Author Topic: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes  (Read 684730 times)

Offline keren_b

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1290 on: Feb 03, 2009, 08:32 AM »
Thank you honey... for sending it to me  :ghug: :ghug:
The truth is... sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it.

Offline chameau

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1291 on: Feb 03, 2009, 11:43 AM »
Huh, this Sunday it will be the Bafta in London... anyone knows a link to watch them online? It won't be broadcasted in Canada.  :-\\
La dictature c'est ''ferme ta geule'', la démocratie c'est ''cause toujours''
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Offline ksxks

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1292 on: Feb 04, 2009, 11:53 PM »
Thanks Keren for this act of love!  ^f^

Yes, thank you so much, Keren!  I've kind of stopped automatically looking at magazine racks, so I don't buy too many, like I used to.  But of course I'm bummed I missed this issue, damn!  (I have to resist buying every single Obama issue of all the magazines, too -- and there are so many!)

But I printed this on our color laser copier at work, so I have a nice copy.  However, reading it today at work...just so sad.  How can it ever be okay that we have lost such a unique person!  I loved that he is referred to as the Pied Piper.  He definitely created a big crowd of devoted friends and followers.  What all his friends say -- no wonder we are so taken by him, without even knowing him per se.

kathy

They were respectful of each other's opinions, each glad to have a companion where none had been expected.

Offline NoReins

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1293 on: Feb 05, 2009, 04:30 AM »
I see Terry Gilliam is to receive a BAFTA fellowship this Sunday. I just found this on the Telegraph website:

Bafta awards 2009: Terry Gilliam on his Bafta fellowship and the death of Heath Ledger

Terry Gilliam talks to The Telegraph about his Bafta fellowship, Monty Python, The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus and the death of star Heath Ledger.
 
By Cassandra Jardine

Terry Gilliam's best guess as to why this year, of all years, he has been honoured with a Bafta fellowship is that it is a gesture of "sympathy". Voters must, he assumes, have felt sorry for him because his latest film, The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus, has been hit by three catastrophes. "There have been many human sacrifices involved," says the director with one of the zany laughs that lard his conversations.

The most recent disaster struck this autumn. Gilliam, who is 68, was standing outside a restaurant in Soho when a car backed into him. "Yes, a man can fly," observed a bystander as he flew past. He broke his back, but seems fine now, despite a cracked vertebra and dislodged disc. "Yeah, I'm a lizard," he says, cackling.

Before that, his producer Bill Vince, died suddenly, so Gilliam's daughter Amy – a 30-year-old fledgling producer – had to take over. "No matter how bad it gets," he says, "we keep the jokes going." But he cannot maintain his hilarity when talking about the death of Heath Ledger, the star of the film.

"I was in Canada," he says, thinking back a year. "We had finished shooting on Saturday night. Heath went to New York and was due to be joining us in Vancouver on the Friday. But on Tuesday (January 22) my daughter told me to come into the office. She wanted to show me something. 'No, I'm too busy,' I said, but there it was on the BBC website: Heath Ledger was dead. It was horrible. It was as if half the world had collapsed."

Ledger, 28 when he died, was not just an actor to Gilliam, he was the finest actor of his generation. They had worked together on The Brothers Grimm, where he had also been impressed by Ledger's sweetness of character and his skill at chess. "It just isn't possible that he's dead," he says. "There's nothing he can't do, it just flows out of him with ease and grace. He lifted everybody. He wasn't like Marlon Brando or James Dean or any of the more neurotic actors, his was all positive energy. I knew he was tired but that Saturday he had been doing all his own stunts, he was leaping off wagons, indestructible. On no level did his death make sense."

Gilliam's first thought was that the announcement was a publicity stunt for the Batman film The Dark Knight, in which Ledger plays the Joker, and for which he has since received Bafta and Oscar nominations. "That says a lot about the ruthlessness of the studio marketing departments," he says mischievously. Then began the rumours about a drug overdose. "Trying to pin that on him enraged me. It was so banal. I knew he was taking painkillers and Valium, but you have to take buckets of them before they knock you out. The only way I can understand it is that he must have woken up in the middle of the night and, in a groggy way, thought, 'I'm awake because I didn't take my pills,' and taken a lot more."

Once he had accepted the death, Gilliam faced not only a personal loss, but a business problem. Ledger was 45 per cent of the way through filming Parnassus, about a strange travelling theatre in modern London. The money men were ready to scrap the film but Gilliam wasn't. "It's interesting how, in extremis, you think clearly. It took me a week to figure out a solution. I thought about starting again with another actor, but Heath was so extraordinary I didn't want to do that. I then looked at how to do the remaining scenes without Heath, and realised that, since his character goes through a magic mirror three times, we could get three actors to play the role."

