“He had a kind heart, full of creativity and generosity.”
Heath Ledger joker had a strong sense that The Dark Knight would be a big success — and Andrew Garfield says he wasn’t shy about sharing that.
In a recent Happy Sad Confused podcast episode, Garfield talked about his time with Ledger while working on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Ledger had just finished filming the intense Batman movie.
Advertisement He had just played the Joker and wrapped up The Dark Knight, and he was proud of it. I asked him, ‘How did it go?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, it’s really good.’”
Garfield shared.
When Garfield was still early in his career, he met Ledger, who was already well-known for 10 Things I Hate About You, A Knight’s Tale, and Brokeback Mountain. Garfield, now starring in We Live in Time, joked that one of the many things he learned from Ledger came from how the actor reacted to being on a magazine cover before The Dark Knight was released.
I remember when his Empire magazine cover came out, and he said, ‘They used a terrible photo, I couldn’t believe it and told him, ‘Are you serious? It looks amazing!’ But he replied, ‘No, the pose is wrong. It looks too much like what people expect an actor to look like… you’ll understand later.’ And yeah, I did understand.
Garfield recalled
On January 22, 2008, Ledger was found dead in his apartment in Manhattan at the age of 28. His death was ruled an accident caused by a dangerous combination of prescription medications.
When The Dark Knight hit theaters in July 2008, six months after Ledger’s death, he was proven right. The Christopher Nolan-directed film broke several box-office records, became the highest-grossing movie of that year, and is still considered one of the best superhero films ever. Ledger received many awards after his death, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Garfield only worked with Ledger (Joker) for a short time, but he said the actor made a big impact on everyone around him.
He had a special energy, like a wild animal, He was so free, wild, and unpredictable on set. It was the kind of thing that inspired everyone. Before one take in every scene, he’d say, ‘Let’s have fun with this one.’
Garfield said, adding,
When Garfield was a young actor, he focused a lot on “getting it right,” but over time, he learned to value Ledger’s approach.
I still have lots of things that remind me of him, I remember the first day I met him, he was wearing these awesome camo Ray-Ban sunglasses. I said, ‘Cool sunglasses,’ and the next day they were in my dressing room. He had left them for me. He was such a generous, creative person.
Garfield said.
In the podcast episode above, you can listen to Garfield talk about his friendship with Ledger.
Source: EW