Heath Ledger Death “The Dark Knight” “Joker” Role Related To Death

January 22nd, 2008 by Castina

The media is trying to make connection between Heath Ledger’s alleged overdose and his role as The Joker in the upcoming Batman epic The Dark Knight. CNN reporters are exploring the connection between Heath’s performance as the “demonic” Joker, which reportedly left him unable to sleep, and his death in New York City on Tuesday.

What do you guys make of this theory? Poor Heath! He was such a good actor. I’m not really big on Brokeback Mountain, but I loved him in 10 Things I Hate About You. Not his most Oscar worthy role, I know, but the fourteen year old in me still loves that movie.

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14 Responses to “Heath Ledger Death “The Dark Knight” “Joker” Role Related To Death”

On January 22nd 2008, Erik wrote:

I think it’s stretching it a bit. The thought that a comic book character could drive someone to suicide (or accidental overdose, close enough) is a bit farfetched; at the other time, could it have been a contributing factor? The CNN video makes some good points.
On January 24th 2008, guy wrote:

I can understand if a film role led him to stress. I dont see how they led to suicide. I don’t feel this was a suicide.

If a film role led him to stress, does that mean the previous role made him gay? see what i mean?
On January 29th 2008, Dean wrote:

I do not belive Heaths death was a suicide he was have problems sleeping and he needed the sleep this is why the sleeping pills was taking, Seeing heath just a few years ago outside a movie festival you could see he wouldnt of done a think like this , And the joker has nothing to do with the death , well yes it does in a way but he didnt do a suicide no way any bitching back send em to me to my email!
On August 1st 2008, Marissa wrote:

I believe that it is a possibility that the “Joker” character drove him to his death, when you become an actor and are told to act like this character you usually become the character. He even said that he couldn’t sleep at night, his mind was not where it should have been. Even Jack Nicholson warned him about the joker role. I don’t believe that it was suicide. he said that he was only sleeping like 2 hours a day, he probably just wanted to sleep and the pills went a little too far, there fore he overdosed on them. Minus all the bad news..he did a great job playng the joker and the media throws thing out of proportion so don’t listen to them too much

R.I.P Heath Ledger <3
On August 24th 2008, Tony A. wrote:

A lot of people say that Heath Ledger went to “a dark place” deep in his soul in order to give us the most terrifying Joker to date. Ceasar Romero’s Joker was the epitome of cheese and Jack Nicholson’s Joker was just plain silly in contrast to Ledger’s hunched over, contorted, lispy Joker. Ledger had a passion for acting. He left movies like 10 Things I Hate About You and A Knights Tale in the dust when he went skinny-dipping with Jake Gyllenhall in the ballsy Brokeback Mountain. He then earned his place as legend when he played a psychotic Joker to the hilt and passed away after production of The Dark Knight. Actor Marlon Brando once said that he went to a dark place in his soul to play the kinky widower in Last Tango In Paris. He then quickly added that he dare not do that again. Can a film role actually kill an actor? Did playing the crazed newsman in Network take its toll on an already ailing Peter Finch? Did The Joker consume Heath Ledger? Who’s to say really? But when an artist like Ledger or say ELVIS divests so much of himself-or herself in the case of Marilyn Monroe-then that artist can end being consumed by their inner demons. The tragedy in all this is Heath left behind a precious two-year old daughter. And millions of fans mourning his loss. His family in grieving, looking for answers. All this as THE DARK KNIGHT contines to make history surpassing STAR WARS on the list of highest grossing movies(nearly $500 Million to date)! And there is much talk of a posthumous Oscar for Heath Ledger’s brilliant portrayal of The Joker. One thing is for sure, though. Heath Ledger has just joined the ranks of James Dean, ELVIS, and Marilyn Monroe. And that status is: Legend. But at what price glory? A very hefty one indeed.
On October 6th 2008, Plain wrote:

I don’t want to predict much about his cause of death..
but the Joker character he played was far more alive than any other characters in the movie, including Batman himself..
On November 9th 2008, maya wrote:

He was one of my favourate actors ever since 10 things i hate about u which i watched at my early teans. He was a great actor.. I’ve never seen such lovely perfomance playing role of an evil, psychotic character on the screen before. The joker in the dark night was the ULTIMATE joker in all batman movies done so far. May God bless his soul.
On December 16th 2008, huda wrote:

Nah..it wasn’t a suicide
On January 18th 2009, Evilbox wrote:

Ledger got lost in the darkness that was the Joker. Rare minds can adebt to the separation from pain and pleasure like the Joker was meant to depict, therefore Ledger who was a talented actor (which means they become their roles), was not able to shake off the shadows that remained after conveying the misery that was The Joker. It is possible that is mind discovered a taboo inside our social construct that he could not accept, that scared him.
Perhapes, it was not a suicide, but rather him wishing to shed himself of the filth within his mind after exposing the darkness he held within his heart…
On February 1st 2009, Wil wrote:

I think it was a part of it. A role like that, thats so unordinary, so different from normal roles, is bound to make someone act differently. He got wrapped up in the character, addicted to it if you will, to the point that he forgot about his health.
On February 24th 2009, the phenom wrote:

i believe this is the exact reason why he died……..he played the role perfectly by the way………..we all tend to think of a comic book character as harmless…….but the orgin of a JOKER goes back to medieval times …..these creatures used to entertain people using magic and WITCHCRAFT nuff said…….the joker is a demonic grim character…….start lokking at the ORGIN people ……..
On March 6th 2009, Adam wrote:

Heath stole the show with his role. He was perfect. I had to ask myself, “am I biased by the focus of his death,” or was it that good. e did an awesome job as the joker. I wouldn’t rank the movie as good as some, but Heath was great.
I found myself laughing at times when I probably shouldn’t have. Thanks to the producing and Heath’s talent. I feel similarities between this one and The Crow, when Brandon Lee died during filming. I wish that I knew more about him. Heath Ledger that is. I hope that his family has had space from the media to heal.
Thanks to all that made this film possible.
On June 18th 2009, sam wrote:

okay, heath ledger seemed very happy…then he took on the role of the joker..now i kno its a lil bit farfetched..but maybe this role influenced him to take all these pills…the movie was phenomnial..but the joker was pretty scary and a lot messed up..so it is a posssibility
On July 23rd 2009, Hola wrote:

fish :(