Tribute: Remembering Heath Ledger

I'm not good at future planning. I completely live in the now, not in the past, not in the future.

Exactly one year ago, Heath Ledger was found dead due to accidental overdose. Much has been reported of his death – some in the media has exploited, to the utmost extent, the tragedy in order to gain profit. One year after, Heath was honored by the Academy with a recognition for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight.

As I look back at some of the Heath Ledger articles I have collected, I was a bit amused to read the ‘Letters to the Editor’ at GQ Magazine, this is the issue after Heath was made cover of the men’s magazine.

It was more than 20 years ago… In one of the letters, the GQ reader complained that the magazine’s editor made a mistake to put the up and coming Australian actor on the cover, saying that he lacked the meaty roles to prove his mettle as an actor. That was two decades ago…

Looking Back: How I see Heath as an actor

During that time until his Academy award-nominated role in Brokeback Mountain, I have come to admire the actor in him. Playing Patrick Verona in 10 Things I Hate About You was a revelation, actually a blast! Seeing him act in a historical drama and war epic with fellow Australian Mel Gibson in The Patriot further solidify my belief that this is no ordinary ‘matinee idol’. Then, there was this consummate performance in Ned Kelly.

As Ennis del Mar, Heath gave life to a tortured soul, and in turn, he suffered for it. Not in so many words, but his brilliant performance was a surprise even to his most ardent fans. It was like he has finally arrived and that some of his critics have finally acknowledge the talent in him. He lost the Oscar, but he gained the respect of his peers.

After playing this tragic role, Ledger’s next role choices can be summed up in one word: dark. As the drug addict and fatally in love Dan, Heath played the doomed character with such intensity and realism that movie audiences, including myself, felt the vibes. It was a tour de force performance.

Finally, Recognition for a Fallen Actor?

Except for his role in Brokeback Mountain, Heath gave another performance that would keep his spirit and memory to movie audiences worldwide alive. As the Joker, he gave us a unique interpretation of a movie’s villain.

I said the following during a time rife with Oscar speculations…

But is being a fan disqualifies us from declaring Ledger's performance in The Dark Knight deserving of an Oscar? Of course, our votes or noise would not be counted come Academy members' voting time, but the point is, even Christopher Nolan applauds Heath's performance. Again, another unrealistic source to be relied upon, as Nolan is definitely subjective on the matter. Finally, does he even get a slim chance of getting a nomination?

And the ever-reliable CNN has this to say:

Oscar voters tend to hand out the trophies for heroic or sympathetic roles, so Ledger's supremely evil characterization could prove a drawback along with the action-genre stigma. Yet there are notable instances when actors playing villains made such an impression that academy members could not resist voting for them.

I guess, the mere fact that Heath got nominated is testament enough to his talent as an actor, and while some would still speculate and declare that his Oscar nomination was the result of his death, I tend to view this as irrelevant- complete and utter nonsense.

Whatever happens, his peers and the movie industry did not fail him.

Still Speculating on His Death

Up to now, the vultures in the press media continues to speculate as to the ‘real’ cause of his death. But filmmaker Terry Gilliam’s reaction is more than enough to answer them. Says Gilliam:

The insomnia was really getting to him. He'd arrive (on set) in the morning looking really shattered... (but) he'd just whip the thing up into another gear very quickly and off we'd go.

"They (media) tried to hard to pin (drug abuse) on him, but they couldn't because Heath was as clean as you could be.

"We know about the pills, but he had stopped smoking. Marijuana was no longer in his life... He wasn't drinking. Nothing. This was a body that had cleansed itself for over a year of anything."

Come to think of it, what sort of morals do these people have, if any at all?

The Final Word

Says tMF Partner, Brittany Stevens:

He was sinister, yet comedic, such a badass, just utterly amazing! The best villain I've seen played since I dunno when. Ledger should gain at least a nomination; he put everything he had into that role which messed with his mentality. There are just no words that I can say that will properly explain how well played it was.

Says another fan:

I never appreciated what Heath, or any other actor/actress, had gone through and continues to endure under the contentious clout of limelight and surrealism. The stigmata of media hacks nipping at the heels, the threat of social ostracism stemming from an aggression expansion in fame and the impossible task of attempting with futility to strike a balance between the elation of career and the clarity of family life. I neither cared much for the types of movies and roles Heath had undertaken during his early career nor was I ever bothered to entertain the idea that he may have been the class act Hollywood had purported him to be even without the looks and charm the likes of which had been adamantly insisted by his most devout fans.

Ever since Tim Burton's dark depiction of the caped crusader in "Batman" and "Batman Returns", I was convinced that nobody would be able to surpass the quality of those respective roles played by Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton and Danni DeVito. Michelle Pfeiffer immortalized Cat Woman and nobody could quite step up to the plate as Christopher Walken had in his eccentric portrayal of pure corruption.

All this changed with "The Dark Knight". The role of Joker was not without precedence and Heath Ledger had to contend with and challenge the standards set by Jack Nicholson back in the 1989 debut. His acting embodied everything which his role represented - chaos, anarchy, entropy. There's not many movies where the supporting actor outshines that of the lead. In the first "Batman", Jack Nicholson convinced us why we were to be afraid of men in make-up. Heath's performance provided commensurate, if not superior, verification of why that should be so. The fact that my impressions of him had rocketed from sub zero to super hero in a couple of scenes, in my view, indicates the sheer caliber of performance. On a relative scale, Heath's performance in this film was unrivaled - quite profoundly second to none in my opinion.

It's unquestionably pitiful, though not all too unusual, the fact that such great talent inevitably loses out to the creeping malfeasance of unparalleled expectations. One incessantly fails to appreciate what one has in their possession until the moment we realize our loss. Rests assured and Rest in Peace.