Joker 2 Joker: Jack Nicholson “warned” Heath Ledger
January 24th, 2008 by Scott Marks
Notorious party-hound Jack Nicholson doling out advice on how to walk the straight and narrow is like Brando telling James Dean to see a psychiatrist.
According to the Daily Mail, “A revealing – if ambiguous - comment made by Jack Nicholson hints he was aware Ledger was battling personal demons. The acting veteran, who played the Batman’s most famous Joker, said in London: “‘I warned him.’”
It appears as though the official cause of death will be “the Joker.” In November Ledger declared himself exhausted and desperately in need of sleep while filming the Batman Begins sequel The Dark Knight. The actor was eating sleeping pills to catch up on his rest after the grueling shoot. Ledger had never taken on such a dark role and even Nicholson warned him of the pitfalls involved in playing such a complex character.
I thought it was called acting where one picks up an enormous paycheck in exchange for a little make believe. How mentally exhausting can it be? It’s a fricking comic book character, not a Bin Laden biopic. You didn’t see a consummate professional like Cesar Romero behaving this way.
“This is not a tough job. You read a script. If you like the part and the money is O.K., you do it. Then you remember your lines. You show up on time. You do what the director tells you to do. When you finish, you rest and then go on to the next part. That’s it.” - Robert Mitchum
You’d have to be a Hope-less, violently insane psychopath to let the Joker get to you.
Tags: Batman, Bob Hope, Heath Ledger, Jack Nicholson, Keith Ledger, Keith_Ledger, The Dark Knight, The Joker, Video
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Talk about a bucket list. “I warned him.” That’s just damned creepy!
Ironically enough, Jack also warned Bob Hope of the same deal, and fifteen years later, he’s dead too. Coincidence? I think not.
Whatever you do, DO NOT encourage me to write more about Bob Hope conspiracy theories. (My partner in the site is praying for no Hope in sight.) First off, Hope never gave Nicholson advice. If anything, it’s the other way around. Jack hasn’t made a good film in 15 years and he’s barely appeared in any since Hope died. Coincidence? Not when Bob Hope is involved! I wish that I could go public with what I know about Hope’s connection to this tragedy, but I fear for the lives of those I love. Look at what’s going on in that picture of Bob as The Joker and I think that you’ll catch on. Here’s a hint: The name of the street Bob lived on in Toluca Lake is “Ledge.” Go on imbd and check the credits for “The Dark Knight.” Dolores is an executive producer and the labwork was done in Vietnam (where all prints were digitally encoded with though transponders). Every seat in every theater in which the picture plays will be outfitted with…There is someone at the door. I hear “Silver Bells.” Oh, God, I fear I’ve said to much already.
Tell me about it. There are mornings when I wake up and crave a bowl of stewed fruit and want to hang from a bar for a hour to straighten out my back. “Hey, I wanna tell ya, that’s wild, lemme tell ‘ya”
You hang from a bar, too? That’s wild!
The Joker didn’t kill Heath Ledger what caused his demise was most likely his undiagnosed manic depressive illness which led to his taking too many of the wrong meds. Lithium may have been a better match for him if a doctor had taken the time to investigate what was going on. The internet is full of information about manic depression (and bi-polar) and it fits Heath Ledger to a tee. Look it up and see for yourself.
I would if I wasn’t so goddamned depressed…
This comment is for Robert Mitchum, the one who posted the long quote about acting not being a big deal. First of all you dont just go into the studio and play dressup to get paid if that is what you are hinting at. Acting is a very complex thing to do, you dont just go in and spout of lines hoping it will come out good or pray they will fix it in editing. If you want a good performance and want audience to enjoy it and make it believable then you become the character. You completely consume yourself into it, so you dont look like a sell out on the film or on the stage. People who leave comments like yours, either has never acted in their entire life and just want something to bitch about. OR have acted, and is a complete sell out with no talent; just no one has the heart to tell them how much they suck. The End
From Robin’s grammatically challenged and humorless post, are we to assume he or she has never heard of Robert Mitchum? Good lord, help us all.
Mitchum was being quoted, dear Robin. I doubt he ever “posted” anything on a website or spent much time near a computer during his long, legendary life…which ended in 1997.
Joel, you have the patience of a saint. And all this time I thought Mitchum was an antiperspirant.
Actually, in this and articles elsewhere, there was a major part of what Jack said missing. Jack warned Heath about using prescription sleeping pills…he wasn’t talking about the role at all!
Listen up, this is a very complex role. I hope you know no matter how “complex” a role is, each is draining due to hours and hours just for one scene, photoshoots, memorizing the script, etc. Which not to mention, the joker would be an extremely hard role to conqour, and I’d like to see you take on such a task as playing this role just as good as he did, and go through all of it without complaining or becoming “TIRED”. It did not say that the role made him go insane, it said it exhausted him. Listen honey, anything can make you tired. It doesn’t have to make you go crazy just because it’s tiring. Also, Jack Nicholson TOLD him he warned him because it was a difficult role and would tire him. Nothing was said about the role making him go insane. You shouldn’t taunt someone who is dead, no matter how much you dislike them, it is very disrespectful. You shouldn’t judge someone on something like this. Right after he finished The Dark Knight he was filming yet another movie. He only got a few hours of sleep week’s total, and was not “eating sleeping pills,” he was simply taking them because he was also an insomniac, and ACCIDENTALLY overdosed on his pills.
