A Look Inside Heath Ledger's Joker Diary

 

Since 2008's The Dark Knight, Heath Ledger's iconic performance as The Joker has become synonymous with the truly masterpiece of a film.  Yet, going on five years later, there has never been much released regarding Ledger's process for the film (behind-the-scenes footage, interviews on set, etc.).

What was known however - in one of the few interviews Ledger gave regarding the film before his death - was his intense preparation to become one of Hollywood's most iconic villains.

Speaking with Empire Magazine, the late actor had this to say:

“I sat around in a hotel room in London for about a month, locked myself away, formed a little diary.”

We finally have the first look at this diary thanks to the German documentary show, Too Young to Die, which interviews Ledger's father, Kim, as he goes through the scrapbook/journal (if you notice, Ledger's Oscar is sitting right next to the book).  Within the diary, there are clippings from Batman comics, pictures of clowns, cutouts from Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, and a written description of his hospital room monologue scene.  Finally, in a chilling final note, the words "BYE BYE" are scribbled across the last page.

You can view the video below which is narrated in French, however; thanks to You Tube, a narration is provided:

This is the Joker’s diary. In order to inhabit his character, he locked himself up in a hotel room for weeks. He would do that. He liked to dive into his characters, but this time he really took it up a notch.

The hospital scene is interesting because when he was a kid, his sister Kate liked to dress him up as a nurse. He was really funny like that. He also was in the movie. This is a make-up test which was done eight months before. Before the end of the shooting he wrote “bye bye” on the back of the page. It was hard to see this.

Source: The Film Stage