But who? He had worked with Johnny Depp on The Man who Killed Don Quixote, another of his disaster-prone films. "I called him. He said, 'I'm in.'" Next he asked Jude Law, who would have played Ledger's role had he not been busy. He too was up for it. He found his third substitute at Ledger's funeral. "I didn't know he was a friend," he thought, seeing Colin Farrell. Farrell also accepted.

Not only did the three actors agree to finish their friend's film, they have donated their fees to Ledger's three-year-old child Matilda, whose mother, the actress Michelle Williams, had been his co-star on Brokeback Mountain. "They behaved heroically. If anything positive has come out of this it is to see good people being decent."


The film, due out this autumn, will be another surreal creation in the vein that has been Gilliam's hallmark since he made animations for Monty Python in the late Sixties.

Gilliam was the odd one out of the group, the lone American among the Brits: John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Graham Chapman; a visual man among wordsmiths. He had met Cleese in New York when working as an animator and strip cartoonist; he moved to Britain in protest against the Vietnam War. Here he dreamt up the giant squelching foot and other surreal effects that helped make Monty Python's Flying Circus the biggest popular culture event in Britain after the Beatles.

"George [Harrison] was always convinced that the spirit of the Beatles went into Python. The year they broke up was the year we came together - 1969. George was our patron. When Bernie Delfont read the script of Life of Brian and pronounced it blasphemous just as we were getting on the plane to film in Tunisia, he rescued it. After that we formed HandMade Films and produced Time Bandits, which is still the most famous film we've done."

Unlike the Beatles, Monty Python didn't end acrimoniously. "We just got bored of each other," he says. By then Gilliam had married Maggie Weston, the make-up artist on Python, and set up home in north London with her and their three children. Two-and-a-half years ago he renounced his American citizenship in "disillusionment" with the Bush years, but he retains a pigtail which makes him look like an ageing hippy.

Surprisingly, since his films are full of trippy effects - such as the heating system gone mad in Brazil - he has never taken drugs. "Ten years ago, when I made Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, I thought I ought to try acid, but I never dared because I knew I would never distinguish between fantasy and reality. It was only 15 years ago that I discovered I couldn't fly. I have such a 'sense memory' of flying around the world at the height of a table that when someone asked me to show them, I really thought I could do it."

He doesn't need drugs to stimulate his imagination. Dali, Ernst and Mad magazine did that for him when he was a teenager; coming to Europe, the paintings of Breughel and Bosch blew him away. But he was always hyper-imaginative. As a child in rural Minnesota, he spent hours fantasising in the three-storey tree-house that his carpenter father built. After the family moved to Los Angeles when he was 11, he was thrilled by Disneyland.

Like Barack Obama, he won a scholarship to Occidental, a Presbyterian college for high-fliers in California. There Gilliam the polymath read physics, then fine arts, and finally political science, and relished the practical jokes played by richer kids. "They took a car to pieces and assembled it in someone's room. They filled a room with paper. Another time they took the hinges off a door, and attached a weight to it, so that, when opened, it flew across the room."

Until the age of 18 he had been set to become a missionary. That ended when he discovered that his humour wasn't appreciated in church. "What kind of God is this who can't take a joke?" he thought. That tension remains deep-seated: his films have been about chaos and order, freedom and control. "I hate authority, but you need structure," he explains. This anarchic spirit has not always endeared him to Hollywood's bean counters - he calls them "hollow, desperate people". JK Rowling, a Python fan, wanted him to direct the Harry Potter films, "but the studio was never going to let me".

People like working with Gilliam because, however dire his situation, he always finds something to laugh about. Somehow, he manages to scrape together a budget and a starry cast to transfer his latest vision to film. The last series of disasters occurred when he was making his Quixote film in the late Nineties - first the lead actor fell ill, then the set was washed away in a flood. "After that, Hollywood loved me again because I was a victim."

With Dr Parnassus losing its star, producer and nearly its director too, he is now once again being lauded by the film establishment. For all his iconoclastic talk, he seems to be enjoying it enormously.


The Orange British Academy Film Awards on Feb 8 begin on BBC Two from 8pm, continuing on BBC One from 9pm. A preview show will be broadcast on BBC Three from 7pm.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/baftas/4437378/Bafta-awards-2009-Terry-Gilliam-on-his-Bafta-fellowship-and-the-death-of-Health-Ledger.html

He will be eternally missed, but he will never be forgotten

Christopher Nolan, accepting the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe on Heath's behalf.

He was, as an actor and a professional and a human being, one of a kind

Charles Roven, accepting Heath's BAFTA.

This award tonight would have humbly validated Heath's quiet determination to be truly accepted by you all here — his peers within an industry he so loved.

Kim Ledger, accepting Heath's Oscar.

