This month, February 22nd to be exact, marks the 10th anniversary of Heath Ledger posthumously winning the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for the greatest, and most surprising, cinematic performance I’ve ever seen. His performance as Joker is a major reason why The Dark Knight is still considered the greatest superhero movie ever made, although Black Panther is the first of this genre to be nominated for Best Picture. The Dark Knight not being nominated for Best Picture caused so much of an uproar that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences changed their format of only five Best Picture nominees to “up to ten” the following year.
When Ledger was announced as the actor chosen to play Joker in Christopher Nolan’s sequel to Batman Begins, I had originally questioned it. I was reluctant because to me, Ledger was most known for 10 Things I Hate About You, The Patriot, A Knight’s Tale, and Brokeback Mountain. Neither of these movies suggested to me that he could play a role previously made famous by Cesar Romero and screen legend Jack Nicholson. Looking back though, his roles were so diverse, that he was actually perfect to play Joker.
Ledger was actually approached to play Batman/Bruce Wayne while Batman Begins was still casting major roles. He made it clear that he “would never take part in a superhero film”. After seeing Batman Begins, he convinced himself that he had to be Joker in the sequel. Ledger ended up being cast for the role and a legendary performance was to follow.
It was actually his idea to mess up his makeup, to make his character seem more like a psychopath, a specific trait that wasn’t portrayed by both Romero and Nicholson. Ledger dove so far into his character that fellow supporting actor Michael Caine (a six time Oscar nominee and two time winner already at the time of filming) has stated on the record that he would repeatedly forget his lines due to Ledger’s insanity on set. Maggie Gyllenhaal also made it clear that she couldn’t even look at Ledger on set while filming wasn’t happening. To make the action scenes look more realistic, Ledger even convinced Christian Bale to actually hit him during their fight scenes. These all add up to Ledger being an extremely underrated character actor.
Ledger passed away on January 22nd of 2008 at an apartment in Lower Manhattan, exactly 13 months before his Oscar win. “Mr. Heath Ledger died as a result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine. We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications” would be the official statement from the NYC medical examiner’s office.
Oxycodone and hydrocodone are painkillers. Diazepam and alprazolam are anti-anxiety drugs. Doxylamine and temazepam are sleep medications. As per Dr. Gregory Davis (College of American Pathologists and drugs.com), “the combination of drugs could cause the brain and brain stem to ‘fall asleep’, halting heart and lungs function.” Ledger had discussed his inability to sleep after his roles in I’m Not There immediately followed by The Dark Knight.
Did he dive too deep into the role of Joker that he couldn’t get out of it? That’s something that we can only really speculate without knowing for sure. He was one of the most respected actors of his time, even with the short amount of time his career spanned. Ledger was filming The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus at the time of his death, a role that he didn’t get the chance to complete. Three acclaimed actors (Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell) stepped in to finish his performance in the movie. They even made a deal that their salary would not be given to them. Their salary was to be given to his then 2 year old daughter Matilda, who was born after his most recent will. If that act of generosity doesn’t prove how much Ledger was loved and absolutely respected in the acting community, then I don’t know what will.
Zackman at the Movies 