15 Most Ridiculously Absurd Casting Calls Of The 21st Century

3. Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight (2008)

It's hard to underplay just how controversial the decision to cast Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight but it should be considered onee of the most controversial of all time. When he was cast, it was considered entirely absurd, in fact, with Ledger more expected to follow a career path like Matthew McConaughey's prior to his renaissance.

He had been in some more dramatic projects before and proved himself a good lead, but playing the Joker was a very particular requirement and Ledger had shown absolutely nothing to suggest he was up to the role. Even now, you can see why there was so much concern.

Did It Work?

Absolutely. This could well be the greatest comic book movie performance of all time (and might well stay the only performance acknowledged by the Oscars for some time too). The so-called stunt-casting was just as profoundly brilliant as Tim Burton's casting of Michael Keaton a couple of decades previously.