Offline keren_b

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1294 on: Feb 05, 2009, 09:59 AM »
Thank you for posting it Lindsey  :ghug:

Ledger, 28 when he died, was not just an actor to Gilliam, he was the finest actor of his generation. They had worked together on The Brothers Grimm, where he had also been impressed by Ledger's sweetness of character and his skill at chess. "It just isn't possible that he's dead," he says. "There's nothing he can't do, it just flows out of him with ease and grace. He lifted everybody. He wasn't like Marlon Brando or James Dean or any of the more neurotic actors, his was all positive energy. I knew he was tired but that Saturday he had been doing all his own stunts, he was leaping off wagons, indestructible. On no level did his death make sense."

it still doesn't make sense. like losing the brightest star in the sky.
The truth is... sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it.

Offline NoReins

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1295 on: Feb 05, 2009, 10:11 AM »
it still doesn't make sense. like losing the brightest star in the sky.

I know. Reading things like this don't make it any easier to understand, either. If someone so close to him can't fathom it, how can we ever hope to?

 :ghug:
He will be eternally missed, but he will never be forgotten

Christopher Nolan, accepting the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe on Heath's behalf.

He was, as an actor and a professional and a human being, one of a kind

Charles Roven, accepting Heath's BAFTA.

This award tonight would have humbly validated Heath's quiet determination to be truly accepted by you all here — his peers within an industry he so loved.

Kim Ledger, accepting Heath's Oscar.

Offline white_angel

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1296 on: Feb 06, 2009, 10:38 AM »
http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/buzz-log-vanity-fairs-digital-redux.html

Vanity Fair's Digital Redux
by Mike Krumboltz    February 4, 2009

Heath Ledger Vanity Fair is known for its provocative photographs. Last year, Miley's "backless" photo lit a firestorm of controversy that's still burning in Search. Now the magazine is back in the buzz after recycling a few well-worn pics for its most recent issue.

In the mag's March issue, famed photographer Annie Leibovitz snapped shots of acclaimed actors and their directors. Kate Winslet and hubbie Sam Mendes, who teamed up for "Revolutionary Road," strike a pose. There's Sean Penn and Gus Van Sant, who worked together on "Milk." And, oddly, there's Heath Ledger and Christopher Nolan of "The Dark Knight." Of course, Mr. Ledger died more than a year ago, so one may be inclined to ask where the photo came from.

The answer: 2005. The shot of Ledger was apparently taken while he was promoting "Brokeback Mountain." Editors digitally added Mr. Nolan and voilá. Some might say the digital redux is in questionable taste, but magazine reps insist they took great care and worked "with permission." We're a little fuzzy as to who, exactly, gave the OK. A Ouija board, perhaps?

Less controversial but still bizarre was Vanity Fair's cover shot of President Obama from the same March issue. The photo was originally taken back in 2007 and was actually on the cover for a special issue on Africa. We're not sure why Vanity Fair recycled, but we assume the leader of the free world was just too darn busy to come in and pose. Interestingly, unlike the Ledger photo with a second added subject, Obama's photo redux digitally removed actor Don Cheadle. Don't take it personally, Don. It's just show business.



Can't take my eyes off of you Heath.

vedrana

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1297 on: Feb 06, 2009, 11:31 AM »
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/movies/awardsseason/06carr.html?_r=1


***
 I worked the Oscar circuit in 2006 and watched Mr. Ledger in support of “Brokeback Mountain,” then a favorite for best picture, and can say he never was much of a campaigner. A polite, nice man, he had little aptitude or appetite for trite talk at parties or events, even when he was up for a best actor Oscar, as he was then.

***
The specter of Mr. Ledger has created a large overhang this award season. His performance was recognized with victories at both the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild ceremonies. And what would usually be moments for agent thanking and mom waving suddenly became something as solemn and reverent as an observance at Arlington.

***
Warner Brothers’ cautious approach — speaking of which, the company did not respond to a request for comment about the campaign — has served both the actor and the moment very well. When it came to the show part of the business, Mr. Ledger the person was always a bit of a ghost even when he was alive. On Feb. 22 when the awards are handed out, he will not be at the Kodak Theater, but his presence will be hard to miss.


Offline lancecowboy

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1298 on: Feb 06, 2009, 11:48 AM »
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/movies/awardsseason/06carr.html?_r=1

 :\'( Thanks, Loreen. The article is a lovely tribute.

Quote
[...]“No matter how cynical you feel about Hollywood, it is hard not to fall for a film that makes room for a shot of the Joker leaning out the window of a stolen police car and laughing into the wind, the city’s colored lights gleaming behind him like jewels,” she wrote last July when the movie came out. “He’s just a clown painted on black velvet, but he’s also some kind of masterpiece.”

[...]Is it wrong for us to stare, to reminisce, to regret? Hardly. Mr. Ledger’s death, which created a huge wave of public grief, was clearly a seminal moment in popular culture. The studio needed to navigate all those currents in releasing the film and in the Oscar ritual as well.

