19 Comments

1. joe
   Posted December 19, 2007 at 9:54 pm | Permalink

   he doesn’t look jolly enough. honestly. i like my jokers jolly.

   also, despite how fairly sure i am that the Dark Knight will be superior to Burton’s Batman, i really can’t imagine what heath ledger can do, even with Nolan’s help, to jettison the joker (or at least “movie joker”) from jackie’s persona-driven performance.

   then again, people born after 1990 probably haven’t even seen it, and the character is certainly cool enough to be brought to some other places.

   what i really want is for the joker to make a gay cowboy reference, or just call two-face “two hot” or something similar, at least once.

2. Rita Berk
   Posted January 26, 2008 at 1:45 am | Permalink

   I feel like that it would be a wonderful remember of heath ledger, showing the movie of the dark knight. their are other movie that he played in that we will remember and love them more. he was a wonderful actor and he made you feel like he was that way in really life. so we needed to remember him on the film and in life. he had a beautiful little girl. and she needs to remember him like every one else will in this movie.

3. Matthew Stone
   Posted January 26, 2008 at 4:34 am | Permalink

   Anyone who has read the multitude of Batman comics realizes the depth of not only Ledger’s incarnation, but the scope of the new Batman movies in general. Gotham was not the comic come to life environment the original movies portrayed. It was a environment where villians preyed on villians and Christian Bale finally gives us the angst ridden anti-hero Batman is supposed to be. In any other context he would be a villian himself…a man without remorse or pity for his enemies, a recluse driven by his need for vengence and his desire to restore Gotham to the glory his father idealized to no avail. Keith Ledger’s performance will long be regarded as the best Joker ever portrayed. A psychopathic deviant given to blades and the neurotic suffering of his victims! Not the Hollywood mock-up of previous portrayals. This movie will firmly establish his legend as fitting as the Crow did for Brandon Lee. A small tradgedy at best!

4. bryan p.
   Posted February 4, 2008 at 11:10 pm | Permalink

   To Mathew Stone’s comments on heath/joker persona for the new movie: you took the words right out of my mouth; this is the series where they finally got batman right..tim burton’s movies spawned several more atrocities, each one more ridiculous than it’s predecessor..and from what i’ve seen of the joker, in trailers, and in photographs, he IS THE MANIACAL JOKER that he’supposed to be. These movies aren’t parodies of batman, as i believe tim burton’s were, but more gritty, realistic movies about the dark knight….and i’ve talked to several other people who also thought about brandon lee and how the crow immortalized him. this is what heath ledger’s role as the joker is going to do for him…and thank you,matthew stone,for posting the blog on january 26th.you nailed it down as the truth. bryan p.

5. anon
   Posted February 5, 2008 at 3:24 am | Permalink

   Bryan P. you are sadly mistaken about your comment reagarding Tim Burton. He made Batman and Batman returns! great batman movies. The crappy ones you are referring to was all Joel Schumacher. So please get your facts straights before you make misinformed statements.

6. Shonda
   Posted February 5, 2008 at 9:30 am | Permalink

   All the clips that I seen so far on this new Batman movie, this one is best one that was ever made. Heath Ledger does a great job of playing the joker. I would bet this movie when it comes out this summer it will blow all the other movies away and become the all time number one box office movie. I know I can’t wait for to come out because I’m a huge Heath Ledger fan and they couldn’t pick a better actor to play the as the Joker like Heath Ledger did.

7. sever
   Posted February 5, 2008 at 12:47 pm | Permalink

   i think that ther is more behind all the jokes and the truth of it all is that may be ther is somthing behind the movie it self, in other words ther could be sombody or somthing that tried to stop it from coming out.

