Heath Ledger disliked comics but still played 'Joker' in 'The Dark Knight': Here's why

Heath Ledger was never a comics fan, yet he gave an Oscar winning performance as "Joker" in The Dark Knight.

The late 28-year-old actor played the titular role in Christopher Nolan’s 2008 Batman. The same year, Ledger passed away due to lethal mix of prescription medications. His death was "ruled accidental".

An old interview has surfaced online, where the actor spoke about his evergreen performance.

During the interview, he was asked what attracted him to character even though he was not comics fan.

Heath opened that he wasn't a comics fan because he grew up in a household of girls, so there were less Batman comic books lying around and more of the “Archie.”

But the Australian actor confessed that he loved Batman Begins and the Joker character was “too good to turn down.”

However, he also revealed that if Tim Burton, the director of the 1989 film, was doing The Dark Knight and if he had offered Heath to play the character; he would have turned it down.

According to the late star, “To try to touch what Jack Nicholson did in Tim Burton’s world would be crime.”

But when Nolan came to him, Ledger knew that the director had set the world for him.

“I had seen what world it was that I would be playing in, so I knew it was open for a fresh interpretation”, said The Patriot star.

In 2009, Heath Ledger won an Academy Award for his depiction of the Joker.