10 Actors Who Were Scared Of Other Actors
3. Heath Ledger Made Michael Caine Forget His Lines... (The Dark Knight)
Back when it first released, The Dark Knight was complained about by a record number of parents, who reportedly had to shield their children's eyes from violent scenes featuring Heath Ledger's psychotic and dangerous Joker.
But the character didn't just spook families around the globe - he also spooked some of the actors working on the film.
In the months before The Dark Knight hit cinemas, Michael Caine - who starred as Alfred Pennyworth - gave an interview in which he confessed to finding Ledger's presence "terrifying" on set. Apparently, the young Australian was so convincing in his role as the iconic Batman villain, that he caused Caine to forget his lines entirely:
“In the first rehearsal, I’ve never seen him, and he has like seven dwarves with him like Snow White only it’s not like that. When the bloody door opens on the lift, he came tearing out. I forgot every line I had. Terrifying.”
The scene he's referring to takes place in Bruce Wayne's penthouse, with the billionaire holding a party for Harvey Dent that is soon gatecrashed by the Joker.
Interestingly, Caine doesn't actually have any lines in the finished version of the sequence, but that's probably a good thing, since it allowed him to just sit back and watch Ledger scare everybody else - such as a certain Gyllenhaal sibling.