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This Video of Tom Waits Purporting to Be the Inspiration for Heath Ledger's Joke is Eerie as Hell

This Video of Tom Waits Purporting to Be the Inspiration for Heath Ledger's Joker is Eerie as Hell

By Dustin Rowles | Videos | July 30, 2012 | Comments ()

heath-joker.jpeg

There’s no actual evidence, aside from the contents of the video itself, that this 1979 interview by Australian talk show host, Don Lane, with Tom Waits was actually the inspiration for Ledger’s The Dark Knight villain. But watch a few minutes of it, and drawing that conclusion is inescapable. It is freaky and almost unnerving how close Ledger’s character was to the mannerisms of Waits in this interview. It’s not out of the question, either: Ledger is Australian, and the two worked together on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, a movie that didn’t film until after The Dark Knight but that had been in development previous to The Dark Knight.

Anyway, jump to the 1:30 mark, and you’ll see what I mean. The voice, the mannerisms, and style of walk: It’s freaky fantastic. It will blow the threads out of your socks.

(Source: Kotaku via Uproxx)









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  • crispin

    Anyone else notice that Baine sounded like the turtle from The Never Ending Story?

  • Pookie

    So apparently Ledger's ” Joker” was inspired by some self-important annoying asshole.

  • Psychicdog

    Pookie, you can't be everyone's inspiration. That's why we came up with Zombie Jesus and the Flying Spaghetti Monster. People like a little variety at the savior buffet.

  • Hawkeye Fierce

    I love me a good left field conspiracy-esque attribution. This was fascinating to watch--thinking on Waits' singing voice never would have led me to imagine his speaking voice like it is/was.

    Mostly though, how cool is this interview? The host isn't a glossy, prefab jerk; Waits is uncomfortable but funny and interesting; and the interviewee isn't getting steamrolled by the interviewer.

    Then again, I may just be feeling beneficent due to having just ingested the best maple doughnut I've had in years. Carry on.

  • hapl0

    Thinking back to the stories about how Heath locked himself up in a room for months to come up with the character and how he may have gotten lost in it and then to see this video makes me incredibly happy.

    Does this reduce Joker's creepiness? Sure. But he's plenty creepy to begin with.

  • ,

    I advocate Hugh Laurie for the Waits biopic.

    Pasties and a G string, beer and a shot.

  • AudioSuede

    I love me some Tom Waits, especially when he's in awkward interview mode.

  • Pants_are_a_must

    He took the voice, no question. The rest of it...many actors in famous roles admitted to have based their performances on a variety of people. Why should Heath Ledger be different? And he did what he did phenomenally well too.

  • ee

    The thing is, he had to reproduce it, and interpret it for the character. And he had to decide somehow, making some connection, that this obscure interview would be a perfect basis for a sociopath guy in clown makeup. So I give it to him regardless.

  • John W

    No matter how any times I watch DK I'm still blown away by Ledger's performance.

  • Does this mean ScarJo will make a Joker tribute album?

  • mswas

    Let's say Ledger did see this interview and model the Joker after it, does seeing this make you think more or less of the performance? I kinda feel like he cheated.

  • Jezzer

    I never thought that much of the performance to begin with. Heath Ledger's Joker was highly over-rated.

  • fracas

    "Good artists borrow, great artists steal."

  • lowercase_ryan

    He cheated? He did exactly what actors are supposed to do and he freaking NAILED IT!

  • Pants_are_a_must

    Do you also feel cheated about Tony Stark basing his performance on Robert Downey Jr.?

  • Brown

    Did Depp cheat by mimicking Keith Richards?

  • mswas

    I'm conflicted about that too.

  • BarbadoSlim

    Then I guess all great actors are great cheaters. I say, let'em cheat all they want!

  • Miss Laaw-yuhr

    I think you probably want to correct the title from "Joke" to "Joker". I'm guilty of typos all the time so not to throw stones, I just think in this instance it substantially alters the meaning. Also, didn't this video appear once before on Pajiba? I swear I've seen this before and thought it was here, but since I haven't had my am quota of coffee, I could very likely be mistaken.

  • Three_nineteen

    Not to mention the fact that the way the title is worded, it seems like this is a video of Tom Waits saying "Heath Ledger modeled The Joker after me".

  • Should Read:

    The Eerie As Hell Video Of Tom Waits That Purportedly Was The...

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