For starters, musician/chick-magnet John Mayer apparently got a pack of promo goodies from the joker himself: a nifty box from “Gotham Novelties” that included a playing card/invitation and the eerie-cool Ledg-oker T-shirt you see here. If you didn’t get one, then John Mayer is clearly better than you. Check ’em out RIGHT HERE. (Thanks to ‘Meister Evo’ for the heads up!)
Also, director Chris Nolan briefly chatted about his villains to the LA Times: “Harvey Dent is a tragic figure, and his story is the backbone of this film. The Joker, he sort of cuts through the film — he’s got no story arc, he’s just a force of nature tearing through. Heath has given an amazing performance in the role, it’s really extraordinary.”
Now, before all you Joker zealots jump on the bus to OMGWTF, think about it — Nolan’s comment, while lacking a lot of context, makes sense. Joker may be fun to watch, but he’s not an especially intriguing character — he’s just a murderous loon without a conscience. Let’s compare: Batman is a borderline schizophrenic who juggles life as a billionaire playboy with dressing up as a nocturnal mammal and punching thugs (and ninjas). Dent (later Two-Face) is an ambitious district attorney who becomes literally schizophrenic after horrific facial scarring. Joker’s basically a homicidal nutjob (with an apparent makeup fetish) who does what he does for the joy of being evil; the last time filmmakers tried to give him “depth”, we got Jack Nicholson hamming it up for most of the movie’s running time. I’ll gladly take Nolan’s approach instead, thanks.