10 Improvised Movie Moments That Made The Film Much Better
2. Everything Heath Ledger Did As The Joker
The late, great Heath Ledger's final complete performance is one of the greatest and most intense comic book movie performances in history in fact, it's one of the most complex and terrifying performances in any film, period. Much of that was thanks to Christopher Nolan's realistic take on the character in his script for grounded superhero flick The Dark Knight. Like Robert De Niro breathing true, horrible life into Travis Bickle, though, it was Ledger who really made The Joker. In fact he took inspiration from Taxi Driver and A Clockwork Orange's anti-heroes for his performance, with a lot of the most memorable scenes in The Dark Knight being totally unscripted. Slow clap in the Gotham jail? Improvised. That chillingly dark repeated pressing of the detonator at the hospital? Improvised after the rigged explosions didn't go off. Along with the make up, stuff in his pockets and back story, it was all Ledger. And in making all these things up on the fly, he changed The Joker forever.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
