To prepare for his role as the Joker, Heath Ledger lived alone in a hotel room for a month, formulating the character’s psychology, posture and voice (the last one he found most difficult to do). He started a diary, in which he wrote the Joker’s thoughts and feelings to guide himself during his performance. He was also given Alan Moore’s comic “Batman: The Killing Joke” and “Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth” to read. Ledger also took inspiration from A Clockwork Orange (1971)’s Alex and Sid Vicious.
That was the piece of trivia a friend of mine shared with me about a year ago. His enthusiasm was obvious and we both knew that this kind performance would be once in a lifetime.
Heath Ledger’s performance was beyond words. After a long time I was actually watching a movie expecting it to be great, kept telling myself that it would ruin the movie for me but frankly the movie was so engaging that it proved me wrong.