Made in Hollywood

In the early morning of New York, a busy day has begun. In a four-story apartment on Bloom Street in Manhattan, young Heath Ledger woke up from his sleep and just opened his eyes and felt that something was not right.

In his mind, there was the sound of the wings of mosquitoes and ants, "buzz...buzz..." The sound went from small to loud, and it gradually escalated into a huge roar. Something was squeezing out from the blood vessels and almost split his body. The sound around him was covered with a sound insulation layer, blurred and deformed like an electronic device, and the pattern in his eyes kept shaking and twisting.

The skin began to get cold, and Heath Ledger could feel it twitching involuntarily. The kitten from nowhere was scratching the raised goose bumps with its sharp claws. The itching gradually penetrated into the bones along the pores. I want to touch but I can't feel it, I want to scratch but it doesn't work. I can only shake my body and try to rub my bones against the itching by shaking my flesh.

This is simply an inhuman torture, and it will definitely break him down if it continues.

Since it had been in this state for several years, Heath Ledger naturally knew what the problem was. He stood up and found a medicine bottle from the bedside table. After hesitating for less than half a second, he unscrewed the bottle. Gai, poured out a few pills and stuffed them into his mouth, without even drinking water, he swallowed them in his stomach.

There seemed to be psychological hints, all kinds of weird sensations in the body and mind suddenly disappeared, the whole person became spiritual, and the young and handsome talented actor returned to him.

Gradually, Heath Ledger returned to his normal state. He shook his head vigorously, and his eyes fell on another item on the bedside table. It was a character script. The agent of the famous director Duke Rosenberg specialized in it. The script for the villain in the second Batman movie was sent.

Although he heard the other party mention that the script has not yet been finalized, the role will not change much. It had been a while since the character script was delivered to him, and Heath Ledger had read and studied it several times. It was a character full of magic, a character that he could really play!

In 1989, Jack Nicholson played the role once and received numerous accolades.

In general. With professional beauty in front, most people will not touch such a role again.

Heath Ledger originally wanted to refuse, but after reading the character script, he realized that the setting of the character had undergone earth-shaking changes. Although the two characters were both called clowns, they were by no means the same.

And the setting of the clown in this character script... how to say it, it seems indescribable with crazy and amazing.

I heard that the setting of this character came from Duke Rosenberg. Perhaps only such a special director can adapt such a special role.

Thinking of this, Heath Ledger took the script and read it again.

In this character script, the Joker shows a kind of madness. Crazy without bottom line and guidelines, madness to the peak of evil.

And what is the highest level of evil? In the peak of evil, evil is not a means, but an end. Evil at its peak is pure. Not for money, not for sex, not for any other purpose, the creation of evil and the execution of evil are the only pursuits themselves.

The evil of the clown is such pure evil. For nothing else, he just wanted to create "a higher taste of evil" for the city, in Heath Ledger's opinion, compared to the Joker. Even the crime of the anonymous person in "The Seven Deadly Sins" is not considered "evil of good taste", because there are too many additions to evil there.

Just as Batman is a knight of righteousness and morality, the Joker is actually an evil Puritan. In his eyes, crimes for money, power, sex or any other purpose are actually blasphemy against "evil", and evil is pure only in his hands.

In the Joker's hands, evil and chaos become a work of art, and he wields evil like a painter paints and a musician composes music. So from the beginning to the end, no matter what the situation is, he maintains a arrogance and self-satisfaction as a demon.

The Joker's behavior in the script seems insane and chaotic at first glance, but Heath Ledger is not difficult to analyze that this character has a fanatical pursuit - breaking everyone's bottom line.

This is a crazy character!

After closing the script, Heath Ledger sat quietly on the head of the bed and thought for a while. For the past ten days, he has been considering whether to take it or not.

Frankly speaking, he didn't like superhero movies, so he hesitated until now because it was Batman, but the name Duke Rosenberg and the character script he sent him were very attractive.

How many actors in Hollywood don't want to work with Duke Rosenberg? That often means an all-around bumper crop of career, fame and money.

Heath Ledger was no exception, so he didn't reject the role outright.

After thinking about it until now, he made a decision.

Picking up the phone, Heath Ledger dialed a number. "Mara, I want that character."

