The Hollywood Reporter has released some excerpts from newly printed interviews in 100 Things Batman Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die by Joseph McCabe and among them are comments from The Dark Knight star Christian Bale. In a fascinating tidbit, the actor reveals that during that intense interrogation scene, Oscar-winning actor Heath Ledger asked his co-star to actually punch him.
It's no secret that the late actor committed to playing The Joker in a big way, something many people believe may have led to his tragic death. Either way, it's really no wonder this scene was so great:
"Our first scene was in an interrogation room together, and I saw that he’s a helluva actor who’s completely committed to it and totally gets the tone that Chris [Nolan] is trying to create with this. […] As you see in the movie, Batman starts beating the Joker and realizes that this is not your ordinary foe. Because the more I beat him the more he enjoys it. The more I’m giving him satisfaction. Heath was behaving in a very similar fashion. He was kinda egging me on. I was saying, ‘You know what, I really don’t need to actually hit you. It’s going to look just as good if I don’t.’ And he’s going, ‘Go on. Go on. Go on….’ He was slamming himself around, and there were tiled walls inside of that set which were cracked and dented from him hurling himself into them. His commitment was total."
Rumour has it that Christopher Nolan wanted The Joker to make a cameo appearance in The Dark Knight Rises but scrapped those plans after Ledger's death. Jared Leto's performance as the Clown Prince of Crime in Suicide Squad was overshadowed by Ledger and it's easy to imagine the same being the case for whoever plays the DC Comics villain in that standalone origin story which is on the way.
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