Why I Adore: Heath Ledger

In this chapter of ‘the filmmaker’s guide’ we’re going to look at people that I absolutely adore and why I adore them. They can be anyone who is famous for being in film such as: actors and actresses, directors and producers, composers etc. We’re going to be looking at my childhood heroes, people I have discovered recently and people that I have yet to look entirely into. We’ll take a bit of a look at how I discovered them, what I think of them and why I think this way about them. Hopefully, we can gain a common ground, you can discover some new people or, via the email address in my bio, you can email me with any new people I don’t know about that you think I would like based on what you’ve seen. These are supposed to be positive articles and made to brighten your day and mine. So, let’s take a wild ride into my childhood, my teen years and what I absolutely adore about the film industry because it is alive and kicking (and if it isn’t, hell I might be out of a job…). Let’s go!

Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger was one of the biggest actors of my teen and childhood years. He was one of the big teen-heartthrobs of my time and honestly, I can’t really see the films he was in without him. There is really nobody who could’ve replaced him ever. Films such as “The Brothers Grimm” (2005) and “The Dark Knight” (2008) are some of the films I saw in the cinema and grew up with. He was one of the finest actors of his day and really, I got so upset when he died I think I just broke. I think this is what made me first realise that my childhood was fading away, the next moment would be the death of Michael Jackson which would make me so upset I would get physically sick for the next two hours.

I first discovered Heath Ledger by watching “10 Things I Hate About You” (1999) on television maybe some five or six years after it was released. I was honestly stunned by the fact that he and Julia Stiles stood out. Both of them seemed so sophisticated in their acting styles and that’s why they did so well together on screen. Honestly, between this and “The Dark Knight” (2008) you can’t really tell they are the same person. Heath Ledger was really a chameleon who knew how to act and wanted to challenge himself in every single aspect of his craft. Then next film I would watch with him in it was “Brokeback Mountain” (2005) and honestly, I had never seen anything like it. Unfortunately, homosexual love stories were still a taboo thing when I was growing up and I can only remember “My Own Private Idaho” with Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix (which was brilliant) as another one. Heath Ledger was probably another River Phoenix for me. I had grown up watching some of River Phoenix’s movies and Heath Ledger really reminded me of him. Both actors were incredible at their craft and characterisations. The next film I would watch with Heath Ledger in it would be his final film, released after he died, “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” (2009).

I spent a long time in my teen years pretty obsessed with the whole idea of Heath Ledger and after he died, he seemed like a pretty big phenomenon to me. He made me really get into drama and writing. I looked at his interviews and how he wanted to expand his craft and how he moved into directing music videos and producing film. He was a brilliant man with a great amount of intelligence. Honestly, I miss him every day and every time I remember how it was, I think about how much of a hole cinema has since he left and how much he could’ve done. Yes, his Joker was amazing but I think people forget the other things he did. He played a cowboy who falls in love with another cowboy at the expense of his marriage, he portrayed the problematic son of Billy Bob Thornton, he portrayed a personality of Bob Dylan called Robbie Clarke and he even portrayed the teen vandal Patrick Verona. There are many more, but as you can see that should be enough to make you see that he is honestly one of the greats of the early 21st century.

Join me next time for "Why I Adore: Scarlett Johansson..."