His agent Mara Buxbaum said immediately, "I'll contact Charles Rowan and ask the crew to arrange your audition as soon as possible."

The voice on the phone was a little excited, and no agent didn't want to be a superstar's agent.

The news quickly reached Duke. Although the project will not be officially approved until July, it has passed the review of the Warner Bros. review committee, and there will be no obstacles to the establishment of the "Dark Knight" project.

Duke told Charles Rowan that as long as the preparations were officially started, Heath Ledger's clown audition would be arranged first, in order to give him more time to figure out the role.

But as in the past, Heath Ledger is only the Joker's first choice, not the only choice. After all, no one knows whether Heath Ledger can meet the requirements of this role.

In addition, there is Harvey Dent, a double-faced man, and Duke also had someone contact Nicolas Cage's agent, probably after being informed by Sofia Coppola in advance, and without seeing any character script and other related content Under the circumstances, Nicolas Cage accepted the audition invitation without hesitation.

Likewise, even for Sofia Coppola's sake, reaching out for Nicolas Cage, he won't be the only option. If he's in the worst performing state and doesn't meet the requirements, Duke will also will not be used.

In this regard, there is no shortage of actors, and some news of Batman 2 will inevitably spread, such as Hugh Jackman, Ryan Phillippe, Liev Schreiber and Josh Lucas all through agents Someone handed over a message expressing interest in the role of Inspector Harvey Dent.

As the project is about to be approved, Warner Bros. has also started some targeted publicity to let fans know that the second Batman movie is about to start filming and production.

In mid-June, it was revealed on instant sharing and multiple film and television websites that "Penguin" Oswald Chesterfield Cooper will appear in this new Batman, and has launched a rather interesting In the most influential vote for the actor, Bob Hopkins won the overwhelming majority of the vote.

Probably Warner Bros. had PR in advance. Bob Hopkins said in an interview that he was very willing to play this role, and was looking forward to working with Duke, calling him a "dream director".

This news has been fermented on the Internet for a long time, and even sparked discussions among Batman fans and comic book fans.

It was not until the news reached a certain level of popularity that Duke declared through his instant sharing account that he did not use the idea of ​​"Mr. Penguin".

Although this disappointed some Penguin fans, it served as enough publicity.

"The Penguin is inappropriate in the movie, it's a bit far-fetched."

In the office, Duke and Anna Prinz, Hannah Serena and John Schwartzman, among others, were discussing some of the Batman matters, especially the character that Duke highlighted, "This film A clown is enough."

"The setting of this character..." Anna Prinz was holding a concept map of the clown drawn by Hannah Serena. "It's seriously out of the comics."

"Strictly speaking," John Schwartzman said, "I read the script and thought the whole movie was out of comics, if it wasn't for Batman, it didn't even have much to do with superhero movies. Relationship."

"So, John, you need to pay attention to the style of photography," Duke said after a moment's thought. "It needs to be darker and more realistic, and it looks more like a cop movie."

Then, he reached out for the concept image of the clown held by Anna Prinz, and said to his art director, "Try to make the clown's costume and makeup look shabby and sloppy, so that he doesn't look like a cartoon. As a refugee in China, the overall shape design should highlight the sharp and neurotic side of this character.”

"I understand." Hannah Serena pointed to the concept map and said, "This is just the first draft. I've thought about it carefully. Based on the comic characters, I'll draw on the pop masters of the counterculture. The style of Pete Doherty and "Father of Punk" Iggy Pop."

Duke nodded and said, "This is also a way to use funny performances to disguise the character. My purpose is to dig out the deeper realism of this character. For this character, dressing up as a 'clown' ', which can be regarded as a gorgeous reproduction of the flame of life to some extent."

In the whole movie, the Joker is much better than Batman. To a certain extent, Bruce Wayne is more like a super dragon.

As time entered July, a series of review work by Warner Bros. was completed, Duke's team assembled again, and even Christian Bale started training again. Batman already has all the conditions for the project.

Just after the Independence Day holiday, Warner Bros. and DC Comics, together with Duke, held a press conference for the "Dark Knight" project. (To be continued ~^~)

PS:  We got up late on weekends. . . .