[...]“All of us who worked with Heath on ‘The Dark Knight’ accept this with an awful mixture of sadness but incredible pride,” Mr. Nolan said as he stood in for Mr. Ledger at the Golden Globes, adding, “He will be eternally missed, but he will never be forgotten.”

Sasha Stone, who blogs at Awards Daily (awardsdaily.com) and has been a ferocious advocate for “The Dark Knight,” said she thinks the noncampaign campaign has been effective.

“They had to walk a tightrope there, and no one really knew if they could,” she wrote in an e-mail message. “The studio didn’t flood the press with ‘Dark Knight’ ads, and they really could have.” (She remains, by the way, unconvinced that Mr. Ledger is a lock to win.)

[...]On Feb. 22 when the awards are handed out, he will not be at the Kodak Theater, but his presence will be hard to miss.

Heath, you are loved, like this, always.

Offline jackster

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1299 on: Feb 09, 2009, 05:04 AM »
Ledger wins best supporting actor BAFTA

9th February 2009, 7:30 WST

Heath Ledger has won a top honour at Britain's version of the Academy Awards for his menacing portrayal of the Joker in the Batman thriller The Dark Knight.

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=5&ContentID=123609

go Heath.
we get to drinkin' and talkin' an all

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1300 on: Feb 09, 2009, 05:46 AM »
Ledger wins best supporting actor BAFTA

9th February 2009, 7:30 WST

Heath Ledger has won a top honour at Britain's version of the Academy Awards for his menacing portrayal of the Joker in the Batman thriller The Dark Knight.

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=5&ContentID=123609

go Heath.
YAY!!!GO HEATH!!!

Offline lancecowboy

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1301 on: Feb 09, 2009, 05:49 AM »
Telegraph from UK:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/baftas/4563871/Baftas-2009-Heath-Ledger-profile.html

Baftas 2009: Heath Ledger profile

Heath Ledger's posthumous Bafta for Batman film The Dark Knight was an emotional moment in the ceremony.

By Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor
Last Updated: 12:56AM GMT 09 Feb 2009

Awards presenter Goldie Hawn choked up as she opened the envelope and announced Ledger as the best supporting actor winner. Many stars in the audience were in tears.

The Australian star died last year, aged 28, from an accidental drugs overdose. His performance in The Dark Knight has already won a Golden Globe and is favourite to win an Oscar.

The Bafta was accepted by producer Charles Roven, on behalf of Ledger's family.

He said: "Knowing Heath, I know that he would be very humbled just to be in the company of the other performances that were also nominated this evening. I had the good fortune of making two films with Heath and I considered myself lucky just to have made one. The last one was The Dark Knight.

He was, as an actor and a professional and a human being, one of a kind."

Terry Gilliam, who received a Bafta Fellowship, also paid tribute to Ledger. The actor was working on Gilliam's film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, when he died.

"Everybody has said he was extraordinary, but we can't even begin to image what he was going to be. We only saw a tiny tip of the iceberg. But he's gone," Gilliam said, describing Ledger's untimely death as an "incredible tragedy".

Actors Colin Farrell, Johnny Depp and Jude Law stepped in to complete the film, playing different aspects of Ledger's character. All donated their fees to Ledger's young daughter, Matilda. Gilliam said of their generosity: "This is the kind of thing that one dreams about in cinema and seldom gets to experience."

Backstage, the director said: "It would have been nice if he had won more awards when he was alive, frankly. Heath was a genius. I really do think there was nothing he couldn't do. We hadn't seen anything yet. He was incredibly funny, his timing was brilliant, he could invent dialogue that kept me spinning all the time on Parnassus. And he was probably one of the greatest gentlemen I have known. It is a terrible loss. That is all."
Heath, you are loved, like this, always.

vedrana

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1302 on: Feb 09, 2009, 06:07 AM »

"Everybody has said he was extraordinary, but we can't even begin to image what he was going to be. We only saw a tiny tip of the iceberg. But he's gone," Gilliam said, describing Ledger's untimely death as an "incredible tragedy".

"It would have been nice if he had won more awards when he was alive, frankly. Heath was a genius. I really do think there was nothing he couldn't do. We hadn't seen anything yet. He was incredibly funny, his timing was brilliant, he could invent dialogue that kept me spinning all the time on Parnassus. And he was probably one of the greatest gentlemen I have known. It is a terrible loss. That is all."

When I read these words, I really felt like losing someone close to me, someone I knew, someone mine!  :\'(  It is a terrible loss.

Offline keren_b

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1303 on: Feb 09, 2009, 08:49 AM »
"Knowing Heath, I know that he would be very humbled just to be in the company of the other performances that were also nominated this evening. I had the good fortune of making two films with Heath and I considered myself lucky just to have made one. The last one was The Dark Knight.

