Michael Caine is looking back at the difficulty of doing a press tour for 2008’s The Dark Knight following Heath Ledger‘s death.
In his new memoir, Don’t Look Back, You’ll Trip Over: My Guide to Life, the veteran actor opened up about working with his late co-star on the Christopher Nolan-directed film and the grief he experienced after his death in January 2008 at 28 years old.
“Heath was only 28 when he passed away. I hadn’t even made Zulu when I was that age,” Caine wrote, via NME. “You think of what he might have gone on to achieve, it’s just heart-breaking”.
Ledger died four months before the release of the superhero film, which saw him play the Joker while Caine portrayed Bruce Wayne’s (Christian Bale) butler Alfred. “We were all terribly shocked, and it made doing the publicity for The Dark Knight that summer much more intense, because all the journalists wanted to talk about his death,” the two-time Oscar winner wrote in his memoir.
While Caine admitted he “was terrified” watching Ledger’s “chilling” performance during filming, it also inspired others on set to “raise our game,” calling the actor’s role as the Joker “a performance for the ages.”
“Even though his career was cut short so soon, he’ll be remembered as a great actor, I believe,” the Now You See Me actor wrote, adding that “it still makes me sad to think of” his death.
Ledger ultimately received a posthumous Oscar for best supporting actor for his role in The Dark Knight.
Caine also reprised his role as Alfred for Nolan’s sequel, The Dark Knight Rises.