7. Heath Ledger's Joker
Do you have any re-collection of where you were on July 31, 2006? Chances are that you may have been scratching your head after reading the Warner Bros. press release announcing that Heath Ledger had been cast as the iconic Joker. Ledger, up to that point, was best known as a rom-com heart throb whose most challenging role was as closeted homosexual Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain. Even though the casting decision was questioned by many fans, all concerns were allayed after the first full trailer for The Dark Knight premiered before I Am Legend in December 2007. The adjectives used by critics to describe Ledger's performance as the Joker were innumerable. The unanimous consensus was that the performance did not only exceed expectations, it shattered them. The voice, the mannerisms, the laugh, the pitch perfect comic timing, and the frightening makeup all combined to form the greatest film villain since a certain cannibalistic psychiatrist greeted Clarice Starling with a cordial "Good morning" from his Plexiglas cell. Like Hannibal Lecter, who only had about 16 minutes of screen time in The Silence of the Lambs, the Joker was used sparingly in The Dark Knight - on screen for about 33 of the film's 152 minute run time. That short time still allowed Ledger to completely steal the show and become the highlight of The Dark Knight. Whatever plans Christopher Nolan had for the Joker in The Dark Knight Rises never reached fruition as those 33 minutes would prove to be the entirety of the Joker's presence in The Dark Knight Trilogy. That Ledger did not live to see the critical response to his performance is one of cinema's greatest tragedies. The harrowing performance would go on to win nearly twenty supporting actor awards including an Oscar. It is still an eerie experience to hear the Joker tell Batman in his final scene in The Dark Knight with a crooked smile, "I think you and I are destined to do this forever."