A closer look
When you are fully immersed in crafting a legendary psychopath, you don't wait for the professional makeup department to do their jobs. For the tense hospital explosion scene in The Dark Knight, Ledger bought a bunch of cheap, chalky makeup from a local drugstore and applied it haphazardly to his own face. He wanted the villain to look like he had frantically slapped the disguise on in a grimy bathroom mirror. Christopher Nolan loved the terrifying, amateurish result so much he kept it for the final shoot.
