the antithesis of his character, though this is a great example of a method actor at work, this is not typical of method actors, usually they will stay in character between takes so as to keep up, Ledger didn't do this and apparently he would skateboard on set and hug the crew, which I think we can agree The Joker wouldn't do. Anyway, that is a lot of background, lets talk about his performance.
Id like to start by analysing a small piece of his acting before going onto something a little more substantial. In this scene we start with The Joker laughing, this doesn't particularly come from Ledger being in character per se but it does give an early look at the type of character we are about to see, his psychotic nature is almost immediately evident in his laugh, this is then obviously emphasised by what occurs just after his arrival but we will get to that. The set up for the magic trick shows early signs of how Ledger is in character because he completely ignores the threats of the mob boss in front of him, this is completely evident in his intonation and the way he puts his arms behind his back and leans slightly forward like a performer on a stage. This is the beginning signs of a synthesis between actor and character that is usually only achieved through method acting and becoming the character. Then we come to the actual magic trick, the reaction afterwards is one of the best moments in terms of acting from the hole Joker performance, the "Tadaa" is so perfectly timed and emphasised that it can't be anything but The Joker's authentic reaction to his trick. This is then followed by him fixating briefly on where the pencil was as if impressed by his own trick as well as stumbling to get on a chair. It is in moments like this where method acting is most evident, when they have to react, I have no doubt that him sitting on the chair was meant to be smoother but he knocks the chair away slightly and as a result must react. In this instance it would be so easy to cut and retake or to break character, but The Joker doesn't need a retake because it isn't a film to The Joker, and as far as Ledger is concerned, while that camera is rolling, he is The Joker.
The other scene I would like to talk about is much more substantial in terms of content in comparison and showcases even more the lack of divide between Ledger and character. My personal favourite aspect of this captivating performance is the two very subtle facial features he utilises that really sell the character, these are firstly the clenching of his jaw to flex his temple and make it look like he's almost chewing on something, this makes his words look like hard work but also really sell the illusion of madness as if Joker is twitching and unstable. The second feature is the licking of his lips, Im not entirely sure why but this adds to the illusion of insanity, if pushed for an answer I would say that it paints the joker as being obsessive, he continuously does this as if irritated by something that isn't there, sort of like an itch that wont go no matter how much it is scratched. However, that isn't really the point, the main point is that these are constant and very clearly subconscious, this means that Joker is alive and manifested through Ledger, the only way to act subconsciously is to be in the mind of the character and adopt their mannerisms, which we clearly see he has done in this case. The other key aspect of this performance is his line delivery, to say he sounds out of breathe would be a disservice, the best way to describe his delivery is as if every few syllables is at the end of a breath, he also only delivers a few syllables at a time to add a pacing to the lines which gives an air of tension in what he is saying that when coupled with the action of the scene makes it that much more tense. The other side of his delivery is the effortless and seemingly random transition between a sort of high pitched jovial but unnerving tone, to a gruff, harsh tone that has an air of aggression in it. This effortless switch really sells The Joker's instability, this is because it makes him seem like he is flitting between two conflicting personalities that are at war in his head. If this was not an authentic reaction to the mind of the Joker being a genuine persona then the switch between two personalities wouldn't flow anything like the same and we would probably see something a little more like Gollum from the Lord of the Rings, which is a great performance in its own right but it has much more telegraphed switches in personality, whereas Ledger needed them to be seamless and less obvious from a spectator view point, this is because this schizophrenia is more like The Joker suppressing one side of himself than a direct swap between two personas, it is as though the Joker side of himself that is a clown and makes jokes is just a facade to mask his aggressive, darker nature that wants to hurt people. All that being said this all comes together in one very unhinging, very believable and a very (from an actors viewpoint) dangerous portrayal of a character that will go down in history as one of the best single performances in a film ever, its just a shame at the cost of a life that had to be paid for this masterpiece of acting.
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