He was, as an actor and a professional and a human being, one of a kind."

Quote
"It would have been nice if he had won more awards when he was alive, frankly. Heath was a genius. I really do think there was nothing he couldn't do. We hadn't seen anything yet. He was incredibly funny, his timing was brilliant, he could invent dialogue that kept me spinning all the time on Parnassus. And he was probably one of the greatest gentlemen I have known. It is a terrible loss. That is all."

OMG, beautiful words from both Charles Roven and Terry Gilliam  :\'( :\'(

Heath, you make us all so proud. go baby!!!!!!
The truth is... sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it.

Offline NoReins

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1304 on: Feb 09, 2009, 09:41 AM »
I wonder if Terry Gilliam's comments were from an after ceremony interview? He didn't say anything about Heath during his acceptance speech...although it did look a little like the BBC cut part of his speech, which confused me because I thought the show was live :s)
He will be eternally missed, but he will never be forgotten

Christopher Nolan, accepting the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe on Heath's behalf.

He was, as an actor and a professional and a human being, one of a kind

Charles Roven, accepting Heath's BAFTA.

This award tonight would have humbly validated Heath's quiet determination to be truly accepted by you all here — his peers within an industry he so loved.

Kim Ledger, accepting Heath's Oscar.

Offline keren_b

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1305 on: Feb 09, 2009, 11:26 AM »
I wonder if Terry Gilliam's comments were from an after ceremony interview? He didn't say anything about Heath during his acceptance speech...although it did look a little like the BBC cut part of his speech, which confused me because I thought the show was live :s)

It said in the article that he said it backstage.
The truth is... sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it.

Offline keren_b

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1306 on: Feb 09, 2009, 11:31 AM »
An Insomniac’s Eulogy:
On a dark night, remembering Heath Ledger


http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=36735
The truth is... sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it.

Offline chameau

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1307 on: Feb 09, 2009, 12:45 PM »
An Insomniac’s Eulogy:
On a dark night, remembering Heath Ledger


http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=36735

...Months passed, and The Dark Knight opened, and I did, of course, watch it—several times, both in the theater and at home. I’ll probably go again now that it’s being rereleased, because I never did see it in IMAX.

Ledger’s Joker, unquestionably the triumph of the film, will again be larger than life. And maybe once he gets the Oscar—as if another outcome is even possible—I’ll finally be able to make peace with his death.


***sigh***  :\'(
La dictature c'est ''ferme ta geule'', la démocratie c'est ''cause toujours''
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Offline myprivatejack

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1308 on: Feb 09, 2009, 01:50 PM »
And I think he will also be in peace then,because it's something that they owned him for three years... :\'(
Ennis’s eyes gone bright with shock, mouth opening then closing again. “Love?” Ennis said finally, voice strangling in his throat.

Jack smiled sad. “Yeah, Ennis. Love.” Leaned forward and kissed Ennis’s temple, whispered, “What’d you think it was, all this time?”
("If I asked")
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You will be forever in my heart,friends.

Offline NoReins

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1309 on: Feb 10, 2009, 05:42 AM »
It said in the article that he said it backstage.

 %&) So it did. I really should read things properly ::)

An Insomniac’s Eulogy:
On a dark night, remembering Heath Ledger


http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=36735

What a wonderfully written piece. The feelings of most of us reflected, I think.
He will be eternally missed, but he will never be forgotten

Christopher Nolan, accepting the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe on Heath's behalf.

He was, as an actor and a professional and a human being, one of a kind

Charles Roven, accepting Heath's BAFTA.

This award tonight would have humbly validated Heath's quiet determination to be truly accepted by you all here — his peers within an industry he so loved.

Kim Ledger, accepting Heath's Oscar.

Offline white_angel

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1310 on: Feb 10, 2009, 06:07 AM »
  Heath Ledger. the ULTIMATE JOKER

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2009/02/heath-ledger-nu.html


Heath Ledger's flawless acting, and tragic passing, immortalized his portrayal of the Joker in Christopher Nolan's Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight. But should Ledger's killer clown be the last Joker to grace the big screen?

That's what the fanboys over at a new site called The Ultimate Joker are arguing. They've launched a petition calling for studios to withdraw the character for good from any future Batman movies, a somewhat strange request given all the actors who have stepped into the Joker's murderous shoes on screens large and small.

"We truly believe Ledger's performance as Joker is the best an actor could ever do," the site's team leader, Fer Barbella, told Wired.com in an e-mail interview.

"Any other performance will be below expectations for sure, so we want to forever keep Ledger's Joker as the one," added Barbella, who launched The Ultimate Joker site last week with his colleague Nico Pimentel.

