Heath Ledger May Win Oscar for Joker

[RebelMan]

No joke: Ledger's Batman villain has Oscar shot
Wednesday July 2 7:25 AM ET

Jack Nicholson's Joker was a blast. Heath Ledger's Joker is as dark and anarchic a figure as Randle McMurphy in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," the role that brought Nicholson his first Academy Award.

Ledger's performance in the Batman tale "The Dark Knight" is so remarkable that next Jan. 22, the one-year anniversary of his death, he could become just the seventh actor in Oscar history to earn a posthumous nomination.

"I do think that Heath has created an iconic villain that will stand for the ages, and of course, I would love to see him get an award," said Christian Bale, who reprises his "Batman Begins" role as the tormented crime fighter. "But you know, to me, you can witness his talent, celebrate his talent within this movie. Anything else is gravy."

Superhero flicks usually are not the stuff Oscar dreams are made of. Yet Ledger delivered so far beyond anyone's expectations that he could end up as the second performer to win Hollywood's top honor after his death.

"He may be the first actor since Peter Finch. He may even win the damn thing," said Gary Oldman, who co-stars as noble cop Jim Gordon in "The Dark Knight," which hits theaters July 18.

Finch is the only person to win posthumously, earning the best-actor prize for 1976's "Network" two months after he died.

News of Ledger's death at age 28 from an accidental drug overdose broke just hours after the Oscar nominations were announced last January, darkening what normally is one of Hollywood's happiest days. The nominations next year fall on the same date because they were moved back two days from their traditional Tuesday announcement to avoid conflicting with the presidential inauguration.

With nothing remotely like the maniacal Joker among his credits beforehand, Ledger had been a surprising choice to fans, some feeling he was too young, others sensing he would not live up to the campy but earnest performance Nicholson gave in 1989's "Batman." (The role earned Nicholson a Golden Globe nomination, though he did not make the Oscar cut.)

As filming progressed last year, word began leaking from the set about the feverishly psychotic persona Ledger was creating.

With a marketing campaign heavily focused on the Joker, the movie trailers that followed presented a Joker with sloppy, ominous clown makeup that looked as though it had been applied in a windstorm. The brief footage revealed a character whose cackling humor cannot conceal the malevolent soul beneath.

"Whatever Heath channeled into, he's found something quite extraordinary," Oldman said. "It's arguably one of the greatest screen villains I think I've ever seen."

Fans were hooked, but some were skeptical when Oscar buzz for the performance started circulating after Ledger's death. Comic-book tales and other big action flicks rarely are taken seriously by awards voters, who are willing to honor them for technical achievements but generally not for acting.

Skepticism dissolved once Warner Bros. began screenings for "The Dark Knight."

"Heath Ledger didn't so much give a performance as he disappeared completely into the role," filmmaker and lifelong comics fan Kevin Smith said on his MySpace blog after seeing "The Dark Knight." "I know I'm not the first to suggest this, but he'll likely get at least an Oscar nod (if not the win) for best supporting actor."

Ledger's performance is surpassing even the sky-high expectations hardcore fans have going in.

"He was better than I thought he was going to be," said Bill Ramey, founder of the fan Web site Batman-on-Film.com, who caught an advance press screening. "I think he legitimately would deserve an Oscar nomination, not just out of sympathy to his passing, but because he was just fantastic in the movie. ... It's right up there with Hannibal Lecter," which earned Anthony Hopkins an Oscar for "The Silence of the Lambs."

Along with Finch, past posthumous Oscar contenders include James Dean, who was nominated for best actor twice after his death, with 1955's "East of Eden" and 1956's "Giant."

The other actors nominated after their deaths were Spencer Tracy (1967's "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"); Ralph Richardson (1984's "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes"); Massimo Troisi (1995's "The Postman"); and Jeanne Eagels (1929's "The Letter").

The aura surrounding Ledger since his death is a sign that, like Dean, he could endure as a mythic figure of talent silenced before his time. Ledger had a best-actor nomination for 2005's "Brokeback Mountain" and was considered a gifted performer just coming into his own.

That will not necessarily improve his Oscar chances. Dean had two shots after his death and lost both.

"The fact that only one actor has ever won an Oscar from the grave tells us that in general at the Oscars, the feeling is when you're dead, you're dead," said Tom O'Neil, a columnist for TheEnvelope.com, an awards Web site. "Maybe the point is that the Oscars are all about hugs. Nobody wants to hug a dead guy."

