Heath fan Aaron Eckhart

(BANG) - Heath Ledger's performance made the rest of 'A Dark Knight''s cast "raise their game".

The late actor's depiction of The Joker was so good, it forced his cast-mates to try harder, says co-star Aaron Eckhart.

Aaron - who plays 'Harvey 'Two Face' Dent in the forthcoming 'Batman' movie - admitted he loved watching Heath during filming because his performance was "amazing."

He said: "What thrilled me about Heath was that he was an actor who put it all on the table. It was all out there, and he was committed to this character and loved the character.

"That the crew and the cast loved him. The director, Chris Nolan, loved what he was doing with it, and he raised everybody's game.

"He was a topic of conversation, about his character and what he was doing with it. To act with him was to fly, you know? I watched him as a fan while I was acting. Like going, Wow, this is really amazing."

Aaron and Heath shared a trailer and the 'Thank You For Smoking' star says they bonded as they tried out different aspects of their characters.

He added to website Moviehole.net: "It was funny because Heath and I spent time in the same trailer, him figuring out what he was going with The Joker, and me figuring out what I was doing with Two Face, so there was a lot of weird noises, a lot of us trying on the character together. I really appreciated that."

'A Dark Knight' is released in cinemas later this month.

Heath died fo an accidental drugs overdose in January.

(C) BANG Media International