Hot Toys - MMS DX 01- The Dark Knight - The Joker spec and pics

[DiFabio]

Never saw that.

I only saw it as an accessory to the nurse outfit. Seemed like a nice touch to me.

It was sold separately and the title description had something along those lines. The ones I saw anyway.

 

[Gipetto0812]

It was sold separately and the title description had something along those lines. The ones I saw anyway.

Yea I remember them being sold separately with a title like the one you said. And the price for them at times were rediculous for such a small accessory. A nice one but not something I wanted

 

[ZaCHw117]

Alrighty Mags. After about 45 minutes of switching poses and weapons, I finally settled on one I really like. Kinda took your bookcase pose and tweaked it a bit:

 

[TheFiend]

I always thought the 1/6 oscar statue was tacky myself. I remember when it was up on ebay initially and seeing the auction heading RIP HEATH LEDGER 1/6 OSCAR STATUE. I thought it was the most money grubbing and tasteless thing on ebay at the time.

I would not take that thing, if it lay by the highway. Not were Sideshow falling in ruin and I alone could save her,

To me it was right up there with the sellers that had the RIP HEATH LEDGER OSCAR WINNER Movie Masters Joker figures back when those suckers went for $100.

Now THAT is tasteless but I do think the oscar is a cool accessory

Meh, it was a sympathy Oscar anyway. Heath had already done far more deserving roles.

Oh boy, here we go with the "sympathy" oscar again.

 

[thenammagazine]

Oh boy, here we go with the "sympathy" oscar again.

It's true though. If you can look at it realistically and not be one of the TDK Joker nuts. It's sad that he passed, but had he lived I highly doubt the Academy would've handed an award to an actor who played a psycho in a comic book movie. However, all the circus surrounding his death took aim at them offering them a last chance to make up for snubbing him in the past for more deserving roles.

 

[ZaCHw117]

Heath had plenty of awesome roles and a couple of them oscar worthy yeah. But The Joker was his role. He completely deserved it for the Joker and no one had him beat back in 08.

Saying it's a sympathy role doesn't make sense because he completely deserved the oscar. Even if he was alive.

 

[karamazov80]

I think it was a bit of a compromise. "Haters are gonna hate," but Ledger did a terrific job in that film, creating an iconic character that people love. Did it warrant an Oscar on its merits? Maybe not. But at least half of Oscar vote calculation seems to be based on something other than merit--Scorsese largely got a lifetime achievement award for Departed, Bigalow largely got a "time we gave this to a woman" best director award, and Ledger probably won, in part, because he died. That's why film companies put out massive ads trying to lobby for their films and crews to be voted for--because it isn't just merit-based.

But I could easily imagine him winning even if he didn't die because the role had such an impact. Even if he didn't give the best performance among those nominated (I have no idea if that is the case or not), there would have been major hype and impact associated with his role had he lived IMO, and that would have given him a better shot than his performance alone would have given.

 

[thenammagazine]

I think it was a bit of a compromise. "Haters are gonna hate," but Ledger did a terrific job in that film, creating an iconic character that people love. Did it warrant an Oscar on its merits? Maybe not. But at least half of Oscar vote calculation seems to be based on something other than merit--Scorsese largely got a lifetime achievement award for Departed, Bigalow largely got a "time we gave this to a woman" best director award, and Ledger probably won, in part, because he died. That's why film companies put out massive ads trying to lobby for their films and crews to be voted for--because it isn't just merit-based.

But I could easily imagine him winning even if he didn't die because the role had such an impact. Even if he didn't give the best performance among those nominated (I have no idea if that is the case or not), there would have been major hype and impact associated with his role had he lived IMO, and that would have given him a better shot than his performance alone would have given.

Disagree 100%. If it weren't for his death hyping the movie, I highly doubt it would've been propelled as far as it was over Begins. Fundamentally, it wasn't a better movie and the story was somewhat convoluted with the focus being on the Joker (due to Ledger's death hype), but the plot and key antagonist being 2-Face. It's public knowledge that the third installment was supposed to focus more on the Joker which further backs this. Without his death, the role wouldn't have had such an impact.

 

[intothevoid]

The performance deserved an Oscar. Period.

 

[thenammagazine]

The performance deserved an Oscar. Period.

Yeah, like there's no bias there. Only means something when coming from the non-infatuated.

 

[karamazov80]

Nam, I think you are under-estimating the appeal of a character like Joker who, like Alex from Clockwork Orange or Tyler Durden from Fight Club seems to bring a new perspective on life and society that lots of people can relate to who might not have been exposed to it before. Personally, I thought a lot of it was old hat (though I appreciated what it was and how it treated Joker differently than he had been treated before). But lots of mid-late teen kids, particularly, probably thought this was the most mind-blowing thing they had ever seen. Like listening to Nirvana for the first time or something and thinking that it is just a revolution in the media.

It is impossible to disentangle the role his death played from the impact his role has had, but I don't agree that the death is responsible for the lion's share of that impact. Some, yes.

But whatever it is, I think we agree that the Oscar is not a merit-based award, so whatever the reasons, it probably wasn't because of the performance alone IMO.

 

[intothevoid]

Yeah of course Oscar's are not based solely on merit, all kinds of politics and BS play a part.

But from the sample of films that year, I have no doubt the best supporting acting performance was Ledger's as the Joker.

 

[ToastedFred]

As glad as I am that Ledger got the Oscar, I do have an equal love of RDJ's portrayal of Kirk Lazarus in Tropic Thunder which was up for the same oscar. Either of those two roles really deserved it in my opinion.