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.

Besides Hopkins as cannibalistic killer Lecter, bad guys who won include Fredric March in the title role of 1932's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"; F. Murray Abraham as Mozart's mortal enemy in 1984's "Amadeus"; Kathy Bates as a novelist's demented fan in 1990's "Misery"; Denzel Washington as a corrupt cop in 2001's "Training Day"; and Charlize Theron as a serial killer in 2003's "Monster."

The last two years have brought Oscar wins by Forest Whitaker as brutal dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland," Tilda Swinton as a murderously ruthless attorney in "Michael Clayton," Daniel Day-Lewis as a savage oilman in "There Will Be Blood" and Javier Bardem as a psychopathic killer in "No Country for Old Men."

"When a performance as a villain is that memorable, it can be held up as being that much more special," said Chuck Walton, managing editor of online movie-ticket site Fandango.com. "Oscar voters have a lot of respect for actors willing to really let themselves go and inhabit darker roles."

Warner Bros. and the filmmakers are profuse in their praise of Ledger but have been diplomatic about the Oscar talk. Awards publicity generally pads a movie's box-office and DVD receipts, and the studio has cautiously avoided any appearance of profiting from the added attention Ledger's death has brought to the film.

"The Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan sidestepped the Oscar question, saying that he was simply happy that early viewers were responding to the performance the way Ledger would have liked.

[RebelMan]

Oscar watchers dampen award hype for Ledger's Joker

Wednesday July 16 3:59 PM ET

When the new Batman movie "The Dark Night" began screenings last month before its U.S. debut on Friday, some moviegoers saw Heath Ledger as an instant Oscar candidate as the deranged villain, The Joker.

But Oscar watchers and veteran critics say the joke may be on fans creating mostly Internet-based buzz because an Academy Award for the Australian actor, who died of an accidental drug overdose in January, would be a rare event.

Only one actor has won an Oscar after death, Peter Finch for 1976's "Network."

"Dark Knight" is the type of comic book, action adventure that Oscar voters generally do not favor and there are many movies to see later this year, the experts said.

Still, Ledger's critically hailed performance may bring a nomination for the U.S. film industry's top award, to be presented next on February 22, 2009.

"All this Oscar talk is a phenomenon of the Internet age that I like to call 'a wish-fulfillment rumor.' If people say it often enough, they think it will happen," said Leonard Maltin, film critic for TV program "Entertainment Tonight."

"That's not to say it might not happen," he said, citing a "great performance" by Ledger. "But I assure you that the people who are spreading all this are neither Oscar voters nor (Hollywood) movers and shakers."

Tom O'Neil, a columnist for award-watching Web site The Envelope.com, said "it really looks good" for a nomination but was "a long shot" to win.

Hollywood has a long history of seeing big stars -- James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and Bruce Lee among them -- appearing in high-profile films released after their untimely deaths.

O'Neil said that when Finch died, Hollywood was in the middle of Oscar season and also in shock. Prior to that, Robert De Niro was sweeping the critics' awards for "Taxi Driver."

Veteran Oscar watcher O'Neil also sees parallels between the truncated careers of Ledger and James Dean.

"Like Heath, James Dean was a heartthrob star who was considered a serious actor, who died tragically young," O'Neil said. "He was nominated twice posthumously, for "East of Eden" and "Giant," and he lost both times."

Even the legendary Spencer Tracy was ignored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which gives out the Oscars, after he died in 1967 just as "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?" was coming. And he was the front-runner, O'Neil said.

Tracy's co-star Katharine Hepburn did win best actress for "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?"

"That's how reluctant Oscar voters are to hug the dead," O'Neil said. "These awards are all about hugs and there's something creepy about embracing the dead."

[Jocasta]

If his is the best supporting actor's performance this year, then I hope he wins but not for any other reason.

[Plastic Flute]

Hey Reb copy over the rest of the disc. to here. Its in Stars

[Captain Beefheart]

His biggest obstacle may be that film critics mostly see the Batman franchise as pop "escapism". Nolan's intention I believe was always to transcend a mere projection of comics into an actual movie that could reach any base, be them young or old folks. It's really hard to encompass the nature of the Joker and everything his role entails to a critic and i'm convinced most of them wouldn't understand the character either ways.

