Would Heath Ledger have played the role better?

Depends on what you think is better.

I don't think he would have. Phoenix was prefect for this and did a great job.

Phoenix as an actor is on a whole another level compared to Ledger. That doesn't mean Ledger isn't great too, but he was more of an impressionist. He played a clown. Phoenix on the other hand had to portray a complete human being with full spectrum of (conflicting) emotions. Just take the scene at the beggining where he puts on a smile in front of mirror but his eyes look like he's crying. Or his face in a scene where he reacts to getting fired... I just can't imagine Ledger pulling it off. Then again, Phoenix probably wouldn't work as well in The Dark Knight.

I don't really see the point in comparing them.

They played completely different versions of The Joker. Both were good.

Would Heath Ledger have played the role better?

^^^

No....

This role was written Joaquin Phoenix and Its My opinion theres not an actor alive that could have delivered a better performance...

Now, Im not saying other actors wouldnt have been good, Maybe even great....But what I'm saying is IMO Joaquin literally hit the absolute highest possible Mark here, no other actor, even though I'm sure some could have been great, would have Hit The Heights Joaquin did...


Now, with that said, I feel the exact same about Ledgers Joker in TDK....Joaquin couldnt have matched Ledger in TDK either....

for me, this is the rare case where 2 actors technically played the same character yet played about as completely different characters as possible and somehow BOTH gave ALL TIME Great performances


I absolutely feel Ledger deserved the Oscar for his role and feel Joaquin Deserves the Oscar for His role(although I dont think he'll win it)....I also feel Joaquin absolutely should have won an Oscar for Walk The Line Too...He was simply astonishing in the role...

It's really hard to say, but fun to think about. Heath Ledger's Joker was terrifying. Pheonix's Joker was too sad and pathetic to be terrifying. While I liked "Joker," I think I would preferred a stronger, less pathetic portrayal, or perhaps a stronger transition from sad Joker with mental problems to that angry, sociopathic, yet incredibly driven Joker of Ledger. So in that vein, I think Ledger would have pulled it off it better.

No.