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Sun 17 August 2025 12:30, UK
Acting has a funny way of coming full circle, with Heath Ledger well on his way to being recognised as one of his generation’s most influential actors, if he wasn’t already.
It was obvious to anyone who’d seen his work that he had the potential to become an era-defining talent, but even though he tragically passed away in January 2008 at the age of 28, he still cast a shadow large enough to inspire the next crop of aspiring stars who followed in his wake.
Thanks to its status as arguably the greatest comic book adaptation ever made, a billion-dollar blockbuster, and his final completed role, Ledger’s performance as the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight will always define him, and it’s a hell of a way to be remembered.
It’s not often said about anything to do with superhero cinema, but his Academy Award-winning outing as the ‘Clown Prince of Crime’ was a milestone moment for modern Hollywood. If that sounds hyperbolic, then consider the calibre of performers who’ve cited it as a monumental touchstone.
Two-time Oscar nominee and 21st-century superstar Timothée Chalamet, the Oscar-nominated Austin Butler, and Jacob Elordi, who counts Guillermo del Toro, Sofia Coppola, Ridley Scott, and Paul Schrader among his recent collaborators, all pointed to Ledger’s Joker as having a transformative impact on their approach.
As for Ledger, he was famed for disappearing into his roles, regardless of who they were and what kind of picture they occupied. He wasn’t strictly a method actor, but he always did his homework, making his performances in everything from A Knight’s Tale and The Patriot to Brokeback Mountain and Monster’s Ball feel authentic.
His legacy lives on through the latest wave of 20 and 30-something names making it big in Hollywood, and it’s no surprise that Ledger himself was heavily influenced by a trio of Oscar-winning heavyweights known for giving everything to the characters they played, with Daniel Day-Lewis at the top of the pile.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in November 2006, five months after he was first announced as Nolan’s Joker, Ledger pointed to the legendary method man’s most committed turn. “It’s a remarkable transformation,” he said of Day-Lewis embodying Christy Brown in My Left Foot. “Probably the most remarkable I can think of.”
That might even be an understatement, with the tales surrounding Day-Lewis’ adherence to the method becoming legend. Philip Seymour Hoffman, another all-time great-in-waiting who died early, caught Ledger’s eye with his standout work in Capote: “It’s less in the way he walks and more in the way he can mould himself,” he mused of the actor’s ability to vanish into a role, whatever it may be.
Ledger mentioned Gary Oldman’s Sid and Nancy as an influence on his Joker, but before he’d even started shooting The Dark Knight, he’d long been enamoured by his soon-to-be co-star’s breakout role: “Wow, that is an amazing performance,” he accurately surmised. “I mean, so dirty. He really hits bottom.”
It’s not a bad trio to base a career on, and looking at how far his reach has extended, Ledger’s Joker is having a similar effect.
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