First Look: Heath Ledger as "The Joker"!!

"Batman Begins" breathed a whole new life into the struggling Batman movie franchise 2 years ago. Director Christopher Nolan's new vision of the caped crusader took the movie into a whole new (and very good) direction. Now - it is looking like its sequel "The Dark Knight" is ready to do the same. With a release date of July 2008 more than a year away - details on this film have been few and far between.

Until now.

First - we found out that the next villain for Christian Bale's Batman to fight will be - The Joker!

Then - we found out that "Brokeback Mountain" actor - Heath Ledger - had been hired to play the supervillain.
Now - here is your first look at the actor in makeup and costume. Aintitcool.com has gotten their hands on a preproduction shot of Ledger in full Joker attire. And it looks really damn good! When I first heard that Heath was going to be the villain - I was thrilled! I really thought that this was a great casting decision and that Ledger could really pull this off. Now that I've seen him as the character - I am even more sure that this was a great choice! It does seem that this Joker will be alot more scary and menacing than the Jack Nicholson's over-the-top Joker in the original 1989 "Batman". And I love the scarred smile on the new Joker's face. Very cool.
While we are at it - here are some more "The Dark Knight" tidbits: "Thank You For Smoking" actor - Aaron Eckhart will play Harvey Dent - the Gotham DA who turns into Batman's nemesis - Two-Face. No word on whether he will turn into Two-Face in this movie or next - but either way Eckhart is on board.
And lastly - Katie Holmes will be replaced in this sequel. Her character - Rachel Dawes - will now be played by Maggie Gyllenhaal.
So anyway - we've got a while to go til its release - but I for one, am really looking forward to this one. It seems like it has alot going for it already!

(source)