Christopher Nolan Initially Thought Heath Ledger Licking His Lips as the Joker Was a Mistake
The Batman trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan is heavily favored by both avid fans of the character and casual audiences. Likewise, Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight is still seen as one of film’s greatest performances.
But there was a famous tic Ledger gave his Joker that Nolan originally didn’t know what to make of.
Heath Ledger convinced Christopher Nolan to cast him as Joker in ‘The Dark Knight’ with a speech
At the time, Ledger’s casting as Joker was known for stirring up a fair bit of controversy. Many felt the choice was too out of the box and didn’t see the late Oscar-winner in the role. But Nolan had full faith in Ledger’s capabilities to portray Batman’s greatest nemesis after a speech Ledger delivered. It was the same speech that Nolan heard from other aspiring movie stars looking for their film break.
But for Nolan, a speech that the filmmaker heard numerous times sounded special coming from Ledger’s mouth.
“I’d met Heath a couple times over the years about different projects, but nothing ever worked out. One time he gave me a speech that a lot of young actors have given me, where they basically say that they haven’t achieved, as serious actors, what they want to before they’re pushed into being movie stars,” Nolan once said in an interview with Newsweek. “And of all the actors who’ve given me that speech, he’s the only one that I would actually want to pay $10 to see give that kind of performance.”
Nolan was further sold on Ledger after watching the actor in his Oscar-nominated movie Brokeback Mountain.
“The stunning lack of vanity, the sheer loneliness of that character—it’s a staggering performance. So when I heard he was interested in the Joker, there was never any doubt. You could just see it in his eyes. People were a little baffled by the choice, it’s true, but I’ve never had such a simple decision as a director,” Nolan said.
Christopher Nolan originally thought Heath Ledger constantly licking his lips as the Joker in ‘The Dark Knight’ was a mistake
Creating The Dark Knight’s Joker was a collaborative effort between Ledger and Nolan. Often times, Ledger would bounce off of ideas to Nolan personally. Some of those ideas even admittedly scared Nolan at first.
“Well, as a director, you say, ‘OK, that’s kind of frightening.’ But what you’re also hearing in the actor’s voice is passion and intensity,” Nolan said.
Another one of Ledger’s ideas for the film was the constant habit Joker had of licking and smacking his lips. When Nolan first saw what Ledger was doing, he didn’t even think it was a natural part of the actor’s performance.
“Yeah, it’s almost like this lizard thing. It’s very insidious, very creepy. Well, as with a lot of things that Heath would do, at first I thought it was a mistake,” Nolan said. “Because the prosthetics on his mouth would come a little unstuck. But then it became apparent that he’d really found something.”
How casting Heath Ledger in ‘The Dark Knight’ has changed the way Christopher Nolan casts his actors
Ledger’s performance as Joker has continued to influence some of Nolan’s work. The hiring of Ledger has inspired Nolan to look deeper into actors before hiring them, regardless of their prior work or reputation.
“The truth is ever since I cast Heath Ledger as the Joker and raised all kinds of eyebrows, I’ve recognized that this is my responsibility and I really have to spot the potential in somebody who hasn’t done a particular thing before,” Nolan told Business Insider in 2017. “Because whether you’re taking about Harry Styles or Mark Rylance you don’t really want to cast them in a position where they are doing something they’ve already done. You want to give the audience something different.”
