The Dark Knight

Despite endless speculation on which actor had been chosen to portray The Joker, Heath Ledger had always been among Christopher Nolan's foremost choices for the role. Ledger & Nolan had met during the Batman Begins (2005) casting process for the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman, but both the director and the actor agreed Ledger was wrong for the part. When casting the part of the Joker, Nolan met with several other actors before Ledger but found them reluctant to take the role because of the popularity of Jack Nicholson's performance in the original Batman (1989). Upon meeting with Ledger again, Nolan recognized him as the perfect choice for the part. When asked the reason for this unexpected casting, Nolan simply replied, "Because he's fearless."