From Jack Nicholson and Cesar Romero to Larry Storch, Mark Hamill and the underrated Kevin Michael Richardson, Batman's nemesis has been brought to life by some serious talent. Banning Joker from the silver screen might seem like an unreasonable request on its garish face, but the team at The Ultimate Joker is standing by it, and no doubt will be aided if Ledger takes home a posthumous Oscar later this month for his portrayal.

Joker_card In addition to the online petition, The Ultimate Joker site operators have fired up an Ultimate Joker Flickr pool and posted downloadable web graphics to let others show their support.

Barbella says his crew is only interested in film portrayals, though.

"Television and animation is off our radar," he says. "And we like Jokers like Cesar Romero or Jack Nicholson, and even the voice of Mark Hamill. But we think this psycho in scarred whiteface is the best ever. No one can improve it. So please, Hollywood, use other enemies in the sequels to come."

It is perhaps a plea that Hollywood will ignore in pursuit of profit. After all, the buzz created by the conundrum of who will follow in Ledger's footsteps could be worth hundreds of millions on its own.

But it's a fair question: Should Hollywood retire the Joker from film? Was Heath Ledger the greatest Joker of all time? Why so serious? Shoot us your thoughts in the comment section below.
Can't take my eyes off of you Heath.

Offline keren_b

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1311 on: Feb 10, 2009, 06:57 AM »
Heath Ledger. the ULTIMATE JOKER

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2009/02/heath-ledger-nu.html


Heath Ledger's flawless acting, and tragic passing, immortalized his portrayal of the Joker in Christopher Nolan's Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight. But should Ledger's killer clown be the last Joker to grace the big screen?

That's what the fanboys over at a new site called The Ultimate Joker are arguing. They've launched a petition calling for studios to withdraw the character for good from any future Batman movies, a somewhat strange request given all the actors who have stepped into the Joker's murderous shoes on screens large and small.

"We truly believe Ledger's performance as Joker is the best an actor could ever do," the site's team leader, Fer Barbella, told Wired.com in an e-mail interview.

"Any other performance will be below expectations for sure, so we want to forever keep Ledger's Joker as the one," added Barbella, who launched The Ultimate Joker site last week with his colleague Nico Pimentel.

From Jack Nicholson and Cesar Romero to Larry Storch, Mark Hamill and the underrated Kevin Michael Richardson, Batman's nemesis has been brought to life by some serious talent. Banning Joker from the silver screen might seem like an unreasonable request on its garish face, but the team at The Ultimate Joker is standing by it, and no doubt will be aided if Ledger takes home a posthumous Oscar later this month for his portrayal.

Joker_card In addition to the online petition, The Ultimate Joker site operators have fired up an Ultimate Joker Flickr pool and posted downloadable web graphics to let others show their support.

Barbella says his crew is only interested in film portrayals, though.

"Television and animation is off our radar," he says. "And we like Jokers like Cesar Romero or Jack Nicholson, and even the voice of Mark Hamill. But we think this psycho in scarred whiteface is the best ever. No one can improve it. So please, Hollywood, use other enemies in the sequels to come."

It is perhaps a plea that Hollywood will ignore in pursuit of profit. After all, the buzz created by the conundrum of who will follow in Ledger's footsteps could be worth hundreds of millions on its own.

But it's a fair question: Should Hollywood retire the Joker from film? Was Heath Ledger the greatest Joker of all time? Why so serious? Shoot us your thoughts in the comment section below.

I often asked myself the same question. How could anyone play this role after Heath, without disappointing the audience? How the hell can you top a performance like that? I don't kid myself that Hollywood will never use this character again, like the article said, it's hard to believe they'll give up the profit that the Joker's name will bring them. but I have no doubt that no one can do it better than Heath did.
The truth is... sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it.

Offline lancecowboy

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1312 on: Feb 10, 2009, 02:34 PM »
I often asked myself the same question. How could anyone play this role after Heath, without disappointing the audience? How the hell can you top a performance like that? I don't kid myself that Hollywood will never use this character again, like the article said, it's hard to believe they'll give up the profit that the Joker's name will bring them. but I have no doubt that no one can do it better than Heath did.

I think, on the one hand, they should retire the Joker that Heath created, the make-up, the costumes, the entire persona...just like retiring the numbers of a great hockey player.

On the other hand, I think the character Joker can be portrayed by other actors, as long as they create their own, just as Jack Nicholson and Heath created theirs.

Of course, it will be a great challenge for anyone to attempt it after Heath's pan ultimate achievements. It didn't stop Heath, and it probably won't stop another bright young actor who has talents to burn. Heath wouldn't want to stop anyone else from the challenge.
Heath, you are loved, like this, always.

