MANILA, Philippines—When Jack Nicholson played The Joker in a Batman movie years ago, he chose to go the “cartoon character” route, focusing more on the arch villain’s clownish, fake-jolly exterior, and only occasionally hinting at his rancidly evil core.

This year, it’s the late Heath Ledger’s turn to give the colorful character a spin around the movie reel in “The Dark Knight,” and he opts to play it as rancid and cynical as heck. The clown makeup is still there, but it’s no longer perky and fun, it’s smudged into his mournful face like a kaleidoscopic death mask.

Tragic take

This early, some industry observers and armchair psychologists of the abnormal sort are concluding that Ledger’s humorless and even tragic take on The Joker parallels his own physical and mental state, thus leading to his most untimely death—or, was it the other way around? Did The Joker’s grim view of life affect the actor so much that he lost hope in his own existence?

Grim ruminations about mortality apart, however, now comes the key question: When it came to portraying The Joker, did Nicholson get it right, or was Ledger more on the money?

After mulling that $64,000 question over in our Batcave, we’ve concluded that their radically different takes weren’t as auteur-driven as initially believed: They were simply going with the flow of their respective films. Nicholson played it more cartoony because his movie was more tongue-in-cheek in overall tone, while “The Dark Knight” is, that’s it, dark—so, that’s how Ledger went.

Some things go beyond logic, however. When “The Dark Knight” opens in town, viewers will still be looking for “telltale” signs in Ledger’s malevolent portrayal of The Joker that would appear to indicate his hopeless and tormented state of mind, as he mournfully essayed his final screen performance.

Even if we don’t go that way, however, there’s little doubt that, in his last film, Heath Ledger has taken his thespic game to the height of screen villainy.

Teaser

Having said which, let’s wrap our pop-culture brains around this more contextual teaser: How would Ledger’s Joker stack up against similarly celebrated villains already enshrined in the movie world’s pantheon of cinematic evil? —Like Anthony Hopkins in “The Silence of the Lambs,” Anthony Perkins in “Psycho,” Robert De Niro in “Cape Fear,” Orson Welles in “Touch of Evil”—etc.?

Hmmmm . . . we daresay—quite well, indeed!

To shed more light on Ledger’s thespic process in coming up with his macabre, corroded Joker characterization, here are excerpts from an interview he granted last year, before his shocking demise:

“I was a huge fan of Jack Nicholson’s version of The Joker in Tim Burton’s film. But, I knew that there was a big difference between a Burton movie and one by Chris Nolan, who directed our film, ‘The Dark Knight.’ So, there’s enough room for a fresh portrayal. And so, I kind of steered away from what Jack did.

License

“My preparation for the role hinged on the the Joker mask I put on. A mask always gives you the license to do what you want. How did I get into his evil character? I think we all have it in us. Sometimes, I connect with some scary thoughts. It’s kind of like eating raw meat. I don’t know what that does to your mouth and eyes. —It feels evil when it’s not necessarily an evil thought . . .

“Yes, Batman beats the Joker up a couple of times. And, you know what? I enjoyed that I got battered and bruised, I like feeling pain, too. It’s kind of fun, I like it.

“Batman and The Joker—that’s the key relationship, what the film is psychologically about. They can’t really live without the other. It’s that kind of relationship, like they have no real purpose in life without each other. So, they don’t really want each other dead.

Character

“Did I have fun playing The Joker? You bet. What I especially liked about the character was, there’s nothing consistent about him at all. So, he’s not consistently dark or consistently funny—he’s just going up and down all the time.

“—That’s why this has been the most fun I’ve had playing a role! I’m really surprised Chris Nolan knew I had something in me like this. But yeah, it’s the bomb. It’s definitely the most fun I’ve had—and the most freedom!”