It’s an uncanny resemblance… Here we have Tom Waits in a 1979 interview for an Australian TV show. Many people have been circulating this video saying that Heath Ledger must’ve modeled his Dark Knight Joker after Waits.
However, I think there’s something to Waits in general that is almost a caricature of a blue collar American man (purposeful or not), and I’m not certain that it’s necessarily so unique a voice as to being conclusively linked. Especially since there isn’t an ounce of cunning maniacal mastermind to Tom Waits.
For me, watching Ledger here is simply another reminder of how sorely missed this incredible actor is. There was nobody like him.
What do you all think? Did Ledger see this interview and decide to model The Joker’s voice and mannerisms after Waits? Or is it just a coincidence?
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“Especially since there isn’t an ounce of cunning maniacal mastermind to Tom Waits.”
Bite your tongue. Waits made a brilliant devil in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (which, of course, costarred Heath Ledger, but was filmed after Dark knight)
I also wouldn’t say that Tom Waits is caricaturing blue collar men, but his erly persona borrowed heavily from the Beat poets. I think that’s just he natural voice.
I’m a HUGE Tom Waits fan. My kids call him “the grumpy man” when his music cycles through on my iPod. I don’t mean that he isn’t capable of being maniacal, I mean that the actual Tom Waits isn’t maniacal (as far as we know!)
He is actually a talented actor and I think he definitely had a “persona” back in 1979. I think that whole early persona is definitely an amalgam of a bunch of influences.
Have you seen Tom Waits fishing? It’s bizarre, and great, but it’s not The Joker!
Ah. I understand. But I do think he can play maniacal.
However, I see more of Waits in Ledger’s Joker than I do Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange, which was one of the standard suggestions.
So wait, do you think Ledger modeled The Joker after Waits?
Maybe a little. Johnny Depp always uses strange inspirations for us roles. The most obvious is Keith Richards in Pirates, but he based Ed Wood on Ronald Reagan and a ventriloquist dummy (look it up!) and while I don’t know for sure his Wilky Wonka seemed to be an amalgam of Dustin Hoffman in Tootie and Andy Warhol.
I don’t know about Heath sounding like Tom, but the host is certainly doing his best to sound like Frank Sinatra.
There’s nothing wrong with Heath Ledger that a hundred dollars won’t fix
He has that razor sadness that only gets worse
With the clang and the thunder of the Southern Pacific going by
And the clock ticks out like a dripping faucet
til he’s full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin
And he spills out over the side to anyone who will listen…
And he’s seen it all, he’s seen it all
Through the yellow windows of the evening train…