20. The Part of The Joker Was Written For Heath Ledger
Much as he cast Christian Bale before the script for Batman Begins had been finalized,
Christopher Nolan spoke to actor Heath Ledger about playing the Joker
long before a script had been written. Ledger had actually met with Nolan about playing Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins, but it was more a formality than anything else, as
Ledger flat out told Nolan that he had in interest whatsoever in appearing in a comic book movie. Apparently the actors mind was changed once he
saw Begins, and he was more than on board for taking on a "comic book villain" by the time The Dark Knight rolled around...although constructing the script with an actor already signed did present its fair share of nervous moments. As Nolan remembered, Ledger was "so committed and knew what a high wire act it would be if he hadn't liked I think...it would have been extremely bad." Fortunately, Ledger "breathed a sigh of relief" when he finally read the script, feeling that "it delivered on what talked about."