| "Heath Ledger's death raised the stakes surrounding Christopher Nolan's Batman sequel. The director Christopher Nolan ... worked with Heath Ledger (playing the Joker) and Christian Bale (as Batman) ... on the coming 'Dark Knight'.... [photo captions] ... Rebooting the Batman franchise may be behind him, but he still has to improve upon it. Sequels are always trickier. And now he must also navigate the aftermath of the Jan. 22 death of Mr. Ledger. ... It [Ledger's death] came well into editing, and only after the studio had introduced Mr. Ledger’s Joker through posters, trailers and a six-minute Imax short. But it automatically raised the stakes: the acclaimed actor's final role would be ... [sic] a comic-book grotesque? Worse, though Mr. Ledger had finished work on 'The Dark Knight' in October and was already halfway through another film, news that the prescription drugs that killed him included sleep aids — along with narcotics — prompted Internet chatter about whether his intense performance as the Joker, styled after Malcolm McDowell's in 'A Clockwork Orange,' had been a factor in his demise. ... Mr. Ledger, however, also called it 'the most fun I’ve ever had, or probably ever will have, playing a character.' But his fatigue was obvious, said Michael Caine, who briefly overlapped with him. 'He was exhausted, I mean he was really tired. I remember saying to him, "I'm too old to have the bloody energy to play that part." And I thought to myself, I didn't have the energy when I was his age.' ... Mr. [Wally] Pfister, the cinematographer, said Mr. Ledger seemed 'like he was busting blood vessels in his head,' he was so intense. 'It was like a séance, where the medium takes on another person and then is so completely drained.' ... Will Mr. Ledger’s death cast a pall over 'The Dark Knight,' whose tragic plot turns already make it much darker than 'Batman Begins'? 'We’ll see,' said Mr. [Jeff] Robinov, of Warner Brothers. Mr. Nolan, for his part, said he felt a 'massive sense of responsibility' to do right by Mr. Ledger's 'terrifying, amazing' performance. ... 'It's stunning, it's iconic,' he said. 'It's going to just blow people away.' " 向永遠的joker--Heath Ledger致敬 |
