Creepy Early Concepts for Heath Ledger’s Joker

If you thought that Heath Ledger looked sinister as Joker, then consider this: his look was actually tame in comparison to the conceptual designs that were first considered for The Dark Knight.  The Joker design that was settled upon for the movie is actually much more tame than the proposed looks.

In the making-of book for The Dark Knight, titled The Dark Knight: Featuring Production Art and Full Shooting Script, it illustrates a few of the early Joker ideas that were created in pre-production, before Ledger was cast, and the entire shooting script.

It’s always fascinating to see how a character came to be, particularly one that’s proving to be as iconic as Ledger’s joker. The facial scars were apparently decided on quite early, with varying degrees of severity, but the spiky hair was an interesting choice. I remember there was a lot of complaining initially about Ledger’s long and “greasy” hair, but I prefer it to the short and spiky look, which says college dude more than clown-faced madman. I have no idea how much Ledger brought to the table in terms of his look, and it doesn’t sound like that’s mentioned in the book, either. Creepy stuff — frankly, if this is how dark Christopher Nolan’s team can go, I can’t wait to see what they could do with a new villain altogether.