In the beginning I thought Heath Ledger was just a charming young guy, doing the typical break-through moves to fit in and find his way in Hollywood. Like taking a role in
10 Things I hate about You.
Little did I know that he would suprise me in a few movies after that. He even became the reason I would like to see movies where I didn't believe in. He had a spark only a few actors have and he convinced me in a few 'smaller' roles. "When he finds the right movie -I thought- he's going to show us what he realy can and become one of the big guys!"
Then, when I saw
The Brothers Grimm, I was stunned by his performance. The quite promissing actor managed to hide himself completely in a character that he created himself. And he had all those little moves and details while doing it. Above that -don't know if the term exists in English- he also knew what
comic timing was. And to do those things in such a way, proofed that there was a great talent in that guy. It's a good thing Terry Gilliam noticed that!
I was right. Most of the people still thought he was just a good looking actor being used to get young girls at the theatre. And then there was
Brokeback Mountain. Ledger blew me away with such a strong performance. He just became this Ennis Del Mar and played him with such a depth ... amazing!
Grimm and
Brokeback From that point on I just knew he was one of the (maybe even the) greatest talents of his generation. And it just went on. His performance in
I'm Not There (and
Candy) were also Great with a big G. You could also see he took his job as seriously as can be. No wonder he got stuck in his head, playing three confused and dark-minded characters in a row.
When the news came out (after long speculation including lots of big names) he was going to play
The Joker, I just knew he was the right guy. I even felt the need to defend this choice, (and I'm not a fanboy or something stupid like that, I'm (was) one of those damn critics, lol) when lots of people were screaming that this teenage-idol wasn't good enough. I realy believed in Heath Ledger. And I was sure this was only the beginning with many great roles to follow. When you see the trailer, you have to agree he's stunning in those few flashes.
Two weeks ago I saw the first pictures of
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, the new Terry Gilliam. (I had this inteview with Gilliam saying he only wanted Ledger for the role) Now those opening-scene-photo's just give me the creeps. The film opens with his character hanging dead. If I'm not wrong, the shooting for this one wasn't over, so this movie will never make it to the screen and
The Dark Knight will indeed be the last movie starring Heath Ledger.
It's a huge loss for his family, friends and the world of movies.
