Christopher Nolan, the man who was able to bring back the Batman franchise with "Batman Begins" and his upcoming "The Dark Knight," recently wrote about his feelings over the loss of "Dark Knight" star Heath Ledger for Newsweek.
In the letter, Nolan expressed how passionate Ledger was for the business, and also for his cast, and how the crew for the film were willing to work harder for him because such passion was infectious.
"Heath was bursting with creativity," Nolan wrote. "It was in his every gesture. He once told me that he liked to wait between jobs until he was creatively hungry. Until he needed it again. he brought that attitude to our set every day. There aren't many actors who can make you feel ashamed of how often you complain about doing the best job in the world. Heath was one of them."
During a very complex scene for "The Dark Knight," Ledger finally found exactly what he needed to make his character perfect for the scene, but it was quitting time, and the crew had all day the next day to work on the same scene. Ledger, however, was afraid he would not be able to regain it the next day, and made a big request for the tired and cranky crew to stick around just a little while longer to get the scene right.
"Everyone seemed to understand that Heath had something special and that we had to capture it before it disappeared," Nolan said. "Months later, I learned that as Heath left the set that night, he quietly thanked each crew member for working late. Quietly. Not trying to make a point, just grateful for the chance to create that they'd given him."
The hardest part about shooting the movie was choosing what of Ledger would make the "Dark Knight" and what wouldn't, Nolan said. Each time, he would think about how he would later have Ledger in the screening room, showing him the final product, and how he would have to justify it.
"I would visualize the screening where we'd have to show him the finished film -- sitting three or four rows behind him, watching the movements of his head for clues to what he was thinking about what we'd done with all that he'd given us," Nolan said. "Now that screening will never be real. I see him every day in my edit suite. I study his face, his voice. And I miss him terribly."
Nolan's full letter can be found here.
Ledger was found dead last week in his New York City apartment. He was 28.
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Michael Hinman is the founder and site coordinator for Airlock Alpha and the entire BlipNetwork. He owns Quantum Global Media Inc., the parent corporation of the BlipNetwork. He's a print journalist by day, and lives in Tampa, Fla.