Heath Ledger News

While the marketing campaign for The Dark Knight is inconsequential when compared with the effects of Heath Ledger's tragic death, it's still something the studio will need to consider.

Principal photography on the movie finished in the fall; and, as of Tuesday, the film is still scheduled for a July 18 opening.

But the status of the picture'ss marketing campaign is uncertain. The first phase is built around The Joker, with images of his character particularly ghoulish.

Warner executives were still grappling with the news on Tuesday and had no comment on how they would proceed.

"The studio is stunned and devastated by this tragic news," said Alan Horn, president-COO, Warner Bros. & Jeff Robinov, president, Warner Bros. Pictures Group. "Heath was a brilliant actor and an exceptional person."

In terms of The Dark Knight, one insider lamented:

"The Joker character is dealing with chaos and life and death and a lot of dark themes. Everyone is going to interpret every line out of his mouth in a different way now."

In tragic news, Heath Ledger was found dead in a New York City apartment earlier today.

The actor - who was nominated for an Academy Award in 2006 and just finished filming The Dark Knight, starring in the iconic role of The Joker - was found unconscious by a maid around 3:30 this afternoon. Pills were scattered around Ledger.

The medical examiner's office has removed the body from the scene and an autopsy will be conducted Wednesday. Our thoughts and prayers are with Heath's family.

As previously reported, Heath Ledger appears in the latest issue of Empire Magazine as The Joker.

Here are a couple excerpts from the interview the actor gave in that issue:

On a great deal of trepidation when approached for the part of The Joker: "I definitely feared it. 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."

On how he prepared the Joker's sinister voice and laugh: "I sat around in a hotel room in London for about a month, locked myself away, formed a little diary and experimented with voices â€" it was important to try to find a somewhat iconic voice and laugh. I ended up landing more in the realm of a psychopath â€" someone with very little to no conscience towards his acts.

He's just an absolute sociopath, a cold-blooded, mass-murdering clown, and Chris [Nolan] 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."

Here's the latest photo of Heath Ledger as The Joker from The Dark Knight, this one courtesy of Empire Magazine.

In an interview with MTV, Heath Ledger referred to filming of The Dark Knight as an "exhausting process." He also delivered more insight into his portrayal of The Joker:

"He has zero empathy," the actor said, citing classic Stanley Kubrick as inspiration. "‘A Clockwork Orange' was a very early starting point for Christian [Bale] and I. But we kind of flew far away from that pretty quickly and into another world altogether."

Read the entire interview here.

Despite the character's name, portraying The Joker is far from a fun ride.

Just ask Heath Ledger, who suits up for this iconic role in The Dark Knight, playing a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy," as the actor described his Joker to The New York Times recently.

The role is a honor, but it's also exhausting, Ledger told the newspaper.

"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," he said. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going."

We're sure it will all pay off when The Dark Knight hits theaters in July, 2008, however. We can't wait.

We've posted one picture of Heath Ledger as The Joker already.

Now, here's the latest shot of the most well-know Batman villain, courtesy of The Dark Knight...

It's one of the more talked about parts in recent memory: Heath Ledger will be reprising the role made so famous by Jack Nicholson in the original Batman movie.

Now, we're uncovered the first photo of Ledger as The Joker in the upcoming movie, The Dark Knight: