Andrew Garfield says Heath Ledger was ‘smug’ about ‘The Dark Knight,’ knew it would be a hit

Heath Ledger had a feeling that The Dark Knight would find its audience — and according to Andrew Garfield, he didn’t keep that thought to himself.

During his latest visit to the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Garfield reflected on his time spent with Ledger while filming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, just after the Australian actor had wrapped production on the gritty Batman flick.

“He had just done the Joker, he had just finished doing The Dark Knight, and he was so smug about it,” Garfield recalled. “I was like, ‘How did that go?’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, it’s really good.’”

Garfield was early into his career when he crossed paths with Ledger, who had already earned acclaim for 10 Things I Hate About You, A Knight’s Tale, and Brokeback Mountain. The We Live in Time actor joked that one of the many lessons he learned from Ledger came from the actor’s reaction to being on a magazine cover, in the leadup to The Dark Knight’s release. 

“I remember his like, Empire magazine cover came out and he was like, ‘Oh, they used a f—ing s— photo,’” Garfield shared. “And I was like, ‘Are you kidding me, dude that looks f—ing incredible.’ And he was like, ‘Nah, the pose is all wrong, it looks kinda like a conventional version of what an actor … you’ll see.’ And yeah, I did see.”

Ledger was found dead in his Manhattan apartment at age 28 on Jan. 22, 2008. His death was ruled an accidental drug overdose and attributed to a lethal mix of prescription medications.

When The Dark Knight arrived in theaters in July 2008, six months after his death, Ledger was proven right: the Christopher Nolan-helmed film broke several box-office records, became the highest grossing film of that year, and is still assessed as one of the greatest superhero films ever. Ledger earned numerous posthumous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Garfield only had the pleasure of working with Ledger briefly, but added that the actor had a noticeable impact on everyone who worked with him.

“He was a kind of beacon, it was like a wild animal,” Garfield said, later adding, “He was so free and so wild and so, kind of dangerous on set in a way that was the kind of thing that is inspiring and spontaneous. He would say before every take, or one take every scene, ‘Let’s have some fun with this one.’”

At the time Garfield was overly concerned with “getting it right” as a young actor, but he has since come to appreciate Ledger’s directive.

“I still have lots of mementos of his,” he added. “I remember the first day I met him he was wearing these amazing camo Ray Ban sunglasses and I just said, ‘Oh hey, cool sunglasses.’ And the next day they were like in my dressing room, he had just left them for me. He was just a very generous, beautiful, creative spirit.” 

You can hear Garfield reflect on his friendship with Ledger in the podcast episode above.