by Jon Price

Created on: November 04, 2008

On April 5, 1994 vocalist and guitarist for the band Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, killed himself. Instantly record sales for the band's three studio albums shot up and in November of that year, MTV released "Nirvana Unplugged in New York". In no time at all it sold 6.8 million copies, far surpassing that of "In Utero", their previously highest selling album. Kurt Cobain had become a marketing genius, and all he had to do was die. In a culture that immortalizes its young, dead celebrities, it's hard to imagine how much less money "The Dark Knight" would have made had Heath Ledger not tragically died.

"The Dark Knights" is a terrific film. It features incredible action set pieces combined with truly impressive character development and dark themes that rival that of the best stories from the Batman comic book. Leaning heavily on ideas expressed by writer Frank Miller in his Batman run, Christopher Nolan has shaped a Batman mythology that rivals any other. The performances in the film are stellar as well - Christian Bale reprises his role as the Dark Knight himself while Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie Holmes (thankfully) in the role of Bruce Wayne's sometime-love interest, Rachel Dawes. And Aaron Eckhart takes on another Batman staple, Harvey Dent, and plays the character to most fanboys' adoration. And this leads us to the elephant in the room - Heath Ledger, as The Joker.

Heath Ledger's Joker is dark, vile and insane. He is a pure anarchist and cares nothing for the damage inflicted by his hand. And even more terrifying, The Joker seems to not care at all for the risk he places on his own life; his only goal to create as much chaos as possible. Ledger gave himself entirely over to his basest instincts to play this role. And, if he had not become the centerpiece for all conversation about this film, he would have become completely unrecognizable - his makeup and mannerisms completely obscuring the actor within.

After Ledger's death on January 22nd of 2008, all anyone could talk about was his upcoming performance in his final complete film, "The Dark Knight" (Ledger was working on "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" when he died) and if his Joker would hold up in Batman lore. There was no longer any discussion on any other aspect of the film, even a huge casting change (Gyllenhaal for Holmes) was barely discussed. People wondered if Ledger's method-style of acting in this film had driven the actor to kill himself or if it was truly an accident.

The success of a Hollywood

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