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This past summer I had the chance of a lifetime come across me almost immediately after starting out a new job right in the heart of downtown Chicago: being able to be an extra in a small romantic comedy called, “Rory’s First Kiss”. Unlike most of the rejects here on FSR I did go to film school and I have a degree in Film and Television. So, I’m kinda legit. I have been on sets before and I’ve made movies before, but this was going to be unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. I’d get to see a director at the top of his game, live, in person, and I’d get to satisfy the inner fanboy in me and get to be a part of the coolest movie that’s come to Chicago since Blues Brothers!

I’m not giving away any details, and I’m not going to spoil anything for anyone, but I’ll be the first to admit that when I found out Heath Ledger was cast as the Joker I almost chuckled to myself. Why not Sean Penn? Or Crispin Glover? Hell, even Mark Hamill. Surely they’d be creepier than Mr. Brokeback himself. What is Nolan thinking? He’d done such a great job re-kicking the franchise that quickly fizzled out after the first Batman and he was going to ruin it for everyone! The only thing I could gather from interviews with Mr. Nolan was that after Heath Ledger auditioned, he couldn’t picture anyone else playing the part. Heath was, as Nolan called it, “fearless.”

Part of the genius of the Batman Begins film was that I believed it. I totally and entirely believed that there could be a billionaire playboy out there who moonlights as a super hero using prototype military technology to fight the evil forces of the world! The batsuit, the weapons, and even the Tumbler came off as feasible. Not in a “Well, it’s a movie so I’ll let that totally unbelievable bullshit slide.” No, this was me thinking, “if I had the money I should buy a batsuit and fight bad guys just like Bruce Wayne.”

So how would the Nolan brothers pull this off? How could they make the Joker less of a cartoon character, and more of someone who I could see existing in real life? Surely Heath Ledger can’t be the answer? He wouldn’t have even made my top ten list for the joker, but I was COMPLETELY wrong.

Heath Ledger is the embodiment of evil. I have seen the Prologue at the Imax. I have seen the footage at Wizard World Chicago, and I have seen the magic actually happening in person. He is frightening, he is a psychopath, he doesn’t care about anything or anyone, and he looks like a deranged “bum clown” with a knife, and a crooked smile. Not only is Ledger completely unrecognizable, but even his voice, posture, and attitude are unrecognizable. How do you stop someone who has no permanent allegiances to anyone, has no regard for himself, or even for women and children? Most bad guys have a weakness whether it be their families, lust for power, money, but the Joker has no weaknesses in the way the character is presented to us in The Dark Knight. He’s only driven by madness and a desire to throw Gotham and Batman into chaos. He’ll pit his enemies against each other and cause problems for anyone who he thinks could cause more problems for the crime fighters of Gotham.

You won’t laugh at this Joker like you did to the original Joker. He’s not that crazy cooky guy who makes funny jokes and ruins paintings at museums. He’s the bully from elementary school who picks on you and laughs at you cause he’s found the one thing that bothers you. He’s the psychotic mobster who’d incite that awkward laughter just before he shoots you in the back and hurls your body into a trunk of a car. To him, humans are insects and we’re here only to serve his own deranged agenda. When you get the chance to see The Dark Knight this summer, not only will you see a blurry version of me in the background, but you’ll see Heath Ledger as the Joker—and you won’t even know it’s him.