Heath Ledger felt that way The Dark Knight would find its audience – and according to Andrew Garfield, he didn’t keep that thought to himself.

During his last visit to the Happy sad confused podcast, Garfield reflected on his time spent with Ledger during filming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassusjust after the Australian actor wrapped production on the gritty Batman movie.

“He had just done Joker, he had just finished doing it The Dark Knightand he was So being smug about it,” Garfield recalled. “I thought, ‘How did that go?’ and he said, ‘Yes, it’s really good.’

Garfield was early in his career when he encountered Ledger, for whom he had already earned high praise 10 Things I Hate About You, A Knight’s TaleAnd Brakback Mountain. The We live in time actor joked that one of the many lessons he learned from Ledger came from the actor’s reaction to being on the cover of a magazine leading up to The Dark Knight‘s release.

“I remember him like that Empire The cover of the magazine came out and he said, ‘Oh, they used a damn s— picture,'” Garfield said. “And I thought, ‘Are you kidding me, dude, that looks fucking incredible.’ And he said, ‘No, the pose is all wrong, it looks a bit like a conventional version of what an actor… you’ll see.’ And yes, I saw it.”

Ledger was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on January 22, 2008 at the age of 28. His death was ruled an accidental drug overdose and attributed to a deadly mix of prescription drugs.

When The Dark Knight hit theaters in July 2008, six months after his death, Ledger was proven right: the Christopher Nolan-directed film broke several box office records, became the highest-grossing film of that year and is still rated one of the greatest superhero movies. movies ever. Ledger received numerous posthumous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Garfield only had the pleasure of working with Ledger briefly, but added that the actor had a noticeable impact on everyone who worked with him.

“He was kind of a beacon, it was like a wild animal,” Garfield said, later adding, “He was so free and so wild and all that, kind of dangerous on set in a way that was inspiring. and spontaneous. He said before every take, or before every scene, “Let’s have some fun with this.”

At the time, as a young actor, Garfield was overly concerned with “getting it right,” but he has since come to appreciate Ledger’s directive.

“I still have a lot of memories of him,” he added. “I remember the first day I met him, he was wearing these amazing Ray Ban camouflage sunglasses and I said, ‘Oh hey, cool sunglasses.’ And the next day they were like in my dressing room, he just left them for me. He was just a very generous, beautiful, creative spirit.”

You can hear Garfield reflect on his friendship with Ledger in the podcast episode above.