At the end it shouldn't matter much, Russel Crowe won an Oscar for Gladiator when he should've won for "A Beautiful Mind" and "The Insider". It took Scorcese almost 3 decades to get his due and when he did it was for a re-make.

[Jocasta]

At the end it shouldn't matter much, Russel Crowe won an Oscar for Gladiator when he should've won for "A Beautiful Mind" and "The Insider". It took Scorcese almost 3 decades to get his due and when he did it was for a re-make.

The academy voters are renowned for choosing their winners for politicial reasons or to make up for past mistakes, Scorcese being the obvious example, and not just based on who's was the best performance or best film.

[Captain Beefheart]

The beauty of Ledger's nomination isn't so much that he's receiving posthumous accolade but that 6 years ago if you asked most people if he would be nominated for an Oscar most would have laughed in your face because he was mostly a "teen" actor. In the last three years he matured and was actually taking good roles, got an Oscar nomination and even worked with Gilliam before his death.

The odds are stuck against him for sure, hype or no hype. But the biggest gist of my defense is that the movie as a "whole" should be respected in the same breath of say a Connan McCarthy book adaptaton. It should be about the acting purely, if he can convey The Joker's delusions as a dispenser of some sort of chaotic anarchy with no remorse towards law, order and structure then he should get his due. Filmmaking and acting like any kind of art is ultimately a practice of manpulating the viewer, if the audience feels convinced about his performance then I don't see why he's not worthy of an Oscar.

[Jocasta]

After Brokeback, his acting credentials were never in doubt... it didn't start with The Joker or in fact Brokeback but with Monster's Ball or earlier.
Anyone who really follows the film industry will know so called "teen" actors can actually have talent and the rise of a "face" like Brad Pitt into a genuine talent does and can happen; no surprise there.

[Captain Beefheart]

Haven't seen Monster's Ball so I can't comment on that.

Playing The Joker is quite the challenge. On one hand you have to live up to the expectations of fans who've already seen the character being portrayed by one of the best actors of all time(on the record I love Jack but I was really turned off by his interpretation and I also hate Tim Burton, thought I'd add that for good measure)

On the second you're playing one of the biggest villain's of all time. I thought it was interesting that Heath would study Clockwork Orange because Alex is one of the most complex characters in cinema, and the greatest tell is that despite the character being masochistic, sadistic, amoral pedantically calculated madman right at the end you actually "feel" for him, it's like you forget the rape and the beatings and your judgment transcends with an added sense of empathy because he was only a product of his environment. The Joker despite his psychotic allure is generally liked.

[SilverSpoon]

If anyone deserves an Oscar from a Batman film, it should be Danny DeVito.

[Gumby]

It's far too early to talk about Oscar nominations yet. There may be some performances coming in the fall that blow Heath out of the water. If it holds up, then give it to him. If it doesn't, don't write off the Academy as being biased against comics. He was very good, and you can tell he poured every last bit of energy he had into the role, but I'm not about to hop on to the "Ledger transcends the character, film, life, and Jesus" bandwagon again like people did with Brokeback Mountain.

I don't understand how anyone could feel empathy for the Joker, however. We don't know what he is a product of. That makes him more interesting, IMO.

[RebelMan]

After seeing his performance he should most definitely win an Oscar for this role.

[Jocasta]

Originally Posted by RebelMan

After seeing his performance he should most definitely win an Oscar for this role.

How can you be so sure? Someone else might give a better performance (whatever that means in the context of an artistic act) later this year.

I think giving prizes for art is inherently flawed.

[MSFixR]

His performance was exceptionally good, but what will sway the vote is the fact that he recently died whether that was accidental or intentional will make no difference.

[Jocasta]

but what will sway the vote is the fact that he recently died

That sounds pretty typical for the Academy.

[Plastic Flute]

So true ,well Michael Cain said Heath has his vote already.

[Captain Beefheart]

Let's keep in mind he will probably run for best supporting actor, if Bardem won an Oscar for No Country I don't really see why Heath couldn't be nominated for one.

Gumby: I didn't mean people felt empathy towards the Joker(I meant towards Alex in Clockwork Orange). The Joker has a couple different origin stories. He said in The Killing Joke: ""Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another... if I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!". So basically he has no fingerprints, he's nobody. Every story he told from having a crazy dad who sliced his face open and messed up his mom to slicing his face up to impress his wife who had been disfigured is pretty much made up.

[Plastic Flute]

Well said Beef.