   BY:SEVER 2483

8. Jangles1769
   Posted February 5, 2008 at 1:03 pm | Permalink

   i like the look of the joker in this rendition of batman because the joker looks soo meniacle and dark…hense dark knight

9. steph
   Posted February 5, 2008 at 1:07 pm | Permalink

   Heath Ledger being the age he was made a huge accomplishment for himself getting this role as the joker. he has his own way about him when he acts that u cant help but love every movie he is in. every actor brings their own persona or individuality if u will to their character and from the trailers I have seen he seems to bring an amazing new feel about the joker then Nicholson did. Although in essence a maniac character he seems to make u want to watch more and more of it. The tone of Batman Begins was dark so why not have a “dark” joker. I think heath ledger should b commended for his work as the joker in the new batman movie. Personally as much as I love Christian Bale, I am truly going to see this one for Heath Ledgers appearance in the movie. But for those who think terrible about his role… chill. Don’t condemn a man that’s passed on because u preferred a different version of his role.

10. Louis Hall
    Posted February 5, 2008 at 2:09 pm | Permalink

    It doesn’t matter what negative is said about this version of the Joker. The youth of today are pre-conditioned to enjoy crap. So this casting and portrayal will of course appeal to them. Anyone with any knowledge and history behind them will realize Ledger’s portray will be a pale, pale comparison of Jack’s from 89. Plain and simple. The CORRECT thing to do, would have been to have the man HIMSELF reprize the role, and use motion capture CGI to provide him with a younger body. Congratulations Hollywood; another fond memory of youth, ruined by your lame-brained re-imagining.

11. John
    Posted February 5, 2008 at 6:30 pm | Permalink

    The makeup job on Mr. Legder looks like something someone’s mother would paint on a kid face for Halloween. It figures that most ( probably all ) of hollywood movies these days suck and are cheaply made or have terrible story line. Wait till the DISC comes out before spending money on ANY MOVIE in the theaters, especially for another ( yawn ) Batman movie.

    Perhaps Mr. Ledger killed himself after seeing the terrible results of his makeup job as the Joker. Yes he killed himself, having 6 or 7 bottles of prescription medication DOES make someone a drug addict.
    Most actors & actors these days are talentless losers. An actor should make, at the most, , a quarter of million to make a movie, not 10 - 25 million dollars. What suckers middle class stupid Americans are that we pay to go see this shit. Death to Hollywood. Hollywood sucks