Now sweetheart, if you were an insomniac and had to take on one extremely complex role, and not have a break and take on another role, I’m sure you would become a tad tired yourself.
Don’t make judgements if you haven’t done the research, and don’t judge someone until you’ve walked in their shoes.
Thanks
Oh, how wrong I was. I forgot to mention how grueling it is memorizing a script and playing a make believe comic book character. If you can’t do all the above mentioned things and chase it down with drugs, you have no right calling yourself a movie star.
Wow, way to pass judgment, Scott. I took a quick look at your biography on this site, and it amazes me that someone with such a high appreciation for film could have such little understanding of acting theory.
Take a look at the brief description at the top of this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_acting
Now, I can safely assume from the quote in your article that Mitchum has never heard of the concept of method acting, or anything relating to Stanislavski’s system of theatre and drama.
Ledger’s death was a matter of exhaustion and resulting drug abuse . It’s a shame that you insult his memory by simplifying his work as a game of “make-believe”. Maybe the cinema you are accustomed to can be produced through such base roleplay, but when an actor’s goal is to become *believable* as a character, then they have to truly become the character on set.
I also find it greatly disturbing that you consider the title “movie star” an honorary defined by “memorizing scripts, playing make believe, and chasing it down with drugs”. Then again, when your cinematic role models are Cesar Romero and Robert Mitchum, I’d be a fool to expect more.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier are working on “Marathon Man.” In order to play a scene where Hoffman is supposed to be worn to a frazzle, he adheres to the “method” by staying up all night. Olivier sees him the next day and says something like, “Dear boy, why not just act.” Acting is make believe; people are paid ridiculous amounts of money to pretend they are somebody else. Tatum O’Neal won an Oscar for “Paper Moon,” but was she acting or merely mimicking every move Peter Bogdanovich showed her? Red Buttons won an Academy Award for goodness sake. Was that acting? Hillary Swank has two (!) Oscars. I’m a strict auteurist that believes the old Hitchcock adage about all actors being cattle. Herd ‘em up and move ‘em across the screen to do your bidding. And your final slam against Robert Mitchum is just plain wrong. Most movie stars can’t act (Elizabeth Taylor, Keanu Reeves, Alan Ladd, Harrison Ford, etc.) but Mitchum was one of the handful of stars that could also be labeled an actor, and a damn fine one at that. Cesar Romero was (barely) a movie star. Mitchum is a God!
Okay, I’ll admit that I know very little about Mitchum aside from the quote that you provided, so I’ll retract the insult. I suppose the point that I was attempting to make was that Ledger put so much of his energy into the role. According to Empire Magazine, he kept to a hotel room for a month developing the new Joker’s persona by himself, including posture, voice, and psychology. He put a hell of a lot of backwork into the role, and I think that, even if one considers method acting to be an unnecessary step, that Ledger should at least be respected for the amount of thought he put into his role.
He was a terrific actor, but the more I distance myself from “The Dark Knight,” the more forgettable it becomes. I remember long swatches from his performance in “Brokeback Mountain,” a film I have little regard for, and just a couple of choice moments (particularly the one involving a pencil) from TDK. Admittedly, I am not the one to turn to when it comes to acting. Actors don’t make movies (at least not the ones I revere), directors do. Of course a great performance can’t help but enhance a film. I’m sure that you hold “Psycho” in high esteem, and as good as Perkins and Leigh are, even Hitchcock can’t get a rise out of John Gavin. I remember having a discussion with Dave Kehr about Rock Hudson’s performance in “Darling Lili.” The guy is a lox, but as Dave so brilliantly pointed out, “he was used well.” John Gavin notwithstanding, a director who knows an actor’s limitations can still manage to get a performance out of them through camera placement and knowing when to cut. Stallone is used well in “First Blood.” Alan Ladd is used well in “This Gun For Hire.” Sharon Stone is used well in “Casino.” In each case, I don’t think much of the performers, but they are all great in their roles due to the direction. Of course there are actors I go out of my way to see, but for me, the director always comes first. My favorite film of all-time is “Written on the Wind.” Out of the star-studded cast, only Lauren Bacall and Robert Keith deliver performances. Bob Stack was nominated for an Oscar, the hysterical Dorothy Malone took one home, and without a hair out of place, Rock Hudson proves that he had the best “two-finger” part in all of Hollywood. The director Douglas Sirk knew that he was filming s*it, but he did it with such style and assurance the film transcended it’s genre limitations to become this crazed masterwork. As for Ledger, there was talk of an Oscar nomination months before the film was released. It’s all studio hype that was jammed down the publics throat and this time they swallowed hard. It’s a very good performance, but I’ve seen twenty better this year.
When you begin your path to Mitchum, may I suggest “Out of the Past,” “Pursued” and “Night of the Hunter.” And just to prove that no one is perfect, check out “Matilda” ;)
That amazing acting advice must be the reason nobody knows who the fuck ythe author of this article is. Your an idiot! Good job Spielberg!
You must know me, mom because you keep coming back.