January Issue 2008 (on sale in December 2007)
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28 November 2007
World Exclusive: The Joker Speaks
He's a cold-blooded mass-murdering clown
He didn't know it at the time, but as Christopher Nolan shot the killer coda for Batman Begins in which Gary Oldman's Lt. Gordon hands Christian Bale's Caped Crusader a Joker playing card, saying, 'Take this guy: armed robbery, double homicide. Has a taste for theatrics, like you. Leaves a calling card' he was effectively committing himself to a sequel he hadn't even considered taking on.
After all, when it came down to it, how could he possibly set up such a tantalising prospect only for someone else to film it? After Jack Nicholson's panto theatrics in Burton's Batman, here was a chance to finally put on film the ultimate version of the most awesome superhero nemesis of all time. To do it right. To give The Joker the treatment he had so far been denied.
As our world exclusive cover image attests, The Dark Knight's incarnation of The Joker promises to be one of the greatest, most ruthless, evil and downright terrifying movie criminals of all time.
Or, in the words of the man playing him, Heath Ledger, "a psychopath, a sociopath, a cold-blooded, mass-murdering clown". There are many characters who will make 2008 a year of cinema to remember, but from the look of it as well as the sound of it, in our on-set interview with The Dark Knight's key players none will make a more indelible impact.
In an exclusive interview Empire sat down on the set of The Dark Knight with Heath Ledger, aka The Joker, as well as the rest of the cast and crew, to talk about bringing the greatest villain in comic book (and now cinema) history to the screen again.
"I definitely feared it," says Ledger of taking a role that every fanboy around the world demands to see done right. "Although anything that makes me afraid I guess excites me at the same time. I don’t know if I was fearless, but I certainly had to put on a brave face and believe that I have something up my sleeve. Something different...”
This is not your Jack Nicholson or Cesar Romero Joker. The new incarnation of the character is cruel and psycho to the core. And getting into that mindset meant Ledger marinading himself in nothing but Joker before shooting.
"It’s a combination of reading all the comic books I could that were relevant to the script and then just closing my eyes and meditating on it," he says. "I sat around in a hotel room in London for about a month, locked myself away, formed a little diary and experimented with voices — it was important to try to find a somewhat iconic voice and laugh. I ended up landing more in the realm of a psychopath — someone with very little to no conscience towards his acts. He’s just an absolute sociopath, a cold-blooded, mass-murdering clown, and Chris has given me free rein. Which is fun, because there are no real boundaries to what The Joker would say or do. Nothing intimidates him, and everything is a big joke"
Dark Knight opens on July 18th (USA) and July 25, 2008 (UK), and it can't come soon enough!
For more from Ledger, Chris Nolan, Christian Bale, Michael Caine and others, pick up the new issue of Empire.
HQ version (766 x 1000 pixels) click to enlarge
**Yes, some scamp leaked our Joker cover image yesterday. But, though they may take our pictures, they will never take our, erm, words. The cover is just the beginning. We know who you are and the dogs have been unleashed in your direction. And they're the ones with bees in their mouths and when they bark they shoot bees at you. --Olly Richards
**UPDATE**
Sunday, December 02, 2007 at 02:38 EST USA
Empire Magazine, Issue dated January 2008 Article & Photo scans have been added to the photo forum. CLICK HERE.
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