A chilling book Christopher Nolan gave Heath Ledger to prepare as the Joker

Heath Ledger’s performance in 2008’s The Dark Knight was perhaps the best performance of the Joker ever put on screen. The show has inspired millions of people’s Halloween costumes in the years since, and even… He inspired Timothée Chalamet to get into acting. Plus, he is too No. 1 choice on the Film/Film list for best Heath Ledger performancesa feat made even more impressive by how stacked Ledger’s filmography already is. Even people who hated the film can agree that Ledger nailed it here, and in the 17 years since, Hollywood has been trying in vain to capture what made Ledger’s version so special.

One item among many that contributed to Ledger’s personality is the book “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess. Very similar Kubrick’s 1972 film of the same nameThis book is about a mischievous and chaotic young man who seems to simply want to watch the world burn. Alex, the main character in the book, is someone who has no clear backstory to explain why he is so evil; He just has an appetite for depraved violence and very few qualms about indulging in it. Sounds familiar, right? Christopher Nolan certainly thought so, which may be why he gave the book to Ledger as an assigned read before production began.

“We cast[Ledger]before writing the script, so he had a very long time to worry about what he was going to do,” Nolan explained in an interview. IndieWire 2018 interview. “I sent him some material – I had him read A Clockwork Orange, for example.” Nolan didn’t explain much about why, but he didn’t need to. Not only does Alex DeLarge look a lot like the Joker, he connects with audiences for similar reasons. There’s something wonderful about an unashamed villain, who acts without any apparent rhyme or reason. Sure, Alex and the Joker are terrifying and disgusting, but many readers and viewers find it funny to see what crazy thing he’ll do next.

Arguably the most important part about “Clockwork Orange,” at least as far as Ledger’s Joker is concerned, is that the final act was cut from the original American publication and, therefore, was not later covered in Kubrick’s adaptation. This final chapter shows Alex finally having an epiphany of sorts, realizing that he doesn’t actually want to continue down this path of brutal violence. It’s a surprising amount of hope that helps prove that the book is not as nihilistic as its critics have assumed.

In his introduction to the 1986 edition, the first American edition of the book to include a redemptive final chapter, Burgess explained how he believed his book had been slightly misunderstood by audiences, the final chapter of which was intended to make a more optimistic case about the nature of humanity, that every person ( Even Alex) has free will and the ability to improve. However, the darker thematic conclusion implied by the original American version – and the subsequent film adaptation – is one that sticks with most people.

It’s similar to how Ledger’s Joker is often portrayed as a true nihilistic agent of chaos, someone who is as evil, random, and unplanned as he claims to be. This is an interpretation that misses some of the best layers to the character – mainly, the fact that this Joker spends a lot of time planning things and isn’t actually driven by a pure desire to watch the world burn. This Joker is a bitter, insecure man who wants to prove to Batman that anyone can be as bad as him, and when the statements choose not to blow each other up, he’s been conclusively proven (at least as far as the movie is concerned) that he’s wrong. .

Despite its understandable reputation as one of the darker Batman films, The Dark Knight is more optimistic in its worldview than it’s often given credit for. I’m not sure Nolan had this part of the book’s legacy in mind when he recommended it to Ledger, but it certainly creates an interesting connection.