Ledger’s passing and the future of The Dark Knight

The biggest issue to consider in the wake of the news that Heath Ledger has passed away at age 28 is that the guy leaves behind a young daughter who has now lost her father. That is something we need to take a moment over, as we do with all such passings, and ask that God look down on her and give her His peace, if not now then certainly later when she has come to know Him more.

I don’t want to dwell on this too much since it’s the least important thing in the world, but Warner Bros. does face a sizable challenge as it preps the release of The Dark Knight this summer. Obviously this is going to be a blow to the cast and crew who are still working on the movie and who will be making the rounds to promote it later.

But 80 percent of the campaign to date has been focused around Ledger’s character, The Joker. Someone on Twitter who I won’t mention said that WB doesn’t need to spend another dime on marketing, that morbid curiosity would bring out the audiences, but I find such statements abhorrent, especially when they come less than an hour after the news broke.

While I certainly wouldn’t want to be in WB’s shoes right now, with a campaign centered around a character played by an actor now dead of an apparent overdose, I think they have little choice but to soldier on as best as possible. Perhaps this is when the campaign will begin to shift its focus to Harvey Dent, played by Aaron Eckhart. That character, according to an LA Times story last week, drives the movie’s plot so it seems like the studio at least as something to fall back on.

I hate giving marketing advice at a time like this, but people were asking for my opinion and so thought I’d share it. Again, let’s keep our minds on the friends and family now left to mourn a life that, seemingly tragically, ended too soon.

[Pic via Spout]