So I was browsing this thread on reddit about things that "lived up to the hype." You know, lots of silly/obvious stuff like "the internet" or "rainx" One of the things mentioned was Health Ledger as The Joker. While he did an incredible job, a user questioned whether there was ever any actual "hype" This is the image he used to support his claim: Spoiler spoiler for size and language
Going from memory on most of this... All of those posts are from 2006, shortly after he was announced as the Joker. Movie didn't come out til mid 2008. Once the teaser trailer hit in mid 2007, photos had leaked about what the Joker looked like, and people's rage at Heath Ledger being selected as the Joker started to ease up a bit, but it was still not a hype train by any means. The hype, IMO, started here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk1Tz5bumhw December 2007. Most people will point to Ledger's death a month later as the real reason for the hype, and sure it had something to do with the height of the peak, but the first public viewing of the Joker character in the 2 minute trailer "changed things... forever" Great movie/performance.
Agree with above. The hype train started to gain steam after that trailer which really showed a decent amount of the Joker to make you excited for the movie if you are a fan of dark films/characters. Then once Heath died a month after the trailer came out, there was word that he got pretty twisted up in playing that role that you knew it was going to be a dark villain/character unlike any other comic book/superhero movie. Not sure if that was ever confirmed but he did such a great job that I wouldn't be surprised if playing that role had some effect. The first couple minutes of that movie are excellent as is the whole movie. Some of the quotes are great to especially Alfred's story about how "some men just like to watch the world burn". I say that line in my head a lot when coming to terms with why some wacko kills innocent people. Could also apply to some women.
The way I remember it is that people hated the casting. So it's not so much that Ledger lived up to the hype as it is that he proved the haters wrong. And not just proving them wrong, but becoming the best Joker ever. It would be the equivalent of everybody loving the new Ghostbusters and preferring it to the original.
are we commenting on heath ledger as the joker or are we commenting on things that lived up the the hype?
My intent was to show how clutchfans inadvertently became part of Internet lore Im not sure if people looked at the image carefully enough, lol