Heath Ledger: the actor that made Christian Bale feel “dull by comparison” | CPT PPP Coverage

Although the idea of ‘The Caped Crusader’ may have been difficult to play at the time, some of Bale’s memories of putting on the cowl were far more tame than he expected, telling GQ, “Most of my recollection of Batman is sitting around doing crossword puzzles by myself in a blue tent. I had very uncomfortable stuff on because they wanted me to be ready in 15 minutes at any given moment”.

Once he got onto the set for The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger threw Bale for a loop with his iteration of the Joker. Being equal parts punk rocker, raging psychopath, and genuinely funny in some spots, Ledger’s portrayal of the infamous clown horrified fans in the cinema, as they were being shown a terrorist take on The Joker that felt real.

Aside from having to deal with Ledger playing his main adversary, the quality of his performance presented Bale with a whole new problem, saying, “I was thinking, ‘Are we in trouble here?’. When Chris and I first sat down, I said that the problem with Batman is that the villain is always more interesting, so let’s not let him feel dull by comparison. Then I said, ‘I’m feeling a little dull by comparison’, because Heath was just killing it”.

For all of the effort Bale put into his performance, Ledger mirrors him every step of the way onscreen, including a few moments where he puts himself through physical pain for the shot. When approaching the infamous interrogation scene, Ledger asked Bale to not hold anything back, which gives way to a brilliant scene where both of them end up fighting at the police station, with Ledger having the upper hand on Batman by laughing through every single blow.

Of course, Ledger’s portrayal would be one of his final performances. Just before the movie was to be released, Ledger overdosed on medication intended to help him sleep, passing away at 28.
While the role eventually won Ledger a posthumous Oscar for ‘Best Supporting Actor‘, Bale always remembered the good times on set, recalling, “What a performance, what a pleasure to be able to work with him. Just to see him and how much he put himself into The Joker. I was watching it going, ‘Yeah, this is absolutely fantastic”.