Was it Heath Ledger or was it the director? (The Joker)

[Rollermacka]

After the Dark Knight alot of people seem to think that Heath Ledger was the greatest version of the Joker ever and nobody could do what he did again. I personally think he did a good job, but I think what made it soo good was because he was given that freedom to be more sinister and darker because of the direction of the film. Others have played the character and I honestly think that if Jack Nicholson or Mark Hamill (90s batman cartoon) were given that opportunity to play the character like that people would be saying "Heath who?" You can look at Mark's preformance in Batman Beyond's Return of the Joker because it was geared to a more mature audience. He is still comedic and "cartoony" but he shows that darker side of the character. I think he still did a good job but do you think it was more Heath or more the direction of the film that gave the character so much notoriety?