12. Jeremy
    Posted February 6, 2008 at 7:34 am | Permalink

    I agree with Steph, and Shonda, and Brian P., and to go against and argue with the last two comments here, the whole point of Heath Ledger’s Joker costume and face was to have his make-up look like it was just thrown on and not all perfect and spotless like Nicholson’s! Therefore more realistic! If you really like the old, unrealistic movies such as the other Batmans with Keaton, Kilmer, and Clooney, and not the new, realistic Batman franchise, which even bring about good messages of hope and perseverance, then you just do, and there’s no point in argueing with anyone which Batman is better, because people have their opinions, they are titled to their opinions, and they like what they like, whatever, it’ll just be a never ending arguement!, but my opinion to support the new Batman franchise is this- Ok now not to come down on Jack Nicholson, he’s a great actor, ok well a good actor, but Jack Nicholson’s joker=being himself+slap on some make-up, in conclusion, i must say not too much talent or acting really going on there. Director Christopher Nolan truly brings about a more realistic, believable atmosphere to this new Batman franchise, sure the others were entertaining for there time,(for there time!) but please, we all know how much the others held a more comic book feel to them, sure they were entertaining, but lets leave at that, lets face it, entertaining, thats it, thats all they were, in other words i laughed more than anything else, oh don’t get me wrong not in a bad way, i had a good time watching those movies, but Jack Nicholsons Joker, The Riddler, Mr. Freeze!, Two-face!!, please!!!, i had to laugh! they were not realistic by any means at all!!, they were funny, comic book characters, cartoons!, though i must say if any character held its ground as possibly being the closest character to Christian Bale’s Batman or any of the other performances in Batman Begins, Michael Keaton comes the closest,not that its really that close anyway, but what people don’t realize is that this new Batman franchise is trying to create a more believable take on Batman, so The Joker in this upcoming, highly anticipated film will be not only more realistic, but Heath Ledger’s portrayal, his creation, his masterpiece!, centers on a mass murdering psychopathic clown, and for those who don’t have there facts straight, yes this is closer to the original comic books, THE ORIGINAL, no no not the old ones, but the originals, take a look for yourself its all there, and people who are praising the other Batmans higher to that of the new ones, look on the very highly known, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com, The Internet Movie Database, and you will see for yourself, that the newest Batman, Batman Begins, got the HIGHEST rating out of all the Batmans!, and no not by a bit, not by a little amount, but by a significant amount!, take a looksy its all there, i find it rather disgusting that anyone would put down such a loved, truly wonderful, down to earth man, especially since he just passed away! and he has a child, don’t put dishonor to a little girl’s daddy, thats just sick, i’m refering to the last persons comment, and to get your facts straight, the toxicology reports have not come back fully yet, some say there wasn’t enough drugs in his system to kill him, his heart failed, possibly a heart attack, stress maybe, if he did die of medicine, it was an accidental overdose, but you know what, let the man be respected,honored, and remembered, don’t put these ideas into peoples heads,what good could possibly come out of that now? Its a time to remember him, praise his work, and the wonderful man he was, not to hurt his reputation, thats all that would come out of saying anything negative about him now or his work, and lastly, enough!, have some respect, and let his family grieve in peace, its becoming out of hand where its totally evading privacy, the media needs to chill out, respect the families wishes to grieve in peace, i guess its ok to update us fans every once and a while about what truly happened and have a few memorials and times of remembering and reflecting on his life, but besides that, all the other stuff, theres just too much non stop!, thats why i dont really want to write these posts, because its disrespectful to the families to write rumors, and to start talking about this as if its our business, when its not, especially when this is such a delicate time, the man has just passed away for peats sake, but after reading those last two posts there, i was just two angry not to write a response, you know? i know its been hard for all us fans too, and im sure like me prayers and our hearts are going out to his family and friends and all those who knew and loved him, even us, his fans, people say you didnt even know the guy, well in a way we did, through his work, and from what his family has said about him, and those who knew him, that he was just a truly kind person, proof of that would be on the set of The Dark Knight, fans said he took the time to speak with all of them, how cool is that!, so i know theres a time for sadness, but also a time now to remember him, and smile, for instance i heard that while in Chicago filming The Dark Knight, people saw him skateboading up and down the streets of Chicago in his Joker costume for fun!, see thats what im talking about! remember him, and smile, im sure he wouldnt want us just being sad for him all day, i heard some of hollywood say he was that kind of person, and i hope during the The Dark knight it doesn’t draw the wrong kind of attention, where people are just sad during the whole movie, like so many of those who knew him and hollywood say he would want us to enjoy the movie and his work, also i believe they should continue to promote the film around him and continue to make products like action figures and busts and shirts on his character, after all again like i said i believe he would want it that way, he wouldn’t want anything to change, i know i wouldn’t if it was me, also, God bless those actors who rallied together to stop that footage of Heath from getting aired, you know the one that wouldn’t bring any good to his name, or to his family, I encourage all to pray for those who truly cared for this talented, genuinely kind, down to earth actor Heath Ledger we all knew and loved, especially his daughter, former fiancee Michelle Williams, and all his fans, including myself…From what i have seen from these clips of Heath Ledger as The Joker in the highly anticipated upcoming sequel to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and from what critics say, how unbelievably incredible this performance is and will be, what a masterpiece Heath Ledger has created! His hunched over appearance, high pitched voice, very much different from his own, with movements and looks that are simply brilliant and captivating to say the least. I appreciate his dedication to this role as i am such a large fan of this new Batman franchise. In honor and remembrance of Heath Ledger, i encourage everyone to go see The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger’s masterpiece, possibly best performance, and sadly last completed film of his short but impressive career. In Theaters July 18, 2008

13. Shonda
    Posted February 7, 2008 at 11:15 am | Permalink

    Thank you Jeremy for letting us know when the movie comes out.I will be out there to see the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight when it comes out in theaters July 18,2008.

14. Peter P.
    Posted March 7, 2008 at 2:48 am | Permalink

    Seriously guys, the idea of comparing one era of batman movies to the next is just irresponsible. You’re talking about two completely different takes from two GOOD but DIFFERENT directors (I’m saying two because let’s face it, Schumacher dropped the ball). I’m loving this new realistic direction Nolan is taking Batman, but that doesn’t make it better than Burton’s. It’s like asking what’s better between Disneyworld and Universal Studios, it really just depends on your mood. And for the die hard realists, remember what medium this movie is coming from, comic books. It would be like watching Ratatouille and going, “I’m not buying it…rats can’t cook” When you watch ANY movie suspension of disbelief is required, otherwise why are you even there? As for Poster Louis Hall, yes today’s youth is attracted to “crap”, but don’t crop Heath Ledger in that group. The man worked hard to get away from that teen heartthrob image and succeeded, so give him his respect; you can’t go from flavor of the month to gay cowboy to Bob Dylan to killer clown and not be versatile. Speaking of respect, Poster Jeremy, give Nicholson his respect, Heath’s been nominated for an oscar, Jack’s won THREE, watch The Shining and As Good As It Gets back-to-back and tell me he’s not great, just “good” it’s his persona outside of film that causes everyone to see “ol’ Jackie” and not the character he’s portraying. Poster John, do your homework before making ridiculous claims. Thinking a movie with the budget of Dark Knight would short-change their main villain’s makeup job is just ignorant. The slap-dash makeup is done on purpose based on Nolan’s version of the Joker, not because the makeup artist sucks. And I agree there are many undeserving actors who are overpaid, but don’t generalize it to include ALL actors. one of the first things I learned in directing class was to never dismiss your actors, ever. They are in front of the camera, not you. A great actor can save a poorly shot film while a bad actor can make an otherwise good film fail. That said, I think Dark Knight is going to be amazing and will just enjoy the ride. Join me, won’t you?

15. CAGE
    Posted March 8, 2008 at 1:54 pm | Permalink

    Ayo, i agree wit dat jerremy nigga, dis joker is the best so fa.Back in da old days dat stupid make up and bad acting was good (but dont get it twisted, i realy liked Jackd portrail of the joker, WHEN I WAS 5, im 19 now so i want somthing alittle more realistic. I think Heath did it perfect, killer phycopathic clown dats more dangerously insane than funny, diss the year 2008, all dat funny make up aint gonna do it id dis day and age…..And for da record, im a black nigga dat grew up in south side jamaca queens, in da hood, if some one like me can enjoy the joker now, Heath did a damn good job,. BITCHES

16. Notnapier
    Posted March 22, 2008 at 2:24 am | Permalink

    If you pay attention to the comics Jack nicholsons performance while perhaps good for the script simply wasn’t the joker. almost the entire existence of the joker is his undying hatred for batman. he lives only as batmans nemisis, not for women, or vengance. the joker causes mayhem, and destruction nicholson was not the joker, he was nicholson

17. Kyle
    Posted March 24, 2008 at 4:35 am | Permalink

    So far the previews have been very good, and honestly, the fact that Ledger died, I think, will probably make the movie even better (sorta like The Omen, or Queen of the Damned)…But I’m just hoping that while i’m watching the movie I don’t all of a sudden burst out laughing about gay cowboys (much like i burst out laughing about hobits when i was watching Hooligans).

18. Maximus
    Posted April 13, 2008 at 9:31 pm | Permalink

    Why has there been no pic of Ledger’s Joker SMILING? And no, not the closed mouth half-smile when he says “Hello, Commissioner.” I mean a smile with his teeth showing. That’s the Joker’s “trademark”, his eerie, menacing grin.
    So where is it?
    If Ledger’s Joker doesn’t smile in the movie, then no matter how numerous or grisly his murders are, I will be really disappointed.

19. Jeremy
    Posted May 5, 2008 at 2:35 am | Permalink

    See the new trailer bud?, or the last one, oh he smiles, so watch each trailer 1,000 times as i have and you’ll see, and pics are on the web now, numerous ones, of his psychopathic insane smile

    “LETS PUT A SMILE ON THAT FACE!”-HEATH LEDGER’S JOKER