Jul 01 2009
Ledger Wanted Out Of The Dark Knight
Yesterday on this blog, I wrote about Vanity Fair’s tribute to Australian actor Heath Ledger. Now with the magazine actually hitting the newsstands here in the United States, there seems to be a bit more to this article that we originally thought there would be. This one has me a bit puzzled and scratching my head.
Many would call Heath Ledger’s break out role that of The Joker in The Dark Knight, which we can all now see over and over again as it plays on HBO. It premiered on the cable network earlier this month. However, now the actor’s agent Steven Alexander has come out saying that the actor had a specific deal with The Dark Knight where he would be paid whether he worked or not.
Heath wasn’t looking for a big summer blockbuster role that might label him forever and follow him for the rest of his career, so he tried to play his role so over the top that he would end up getting fired and still paid anyway. Heath’s performance as The Joker was out there and over the top. He made me cringe every single time his character was on screen, but was this him purposely trying to get out of the role? Some say it was this performance that lead to his death. What do you think? Check out what his agent had to say about it below.
The real decision to take the role was because of the film’s unusually long shoot, which would give Ledger an excuse to turn down other offers. And since he was guaranteed to collect a paycheck, Ledger was hoping that his performance would be so “far-out” that he would end up being fired and become the beneficiary of a lengthy, paid vacation. His agent added that while Ledger wanted to get paid, he didn’t want to be part of the massive blockbuster that “The Dark Knight” turned out to be.
