It is a rare and courageous thing for an actor to praise the work of another actor appearing in the same movie. Usually actors say things like “geesh, Bobby DeNiro is a real block of wood in our new movie” or “our movie would be great if Nicole Kidman wasn’t such a lame-ass.” But Michael Caine is bucking the trend by praising the work of his The Dark Knight co-star, Heath Ledger.

Caine, who portrays Alfred the Butler in Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies, told MTV Movies Blog that Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker will be the highlight of the Batman Begins sequel. “He will be the talking point of the next Batman,” said Caine. He also called it “one of the scariest performances I’ve ever seen.” This is coming from a man who was in a Jaws movie. Not a good Jaws movie, but still.

I think Caine is probably right. It’s a Batman tradition to have the Joker be the most interesting character in the movie. There is no reason to think Nolan's version will be any different. All signs indicated that the early concern about Ledger as the Joker will be put to rest when the movie finally opens.

Watch Michael Caine talk about Ledger via the embed below: