THE DARK KNIGHT RISES' Christian Bale Discusses Heath Ledger & Being A Tool

Hathaway is gonna own this movie and be the definitive Catwoman.

Heath Ledger's death was, according to naysayers, the only reason The Dark Knight did well.

So if The Dark Knight Rises equal's or beats it's predecessors box office, what'll be the excuse then?

Hope no one else dies.... or any other bad shit happens.

A lot of shit happened to the actors around the release of TDK.

@Sabconth

To me, whenever I heard or read people saying that about Heath's death and the success of the TDK to me was just in bad taste and a sorry excuse they felt is the reason the film was so popular. If thats the case, shouldn't the same be said about, say, The Crow and Brandon Lee and that the only reason that movie was good was because of Lee's death...NO...it was a good movie because of the story, production and Lee portrayal of the character, as is the same with Heath's take on The Joker. He put so much of himself into the character that u catch urself forgetting its him acting as The Joker and to me, thats what a great actor does, they put themselves so much into a role they become the role and lose themselves within it as well as with the audience.

So to those then and now still using Heath's death as an excuse for how well TDK did, its cuz deep down inside u knw he played the hell out that role in the best way he could...and we thank him for it.

R.I.P

you heard it christian bale is a tool his words not mine

Ignorant black fool

The way the title of this article is worded seems borderline offensive to Heath

I realize nothing in the video is offensive, just on first glance I thought for a second they were calling Heath Ledger a tool, like in an insulting way.

Of COURSE It boosted the success of TDK. It didn't make the film better, or worse, but movie ticket wise? Yeah, it boosted it quite a bit.

Think of movies as art, once an artist dies, thats when they're work gets really popular. Because theres never going to be any new ones. DaVinci and Picasso weren't all that popular while they were alive. Now they have places in the most respected museums in the world.

The death of an artist will always impact the sales of their work. It's just a fact of life.

I agree with BANE5000. Trying to say that Ledger's death was what made The Dark Knight successful is like trying to say that Brandon Lee's death sparked the success of The Crow. They are two well made films with unforgettable actors in unforgettable roles. That's all there is to it.

@DukeAcureds - You answered your own post? Hathaway's great, but it's obvious that this Catwoman is devoid of any sexuality (or sensuality). If that's what Nolan was going for, fine. If not....

@WesleyGibson - Huge difference between the two. The amount of attention Ledger's death got HUGELY eclipses the attention Brandon Lee's death received. Also, I don't think it's JUST that Ledger's death brought a ton of attention to the movie, I think his death made both moviegoers and critics go soft on a movie which, really, had almost no coherent plot, no sensible plot points, sub-plots which had nothing to do with the main story, and senseless character arcs. Don't get me wrong, I think there's a lot of fun things about the movie, and I see why people love it, but I can enjoy a movie and still acknowledge that it's a structural mess. And TDK was -- and that's something critics don't usually overlook. But they did.

Plus, everyone in the world knows the Joker.

I think THIS sequel will be huge, but they've two challenges -- most people don't know Bane. And beyond the comics and movie fans, will everyone else go see it. I think that's why Hathaway was cast, she has a wider appeal. It'll have a huge weekend, but for it to have the "legs" that Spider-Man's had so far or that Avengers had, it needs word of mouth.

@phlegmbot -- just curious, what do you mean "lack of coherent plot"? seemed pretty straightforward to me. did the fact that the main villain was the "watch the world burn" type bent on creating anarchy and making society question what it thinks are its fundamental values throw you for a loop?

It's so weird seeing Joker as a thumbnail

GREAT to see a star actually understand and appreciate a comic characters creation and history. And for Bale to give NODS to Bob Kane and the under appreciated comedic performance by Adam West in the TV series.
West and Ward seemed to lose the edge on the characters in the last 1.5 years as they probably began to look at the roles as just silly but they did do some great bits on the show.
As did the many stars who guested.
Bravo to Christian Bale for really doing his homework on Batman!!!!!!

I thought the same thing... everytime I hear this guy give an interview, he has a totally different accent to the one before. Maybe he's getting ready for another part.

the title sounds like bale is discussing what it's like being a tool, as well as ledgers death

which tool? let's have a vote.

@Nomis Not in these movies.

WeaponX

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was Heath Ledger's last role. Not The Dark Knight.

JokerFanHAhaHA

No shit.