Offline chameau

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1313 on: Feb 10, 2009, 10:46 PM »
I could only agree with you Andrew, some said Heath couldn't fit in Jack Nicholson's shoes but Heath didn't want to, he re-invented the role and made the Joker his own character and made it a legend of his own.  I would like to see another actor to give it a try, someone like Johnny Depp?  But now I realize that's going a bit of topic. :-X
La dictature c'est ''ferme ta geule'', la démocratie c'est ''cause toujours''
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Offline lancecowboy

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1314 on: Feb 11, 2009, 01:05 AM »
 :\'( "made it a legend of his own"  :\'(

I think Heath would be happy to see other young actors getting an opportunity to play the Joker, and I think he would be flattered to have them emulate, or adapt elements from his Joker. There is a fine line between adaptation and imitation. One weaves creative innovative interpretation of the original elements into a new creation, whereas the other simply makes a patchwork of the disparate elements without understanding or reason.

Heath was a master of creative interpretation. Anyone who plays the Joker can only follow his footstep in the same spirit, or would be off to a bad start, in my humble and biased opinion.
Heath, you are loved, like this, always.

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1315 on: Feb 11, 2009, 10:08 AM »
http://theenvelope.latimes.com/awards/oscars/la-en-heath11-2009feb11,0,5433699.story

"I'll tell you an odd thing that happened," he added. "He died and everybody who had known him and worked with him on 'The Patriot,' we all phoned each other. Not like everybody didn't know; it was all over the headlines. None of us had anything particularly interesting or profound to say; we just wanted to say his name out loud. And be sad together. Because he was a lovely person."
 
:\'(

Offline keren_b

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1316 on: Feb 11, 2009, 12:49 PM »
http://theenvelope.latimes.com/awards/oscars/la-en-heath11-2009feb11,0,5433699.story

"I'll tell you an odd thing that happened," he added. "He died and everybody who had known him and worked with him on 'The Patriot,' we all phoned each other. Not like everybody didn't know; it was all over the headlines. None of us had anything particularly interesting or profound to say; we just wanted to say his name out loud. And be sad together. Because he was a lovely person."
 
:\'(

What a beautiful article Loreen, thanks for posting it.

Quote
"I was intimidated by how worldly wise he seemed to be and how much he understood himself," said Jason Isaacs, who played the sadistic Col. Tavington in "Patriot." "He took a house in the forest while we all lived together in a condo. Like many in my profession, I seem to need company and to fill the silence with noise; he didn't need that, and he was very happy in his house in the forest. I know 21-year-olds; I'd never met a 21-year-old like him."

Quote
"The younger actors, he was kind of like the godfather to all these boys, the Fagin," Hardwicke said. "He would encourage them, take them under his wing. He had half a trailer, he was so modest but he set up a camp outside it. He set up tiki torches and people would play guitars and call it Camp Heath."

*sigh*  :\'( :\'( :\'(
The truth is... sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it.

Offline lancecowboy

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1317 on: Feb 11, 2009, 12:58 PM »
 :( Camp Heath!  :\'(

Thanks Loreen for the link.
Heath, you are loved, like this, always.

Offline white_angel

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1318 on: Feb 12, 2009, 12:55 AM »
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-en-heath11-2009feb11,0,5666093.story?track=


AN APPRECIATION
Heath Ledger and his 'gentle way'
Even as a teen-idol, he showed signs of being separate from the pack.

By Michael Ordoña
February 11, 2009
The late Heath Ledger's stunning, almost unrecognizable turn as the Joker in "The Dark Knight" shouldn't have come as a surprise.

It was far from the first time he had transformed himself for a role, whether drastically, as the scruffy skateboarding impresario in "Lords of Dogtown," or subtly, as the repressed, gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain." Here, the recollections of some who worked with the supporting actor nominee add detail to a picture of a complex man and challenging artist whose creative fire and generosity of spirit lifted those around him.

"His energy and enthusiasm for life will never cease to inspire me," said Ledger's longtime friend and business partner Matt Amato. "A friend of mine said after Heath died that we must continue in Heath's 'gentle way.' Those words sounded perfect to me -- Heath's gentle way."


From Heath Ledger's American debut in the underrated "Taming of the Shrew" adaptation "10 Things I Hate About You" (1999) through "The Patriot" and the Chaucer-inspired romp "A Knight's Tale," the handsome young actor looked to be on a teen-idol trajectory. But even then, he showed signs of being separate from the pack.

"I was intimidated by how worldly wise he seemed to be and how much he understood himself," said Jason Isaacs, who played the sadistic Col. Tavington in "Patriot." "He took a house in the forest while we all lived together in a condo. Like many in my profession, I seem to need company and to fill the silence with noise; he didn't need that, and he was very happy in his house in the forest. I know 21-year-olds; I'd never met a 21-year-old like him."

In 2001's "Monster's Ball," he made an indelible impression in a brief appearance as a tough death-row guard's sensitive son. It was an understated, soulful turn in a supporting role -- hardly the stuff of a teen idol lusting for fame.

