Heath Ledger's Academy Award-winning turn as The Joker in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight will surely go down as one of the most iconic and celebrated comic book movie performances of all time, and it sounds like his legendary co-star would be in full agreement.
In his new memoir, "Don't Look Back, You'll Trip Over," Sir Michael Caine recalls working with Ledger on the 2008 Batman Begins sequel, and was full of praise for both his terrifying transformation into the Caped Crusader's most infamous foe and the man beneath the makeup.
Caine also gave some insights into Ledger's enigmatic interpretation of the villain and his "multiple choice" origin.
"He was a lovely guy, very gentle and unassuming," Caine writes. "I wondered how he was going to play the Joker, especially as Jack Nicholson’s take had been so iconic. Brilliantly, Heath ramped up the character’s psychotic side rather than going for one-liners. His Joker was deeply, deeply warped and damaged, though you never find out exactly why, or what he’s really looking for."
"As Alfred says to Bruce, ‘Some men just want to watch the world burn,'" Caine continues. "And that was Heath’s version of the character: the smeared make-up, the weird hair, the strange voice. It was chilling. Absolutely floored me the first time I saw him in action — I was terrified!"
Caine clarifies that he wasn't scared of Ledger himself, but was unsettled by his complete shift in personality when the cameras started rolling.
"He and Christian [Bale] were good friends and always having fun together. And then he was transformed into this scheming monster, driving a whole city towards mayhem. Looking back, I think Heath’s excellence made all of us raise our game. The psychological battle between the Joker and Batman is completely riveting. Are they in any way the same? What nudges one man to do good, and the other to do evil? The Joker wants to torment Bruce by convincing him that they’re two of a kind."
Ledger tragically passed away from an accidental overdoes at the age of 27 shortly before The Dark Knight was released.
"The truth is, we’d all hoped he would win an Academy Award and thought he should, even while we were still filming the movie," Caine said of Ledger's death and posthumous Oscar win. "So it was just a very sad thing that he wasn’t around to accept it in person. It’s a performance for the ages, and even though his career was cut short so soon, he’ll be remembered as a great actor, I believe."
Don't Look Back, You'll Trip Over is on shelves now.