The Amateur’s Rami Malek on How Heath Ledger’s Joker Influenced His Character

In a pivotal moment in his latest action movie titled “The Amateur“, Rami Malek shared that the portrayal of Heath Ledger’s Joker from “The Dark Knight” served as an influential guide for his performance.

How did Heath Ledger’s Joker influence Rami Malek in The Amateur?

Malek portrays the character of Charlie Heller, a CIA code-breaker who metamorphoses into a self-taught avenger following the murder of his spouse by terrorists. Unlike a seasoned assassin, Charlie employs his wit and resourcefulness to inflict retribution upon those responsible for his tragedy.

In the preview, Heller is noticed departing from an explosion’s aftermath. As the bomb detonates, Heller jumps, revealing his inexperience as a field operative. Malek intentionally jumped to mimic the impactful hospital explosion featuring Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight.

From an actor’s point of view, I often wondered, “How on earth does a performer physically handle a scene when something is literally exploding nearby? It seems almost impossible just to walk away from it,” Rami Malek shared with The Hollywood Reporter. This led me to ponder how one might prepare for such a challenge, and then I recalled Christopher Nolan’s approach – filming everything practically, in-camera. So, indeed, if a character like the Joker were to flinch, the realism that moment carried stayed with me.

In this pivotal explosion sequence, I opted to portray something entirely different from the usual stoicism often seen in action heroes. Instead, I aimed to embody the opposite, or what you might call a raw, emotional response to the chaos unfolding around me.

Malek shared his thought process, which involved considering the opposite idea and something humorous. He found an element of absurdity in the unexpectedness, as it was so improbable yet rational. This strange logic was what they aimed to incorporate into every part of the narrative to make it authentic.

Additionally featuring Rachel Brosnahan, Caitríona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, Michael Stuhlbarg, Holt McCallany, Julianne Nicholson, Adrian Martinez, Danny Sapani, and Laurence Fishburne in the main cast is The Amateur.

Directed by James Hawes, The Amateur opens in theaters on April 11.

Read More

2025-04-10 18:43