In the ever-growing pantheon of superhero films, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight is universally recognised as among the greatest thus far (if not the greatest); thanks to the combination of masterful direction, an inventive screenplay, striking score + cinematography, the powerhouse performance of Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman, and of course, the powerhouse performance of Australia’s Heath Ledger as The Joker — the latter of which fellow cast member Michael Caine revealed brought jaw-droppingly authentic dimensions to his character.
“Heath will frighten the life out of you,” Michael Caine, who portrayed butler/confidante Alfred Pennyworth in Nolan’s genre-defining trilogy, said of Heath Ledger during the 2007 press junket for Kenneth Branagh’s Sleuth.
“He did me the first time I saw him, because we did a rehearsal on the first day and we hadn’t met or anything.”
RELATED: How Christopher Nolan Changed The Game With ‘Batman Begins’
“He had to come up in an elevator to our home, Batman’s home. I’m thinking I’m letting friends in, instead of which he’s killed them all and he’s coming up in the lift. So on the first rehearsal… when the bloody door opened on that lift, he came tearing out. I forgot every line. Terrifying.”
What Heath Ledger achieved in The Dark Knight has long been intertwined with tragedy. Shortly after production wrapped, the actor died of an accidental prescription drug overdose at the age of just 28.
The media-curated narrative drew a dotted line between the supposed mental strain of his method acting process and the end result. However, this claim has consistently been disputed by Ledger’s friends and family, including his sister Kate.
“Everything that came to light about The Joker, we were all so confused,” Kate Ledger told Entertainment Weekly.
“Honestly, it was the absolute opposite. He had an amazing sense of humour, and I guess maybe only his close family and friends really knew that, but he was having fun.”
“He wasn’t depressed about The Joker.”
RELATED: Christian Bale Is Keen To Return As Batman (But On One Condition)
RELATED: Cillian Murphy Is “One Of The Best Actors Of All Time,” Says Christopher Nolan
In addition to the magnitude of Heath Ledger’s screen presence, Michael Caine has also made it clear who reigned supreme in his personal hierarchy of Batman iterations:
“Oh yeah, I’ve seen all the Batman… mens, men. I’ve seen them all. I think by a long way, Christian [Bale] is the best Batman I’ve ever seen.”
“He certainly is the best actor, a wonderful actor, as he’s proven in 3:10 To Yuma now and in The Machinist. What was the other one he was in between? Where he played [the POW]? Rescue Dawn… that’s the one. That’s a wonderful performance.”
“Playing the movie was absolutely fantastic,” Michael Caine reminisced elsewhere, before delving into what makes Christopher Nolan so unique.
“The thing about Nolan is you don’t always know what’s going on in the scene, as an actor. And you ask him, and he says, ‘I’ll tell you after you’ve done it.'”
Between The Dark Knight trilogy (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises), The Prestige, Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk, and Tenet, Michael Caine has collaborated with Christopher Nolan on a grand total of eight occasions; and with Christian Bale on a total of four occasions.
Here’s to hoping we get a few more before the British icon eventually retires.
There’s more where that came from: we watched and ranked every single Christopher Nolan movie. Check it out now.
