Amazon.co.uk Widgets
Den of Geek

Controversial Heath Ledger scene to be cut from The Dark Knight?

Martin Anderson


SPOILERS: Will The Dark Knight be a scene shorter out of respect for Heath Ledger fans?

Published on Apr 11, 2008

A scene in 2008's highly-anticipated Batman sequel The Dark Knight may be excised from the final cut, as it contains a scene of a body-bagged Heath Ledger. In the scene, Ledger's Joker is said to be feigning death, but reactions to the moment at preview screenings have made Warner Brothers' executives nervous.

According to Cinema Blend, audiences reacted badly to seeing the late Ledger - who died of a mis-dose of prescription drugs on the 22nd of January only days after concluding photography on Christopher Nolan's next instalment of the Batman re-boot - pictured in the body bag.

Let's hope reaction to this news causes Warners to leave the scene in; Ledger seems to have given a dedicated and committed performance in The Dark Knight, and in our opinion it would disrespect his efforts to reinterpret his work - in a film that will have a long shelf-life - just because the sad memory of his early demise is stil painfully fresh.

 

 

Users Comments

Re: Controversial Heath Ledger scene to be cut from The Dark Knight?
Posted By Matt 1 April 11, 2008 10:12:27 AM

Perhaps I'm being cynical, but I call bollocks on this. If the scene is cut I bet it ends up in an extended cut on DVD. They should leave the film alone. If people are going to get upset that's their problem. I really don't feel like I need Warner Brothers to decide what I can handle watching and I'd hope we don't as a society, either. There will be some people who complain, but there always are, so fuck 'em.

Re: Controversial Heath Ledger scene to be cut from The Dark Knight?
Posted By Midnighter 1 April 11, 2008 11:16:23 AM

Good job they didn't cut any "offending" scenes from The Crow after Brandon Lee's death, there'd be no film left!

Re: Controversial Heath Ledger scene to be cut from The Dark Knight?
Posted By Norton77 1 April 11, 2008 11:29:41 AM

Leave the scene in! It's part of the film, part of the plot, part of the story and part of the character that Heath developed (yes, I know he's playing the Joker, but you know what I mean).

Re: Controversial Heath Ledger scene to be cut from The Dark Knight?
Posted By Soupie 1 April 11, 2008 12:24:32 PM

As I was reading it , the exact same thoughts as midnighter and matt posted , came to the fore with me. We have enough PC twaddle interferance as it is... leave the movie alone !

Re: Controversial Heath Ledger scene to be cut from The Dark Knight?
Posted By creativewriter1985 1 April 11, 2008 08:37:38 PM

I think they should leave it in. This is just taking the whole political correctness thing to another level. They didn't mind showing him in a body bag for real on the news, so why should it matter in a film, which is in fact, fictional?!

Re: Controversial Heath Ledger scene to be cut from The Dark Knight?
Posted By kimkaze 1 April 14, 2008 05:12:05 PM

Come on guys. the guy was a film star. It was his JOB. He'd be PROUD for people to see his entire work, and if some people especially or personally close to him (or just screamingly obsessive fangirls) simply cannot bear to see a scene like that, they should refrain from watching the movie itself until such as time as they can do so. It was like editing out the twin towers - it shows that bad things have more authority and more power than the good people who were part of events. We should remember...and we should see all we were intended to see.
Post a Comment
 
Ledger's much-anticipated performance in The Dark Knight might be cut due to executive fears at Warner Brothers Ledger's much-anticipated performance in The Dark Knight might be cut due to executive fears at Warner Brothers.

Follow Den of Geek on

Related Articles

SEARCH

Broadband

Mobile Broadband

Compare over 100 mobile broadband & broadband deals online!

Mobile Phones

LG ArenaHTC Magic

Compare over 250 mobile phones &
52,000 deals!