Heath Ledger named as new Joker

Some friends were recently bandying about options for young Hollywood actors who could be reasonable choices to play the Joker in the new Batman film. I don't remember all of the suggested names but I do recall Paul Bettany as being a solid option. The consensus pick for who would have done the best job was unfortunately impossible, as Cillian Murphy had already played the Scarecrow in the previous film. Now there's a guy who's a solid actor who requires no make-up to get his "crazy" on.

So it's Heath Ledger. His body of work has improved of late, but I still can't help but smile as I picture him uttering "I wish I could quit you Batman" (I know, I know...it's Jake Gyllenhaal's line). So can he play psychotic and cruel? His best performances (Monster's Ball, Brokeback Mountain) have been largely studies in stoicism. My hope is that he's at least able to raise his sociopathic game one notch beyond the charmingly rebellious shrew-tamer from "10 Things I Hate About You".

New 'Batman' names its Joker [CNN.com]

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