How did they finish the film Dark Knight after Heath Ledger died?
Filming had been completed on “The Dark Knight” before Heath Ledger’s death. Everything remaining to be completed after February 28 did not require any involvement from Ledger. == There was simply no playbook. Actors from John Candy (“Wagons East,” “Canadian Bacon”) to Aaliyah (“Queen of the Damned”) to Tupac (“Gridlock’d”) all had films released after their deaths and marketed upon their names, but such movies weren’t in the same financial stratosphere as “The Dark Knight.” The actor most similar to Ledger at the time of his tragic death was James Dean, whose “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Giant” were both released after his fatal car accident — but that was 50 years ago. The only deceased star whose situation even began to mirror the “Dark Knight” predicament was Brandon Lee, shot dead on the set of the comic book film “The Crow,” but Lee was a far lesser-known actor than Ledger at the time of his death. “He was on another film,” director Christopher Nolan remembered recently of that u
