Heath Ledger wrote a Joker diary for The Dark Knight

“Method acting” means putting yourself completely in roles, consciously and subconsciously. Heath Ledger also used this notorious actor method to prepare for his film performances. He died on January 22, 2008 – his later Oscar-winning part as the Joker in “The Dark Knight” had just been completed – of what appears to be an accidental overdose of sleeping pills.

To familiarize himself with the Joker, the 28-year-old locked himself in a hotel room for a month and used a journal to jot down notes about his role as a psychopathic criminal and Batman antagonist. Excerpts from this diary can be seen in the documentary Too Young to Die: Heath Ledger, Darling of the Gods (2013).

Heath Ledger’s Joker Diary: ‘Hard to Read’

A clip that went viral online shows Ledger’s father Kim leafing through the Joker diary. You see clown masks and wild notes. A big “BYE BYE” is emblazoned on the last page. His father says: “It was difficult to read”.

In 2007, Heath Ledger commented on his preparation and recounted the development: “I sat in a hotel room in London for about a month, isolating myself from the outside world, keeping a journal and experimenting with voices and laughter. I ended up more in the realm of a psychopath – someone with very little to no conscience. The Joker is just a total sociopath, a cold-blooded mass-murdering clown.”

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