who played the joker in the dark knight
Heath Ledger Ledger died on 22 January 2008[5][1] from an accidental intoxication from prescription drugs.[7][8][9] A few months before his death, Ledger had finished filming his performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight. His death occurred during editing of The Dark Knight and in the midst of filming his last role as Tony in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. His untimely death cast a shadow over the subsequent promotion of the $185 million Batman production.[10] Ledger received numerous posthumous accolades for his critically acclaimed performance in the film, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, a Best Actor International Award at the 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards (for which he became the first actor to win an award posthumously),[11] the 2008 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor, the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture,[12] and the 2009 BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.[4]
The Dark Knight (film) Warner Bros. chose to film in Chicago for 13 weeks, because Nolan had a "truly remarkable experience" filming part of Batman Begins there.[84][85] Instead of using the Chicago Board of Trade Building as the location for the headquarters of Wayne Enterprises, as Batman Begins did,[86] The Dark Knight shows Wayne Enterprises as being headquartered in the Richard J. Daley Center.[87] While filming in Chicago, the film was given the false title Rory's First Kiss to lower the visibility of production, but the local media eventually uncovered the ruse.[88] Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times commented on the absurdity of the technique, "Is there a Bat-fan in the world that doesn't know Rory's First Kiss is actually The Dark Knight, which has been filming in Chicago for weeks?"[89] Production of The Dark Knight in Chicago generated $45Â million in the city's economy and created thousands of jobs.[90] For the film's prologue involving the Joker, the crew shot in Chicago from April 18, 2007 to April 24, 2007.[91][92] They returned to shoot from June 9, 2007, to early September.[90] Noticeably, unlike Batman Begins, less CGI was used to disguise Chicago. Many recognizable locations were used in the film, like the Sears Tower, Navy Pier, 330 North Wabash, the James R. Thompson Center, Trump International Hotel and Tower, LaSalle Street, The Berghoff, Randolph Street Station, and Hotel 71. An old Brach's factory was used as Gotham Hospital. The defunct Van Buren Street post office doubles as Gotham National Bank for the opening bank robbery. Several sequences, including one car chase, were shot on the lower level of Wacker Drive.[87][93] The Marina City towers also appear in the background throughout the movie.[87]