The show--and the show's marketing--must go on

In my Friday reading, I came across an interesting piece discussing how the crew of the upcoming Batman movie, The Dark Knight, has decided to keep their movie and their movie's marketing on schedule and untouched. For those that may not know, this is the movie that stars the recently deceased Heath Ledger and is due out this summer.

To be sure, Heath Ledger's death was/is both a shock and a tragedy. I've been a fan of the actor since his 2001 role in A Knight's Tale--a medieval story about overcoming odds with a terrific supporting cast to Ledger's lead. But due to his passing--and specifically due to the extreme, psychopathic character Ledger plays in the Batman sequel (or sequel to the prequel?)--some think the marketing should not be as focused on him.

See, he doesn't play a silly-and-fun Joker like Jack Nicholsan did in the 80s version. Nowhere near. He plays a dark, sick-and-very twisted Joker. And he, not Batman, is truly the center of the movie's marketing campaign.

There's been plenty of talk that Ledger grappled immensely with the morally devoid character and that filming took a toll on him. To paraphrase, he wanted to do right by the part but found the character so deplorable that it gave him a raised level of anxiety and insomnia as he wanted to do right by the role.

But he was thrilled to play the part, no matter how hard the work. Because storytelling was his passion.

I agree with Director Christopher Nolan that neither the film nor any of its Joker-centric marketing should be changed. Because by NOT changing anything truly honors Ledger's tremendous effort and brilliant outcome--as well as the turmoil that the actor endured in telling the story. After all, it's more often the case that magnificent accomplishments are the result of very hard, dedicated work.

To soften it...or even slightly change it...would be to discredit the body of work, and the very talent that worked so hard to create it. And hey, we all know it's just a movie (not real life) and Ledger was merely breathing life into a character that would otherwise exist only on the page.

So in this case, I concur that Hollywood should not touch a thing. The show that Ledger dedicated himself to must go on just as he understood it would. And, as the article reports, after having seen the trailer, Ledger was amazed by his work (even asking to "see it again').

I'm so glad that he was able to at least see a trailer before he passed on (once a movie is finished "production" it can be in post-production for months, even a year, as editing is a tedious and exhaustive, frame-by-frame process). A trailer featuring Ledger is below, RSS and email subscribers please click through to the blog to view it. It looks to be quite a movie with well-defined characters.

Comments

[Mack Collier]

The trailer is pretty good and Ledger's performance has already drawn strong reviews, which is impressive given that his performance will no doubt be compared to Nicholson's Joker, which was excellent.

BTW the marketing for this movie has been incredible, and Warner Bros has managed to build buzz for the marketing itself as it markets the movie. Can't wait to see what they do next!

[Robert Mascatello]

Society has become so depraved as to exploit a man who recently died in such a tragic way. The movie should at least have been delayed by one year if not pulled completely.

[CK]

@Robert: I'm not sure how I see launching the movie in June (I believe it's June, I'm not sure of exact release date) is exploiting him. I can certainly see how writing unauthorized books or tons of media coverage (like tabloids) on his family is exploiting him...but this was a piece that he worked on, and by all reports, was proud of and provided a tour-de-force performance in.

And I really hope we never completely pull great works by those who've passed on...we'd miss out on so much of what they wanted to share.

[mack collier]

I agree, I don't think Ledger would want to see the release or marketing of the film changed. Remember that something eerily similar happened when Brandon Lee died during the end of filming The Crow. I believe they went ahead and released the film on schedule. And it was the best performance of Lee's brief career, and many are saying that Ledger's performance as The Joker may have been his best as well.

[Stephen Denny]

It never dawned on me when I first saw the trailer that the Joker was Ledger -- I thought it was someone/anyone else, maybe Gary Oldman (who plays a different role in the two Bale Batman films). An eye-opening performance to say the least.

To be true to our marketing roots here, the newer, re-cast, darker Batman is a fantastic study in repositioning. Worth a post or two when the film comes out.

Robert, I appreciate the sentiment, but when a studio spends a hundred million to make a movie, it doesn't get delayed or canned when an actor dies. This will clearly be the film he's known for. As for depravity in film, let's look no further than New Line's fascination with torture porn to see how bad the culture has fallen.

[CK]

@Denny: Oldman plays the Commissioner (FYI), another actor I'm very fond of. And Ledger chose and really enjoyed playing very drastic characters--he could have done more 'pretty boy' roles but chose films like 'Monsters Ball' and "Brokeback Mountain" to work his craft--and it was most definitely his choice to play a very different, extreme kind of Joker.

So, yes, from the investment standpoint the show must go on and even in honoring Heath, the movie nor the marketing should change--that's what he signed-on for. It looks like a phenomenal performance.

[Cam Beck]

I completely agree. However, if the ads start talking about "the role that sent him over the edge," I'm calling foul.

[Brian Kirk]

i suspect this will be the most popular of all the batman movies so far - this will make 5 since the re-release of batman back in 1989 (almost 20 years ago!). i can tell from the trailer that they are focusing on the characters rather than the sci-fi "super cool" bat mobile & bat gadgets. i'm sure the editing of this movie will change significantly due to ledger's death - they'll play him up BIG time!

[Shaping Youth]

Cam, is there any DOUBT that will be part of the media churn? (I can almost hear the foreboding bass thump of the ET soundtrack as they cut to commercial to exploit the tragedy and perhaps snipe a tagline about him being ‘committed,’ literally and figuratively to the film, ugh)

Still, I agree with CK that as an artist, Ledger appears to have been willing to dive in the deep end to wrap his head around the morally bankrupt character’s dark side, so the least we can do is honor his performance by leaving it intact. I’m always more concerned about the thread-like line between sociopath performances and the media copycat factor as Stephen points out with his line about New Line’s ‘torture porn’ proclivity. Ugh. (fyi: this blog will make your skin crawl http://copycateffect.blogspot.com/)

On a humanist note, colleague Alice A. March wrote a compelling piece about Ledger’s subtle outreach via the media which should’ve been a ‘warning cry’ for social intervention if we as a society were ‘paying attention’ to his cues in a more meaningful manner. http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/52974

It really resonated with me to take note of people around me (teens, elders, creative colleagues, ‘at risk’ youth) and be more proactive about ‘listening for outreach.’ Sometimes we zoom through life like the Tasmanian devil busy with our own ‘stuff’ and need the piano to fall on our heads before we get a clue.

p.s. Happy Belated Bday CK, just saw that on David B's blog!