Man of Steel (SPOILERS)

[GasparZizou]

Yeah, I saw that video a few years ago, and to be honest, I had no idea who the guy was. I don't think most people know who Tom Waits is or what he does for living. A lot people know him now because of that interview and how similar he sounds to Ledger's joker. I would like to know if he had something to do with Ledger's performance. However, in some of the early interviews Ledger gave to Empire magazine, he mentioned experimenting with different voices and laughs, but he never mentioned Waits. It seems like something he would have mentioned. The writers from Empire were on the set of the film, saw him acting, and described what he looked like and his performance in full detail long before the film came out, so there was no reason for Ledger not to mention Waits as a possible influence.

Yup, besides, to be fair, Ledger's voice is not that linear at all, it fluctuates and varies far more, same for the body language, Ledger had much more expression (for obvious reasons) add to that, his laughter, and you realise that the influence, if it actually exists, is minimal.

 

[GasparZizou]

MOS in a nutshell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSKQ3ZNQ_O8

go back to your corner Celtic!

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

MOS in a nutshell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSKQ3ZNQ_O8

So this means you love the film... right?

 

[CelticPredator]

I love this hippos poo filled *** of a film.

 

[jye4ever]

Waits influence or not, Ledger Joker was by far the best thing about the Nolan Batman films.

Atleast his role ended on a high note.

 

[thenammagazine]

Well, there are similarities certainly, but Waits took acting like a drunken/stoned prick to new height (probably because he was for most of the time), whereas as Ledger took certain aspects of this and built a whole insane and dangerous character out of it.

Can you see an influence? Of course you can, was it a straight lift? Hardly, HL took it and ran and came up with something new. however, this is just distraction. Either way, it is still a little harsh to call him a crackwhore with acting chops.

It is your opinion and good for you. But I don't expect too many people to agree with you if you're saying it's OK to call him that.

If Ledger had been acting as Waits in a movie about Waits' life, it'd be a different story. Instead, he took Waits and painted him up to be Joker. You can tell from that vid, that Ledger basically based the whole performance on him, the bobbled head, the hunch, the shifty nature, the speech pattern, it's all Waits. Saying otherwise is straight-up denial. It's all there in the vid.

And I wasn't saying Ledger was a crackwhore with acting chops. I said all you'd need for a Nolan Joker is a crackwhore with acting chops.

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

The interview was in Australia and Ledger was from Australia. Maybe Ledger was a fan of the guy? The question is, was Heath Ledger a Tom Waits fan? That would make sense. Still, the facial expressions aren't the same, and Waits didn't lick his lips or do the tongue flip...also Ledger's voice goes higher and lower than Waits voice. But they do sound very similar

 

[GasparZizou]

If Ledger was indeed inspired by Waits, he damn sure built upon the foundations, by a large margin, a lot of that comes from him as well.

Even if he completely played Waits as the Joker, and he clearly didn't limit to that, I don't see how that'd be a bad thing.

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

Wait! LL Cool J licks his lips and does the tongue flip!! That means that piece of **** Ledger was just imitating LL cool J!! Now it all makes sense...

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

If Ledger was indeed inspired by Waits, he damn sure built upon the foundations, by a large margin, a lot of that comes from him as well.

Even if he completely played Waits as the Joker, and he clearly didn't limit to that, I don't see how that'd be a bad thing.

 

[GasparZizou]

Wait! LL Cool J licks his lips and does the tongue flip!! That means that piece of **** Ledger was just imitating LL cool J!! Now it all makes sense

I know where he got his hair from!

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

Yeah, and on a 2006 CSI Miami episode called "fade out", the team/cops find a dead body in the beginning of the episode with a JOKER CARD! And they said, it's the joker I guess Ledger and Nolan stole that too

 

[RJMacReady16]

The Nam video of Waits blew my ****. I'm so internet retarded, but yeah...that's Ledger's Joker. And it somehow made him even cooler.

 

[VintijDroidGutzz]

Could be a tremendous coincidence, but I have to tell you, I was a bit fascinated by how much of the Joker I saw on that interview, or how much of Tom Waits I saw on the Joker, cause I never heard of that guy before Nam posted the video, so, I'm inclined to think there is some kind of influence in the voice and some mannerisms, but Ledger's Joker stands on it's own.

You haven't heard of Tom Waits? Really??

I thought you knew everything dude!!!?

 

[GasparZizou]

Didn't ring a bell nope, I may have probably listened to him without knowing it was him though, my old man cranks all kinds of oldies but goldies

 

[VintijDroidGutzz]

Tom Waits has done some very cool stuff over the years - a true artist in his own right. Everything from music to film & lots in between.

Incidentally, heard of that little band PRIMUS? He did the voice track for the song 'Tommy The Cat' - awesome song.. check it out, if you haven't already.

Btw; that clip Nam posted earlier has circulated many times before.. it ain't a recent revelation by any means. Also - generally, I might add too, that just because there haven't apparently been any blatant or obvious mentions in interviews etc about it, doesn't mean that Ledger didn't use Waits for some inspiration. Not everything has to be officially documented.

 

[Sachiel]

Waits should sue Nolan and Ledger's family for creating an unofficial biography about him. The Dark Knight isn't Batman... it's Tom Waits.

 

[thenammagazine]

Tom Waits has done some very cool stuff over the years - a true artist in his own right. Everything from music to film & lots in between.

Incidentally, heard of that little band PRIMUS? He did the voice track for the song 'Tommy The Cat' - awesome song.. check it out, if you haven't already.

Btw; that clip Nam posted earlier has circulated many times before.. it ain't a recent revelation by any means. Also - generally, I might add too, that just because there haven't apparently been any blatant or obvious mentions in interviews etc about it, doesn't mean that Ledger didn't use Waits for some inspiration. Not everything has to be officially documented.

Yup and hasn't Nolan gone out of his way to exclude stuff regarding Ledger's Joker? I know the boxed set didn't have anything.

 

[VintijDroidGutzz]

Yup and hasn't Nolan gone out of his way to exclude stuff regarding Ledger's Joker? I know the boxed set didn't have anything.

Exactly - I was actually going to mention that too. Even with the version of the film I own; the initial run 2 DVD set, that has zero on there about Ledger.

I think as you would likely agree too Nam, that Don Lane show clip speaks volumes though.

 

[thenammagazine]

Exactly - I was actually going to mention that too. Even with the version of the film I own; the initial run 2 DVD set, that has zero on there about Ledger.

I think as you would likely agree too Nam, that Don Lane show clip speaks volumes though.

It does, absolutely. I also know that there's a hardcore aspect that would like to pretend it never existed, for the *****slap reality check it delivers.