 

[thenammagazine]

Nam, I think you are under-estimating the appeal of a character like Joker who, like Alex from Clockwork Orange or Tyler Durden from Fight Club seems to bring a new perspective on life and society that lots of people can relate to who might not have been exposed to it before. Personally, I thought a lot of it was old hat (though I appreciated what it was and how it treated Joker differently than he had been treated before). But lots of mid-late teen kids, particularly, probably thought this was the most mind-blowing thing they had ever seen. Like listening to Nirvana for the first time or something and thinking that it is just a revolution in the media.

It is impossible to disentangle the role his death played from the impact his role has had, but I don't agree that the death is responsible for the lion's share of that impact. Some, yes.

But whatever it is, I think we agree that the Oscar is not a merit-based award, so whatever the reasons, it probably wasn't because of the performance alone IMO.

Nope. If that were the case, Caesar Romero would've gotten some merit for his portrayal. Nicholson, would've also been nominated if the appeal for the Joker was as you claim, right? But he wasn't despite most of us who saw it in the theatres agreeing he was fantastic. Your comparison to Fight Club and Clockwork is skewed. I see this more like the hype surrounding The Crow in the 90's and the infatuation people had with the character after Lee's death. That's the same level of hype and infatuation they now have with Ledger. The only difference here is that Lee's previous work was inferior enough that he hadn't been previously snubbed by the Academy.

 

[karamazov80]

Nope. If that were the case, Caesar Romero would've gotten some merit for his portrayal. Nicholson, would've also been nominated if the appeal for the Joker was as you claim, right? But he wasn't despite most of us who saw it in the theatres agreeing he was fantastic. Your comparison to Fight Club and Clockwork is skewed. I see this more like the hype surrounding The Crow in the 90's and the infatuation people had with the character after Lee's death. That's the same level of hype and infatuation they now have with Ledger. The only difference here is that Lee's previous work was inferior enough that he hadn't been previously snubbed by the Academy.

No, because Romero's Joker was straight out of the comic book (terrifically done, btw), and Nicholson, though new, was a pretty basic psycho murderous villain you could have seen in 100 80s action movies. Ledger Joker's appeal, in my opinion, is his larger role as a representative of anarchy, rejecting societal norms and trying to fundamentally change the system, etc. Tyler Durden stuff. The previous Jokers weren't trying to do that, really, and if they did, it was in such a cartoonish way that the kids who listen to the Cure or whatever couldn't relate.

The Crow is an entirely different creature. Even as a kid I knew there wasn't much going on there.

 

[intothevoid]

No, because Romero's Joker was straight out of the comic book (terrifically done, btw), and Nicholson, though new, was a pretty basic psycho murderous villain you could have seen in 100 80s action movies. Ledger Joker's appeal, in my opinion, is his larger role as a representative of anarchy, rejecting societal norms and trying to fundamentally change the system, etc. Tyler Durden stuff. The previous Jokers weren't trying to do that, really, and if they did, it was in such a cartoonish way that the kids who listen to the Cure or whatever couldn't relate.

The Crow is an entirely different creature. Even as a kid I knew there wasn't much going on there.

This is a pointless argument anyway. Those who believe Heath got a sympathy oscar will continue to believe it. And vice versa.

 

[thenammagazine]

No, because Romero's Joker was straight out of the comic book (terrifically done, btw), and Nicholson, though new, was a pretty basic psycho murderous villain you could have seen in 100 80s action movies. Ledger Joker's appeal, in my opinion, is his larger role as a representative of anarchy, rejecting societal norms and trying to fundamentally change the system, etc. Tyler Durden stuff. The previous Jokers weren't trying to do that, really, and if they did, it was in such a cartoonish way that the kids who listen to the Cure or whatever couldn't relate.

The Crow is an entirely different creature. Even as a kid I knew there wasn't much going on there.

I don't really see a difference in Nicholson's Joker and Ledger's other than application. We were more open-minded in the 80's and acceptable of a comic book movie in a comic book world. Today's viewing audience is more jaded and need things to be more grounded. Ledger's Joker was written to fit that but was no-more mad than Nicholson's. But when you make the disconnect from roles and look at the public and their grasp of it and just how they've embraced just about every aspect of the Joker, it's exactly the same as it was with Eric Draven after Lee's death in the 90's. I'm wondering if it has something to do with the finality of the roles.

 

[karamazov80]

You have dark, brooding characters that tormented kids and young adults can connect to somehow, and the actors who portray them die tragically before the films are released, so I think that has to have some impact, sure.

 

[Maglor]

Yeah of course Oscar's are not based solely on merit, all kinds of politics and BS play a part.

But from the sample of films that year, I have no doubt the best supporting acting performance was Ledger's as the Joker.

Character aside. Character interpretation aside. It was just a great performance. You don't have to be a Batman fan to see that.


I think he would have been nominated no matter what. I admit that the win might have been swayed slightly in his favor by his death. But to reduce that to "symathy Oscar" doesn't feel fair. He wasn't gonna get another chance to be nominated. If he was gonna win, it had to be then.

 

[Maglor]

Alrighty Mags. After about 45 minutes of switching poses and weapons, I finally settled on one I really like. Kinda took your bookcase pose and tweaked it a bit:

Sweet! You went with the knife - cards pose! One of my favs.

Nice touch with the head turn/PERS position.