Indeed, Daniel Day-Lewis, who had never met Ledger, cited that performance last year while dedicating his SAG win for "There Will Be Blood" to the young actor just five days after his death, saying his character "seemed to be almost like an unformed being, retreating from themselves, retreating from his father, from his life, even retreating from us, and yet we wanted to follow him, and yet were scared to follow him, almost. It was unique."

After a few relatively unremarkable lead turns, he flexed his acting muscles in an offbeat supporting role in "Lords of Dogtown" (2005), directed by Catherine Hardwicke.

"With his physicality, he had style," said Hardwicke ( "Twilight"). "He didn't just surf or skate, he did it with his own weird, funky Heath style."

His metamorphosis to play the real-life Skip Engblom was startling. With long, ratty hair and eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses, he insisted on wearing prosthetic teeth, causing much fretting among those who hired him in part "for his beauty," Hardwicke said.

But Ledger, then a grizzled veteran in his mid-20s, brought more than quirky talent to the production.

"The younger actors, he was kind of like the godfather to all these boys, the Fagin," Hardwicke said. "He would encourage them, take them under his wing. He had half a trailer, he was so modest but he set up a camp outside it. He set up tiki torches and people would play guitars and call it Camp Heath."

Next, a more delicate transformation earned Ledger his first Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. Beyond his rich emotional life as Ennis Del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain," his subtle technical choices in the film were the fine strokes that completed the painting. His clenched jaw, tight shoulders and habitual mumbling spoke of a man stoically refusing to express his true self. It was only with his secret lover that Ennis could allow his muscles to relax, his voice to come out clearly.

In 2005, Ledger joined Amato in the Los Angeles-based arts collective the Masses to hone the skills to direct films, starting with music videos. A rapidly developing visual style is apparent in the handful of his videos released so far, for artists such as Ben Harper. His steep growth curve can be seen in two pieces he directed for rapper and childhood friend Nfa: The first, "Seduction Is Evil," is a fairly straightforward presentation, possibly inspired by "Chicago"; the second, "Cause N Effect," is something much freer, abstract and striking. Two more are complete and awaiting release: one of Australian singer Grace Woodroofe covering David Bowie's "Quicksand" and an animated clip Ledger designed and storyboarded for Modest Mouse, completed after his death.

"Both these new videos reflect Heath's talents as a visionary artist. Someday, there will be an exhibit of his stunning photographs," said Amato in an e-mail exchange. "What Heath brought to us at the Masses was his pure creative energy, chessboards and surfboards.

"One fond memory I have is how he assisted me on a difficult edit. My carpal-tunnel syndrome was acting up . . . so Heath said, 'I'll be your hands.' And he was."

Ledger's next projects included the gritty drug-addiction drama "Candy" and the Bob Dylan tribute "I'm Not There," making it possible to trace the evolution of his sexual cool from the charming teen of "10 Things" to the swaggering musical star he played in the Todd Haynes movie. Then came "The Dark Knight." With his terrifying alchemy as the Joker -- which may earn only the second posthumous acting Oscar -- Ledger gave his final completed performance.

"Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan, at a recent DGA symposium, spoke of Ledger's deep commitment to the role for months before shooting even began, saying the actor would call him up to talk about the character, how he should play him, and about other actors, movies and TV shows that had influenced him.

"Patriot" costar Isaacs witnessed it firsthand. Just before "Dark Knight" started shooting in London, he ran into Ledger and his then-partner Michelle Williams and their baby daughter. The new father was carrying around a notebook in which he was jotting ideas about the Joker. Remembering the 28-year-old Aussie's "boundless energy" and love of life and his daughter, Isaacs said of the young actor's fatal overdose of prescription drugs, "I knew in my heart there was no way it was suicide.

"I'll tell you an odd thing that happened," he added. "He died and everybody who had known him and worked with him on 'The Patriot,' we all phoned each other. Not like everybody didn't know; it was all over the headlines. None of us had anything particularly interesting or profound to say; we just wanted to say his name out loud. And be sad together. Because he was a lovely person."

Can't take my eyes off of you Heath.

Offline NoReins

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Re: Heath Ledger - News Articles and Tributes
« Reply #1319 on: Feb 12, 2009, 01:56 AM »
Thanks for posting that whole article, white_angel.

Yet another beautiful tribute <^( :\'(
He will be eternally missed, but he will never be forgotten

Christopher Nolan, accepting the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe on Heath's behalf.

He was, as an actor and a professional and a human being, one of a kind

Charles Roven, accepting Heath's BAFTA.

This award tonight would have humbly validated Heath's quiet determination to be truly accepted by you all here — his peers within an industry he so loved.

Kim Ledger, accepting Heath's Oscar.