Heath Ledger Honored In "Dark Knight" Credits, Sparks Oscar Talk

LOS ANGELES -- Heath Ledger is getting a fond tribute from his collaborators on "The Dark Knight."

The end credits of the "Batman Begins" sequel include a farewell note to Ledger, who died in January from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs; and to special-effects technician Conway Wickliffe, who was killed last September in a stunt-car accident.

"In memory of our friends Heath Ledger & Conway Wickliffe," reads the tribute included in the credits, which went up Thursday on the Warner Bros. publicity Web site.

Ledger plays the villainous Joker in "The Dark Knight," who begins a reign of terror on Gotham City that pits him against conflicted hero Batman (Christian Bale).

Arriving in theaters July 18, the movie reteams Bale with director Christopher Nolan and returning co-stars Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman. Joining the cast are Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Beginning months before Ledger's death, his frenetic performance and demented-clown makeup have been a cornerstone of the marketing campaign for the film.

"I needed a phenomenal actor, but he also had to be someone unafraid of taking on such an iconic role," Nolan says in the production notes for "The Dark Knight." "Heath created something entirely original. It's stunning, it's captivating. ... It's going to blow people away."

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Meanwhile, Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers reviewed the movie and wants Ledger to win an Oscar:

I can only speak superlatives of Ledger, who is mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker. Miles from Jack Nicholson's broadly funny take on the role in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, Ledger takes the role to the shadows, where even what's comic is hardly a relief. No plastic mask for Ledger; his face is caked with moldy makeup that highlights the red scar of a grin, the grungy hair and the yellowing teeth of a hound fresh out of hell. To the clown prince of crime, a knife is preferable to a gun, the better to "savor the moment."

The deft script, by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, taking note of Bob Kane's original Batman and Frank Miller's bleak rethink, refuses to explain the Joker with pop psychology. Forget Freudian hints about a dad who carved a smile into his son's face with a razor. As the Joker says, "What doesn't kill you makes you stranger."

The Joker represents the last completed role for Ledger, who died in January at 28 before finishing work on Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. It's typical of Ledger's total commitment to films as diverse as Brokeback Mountain and I'm Not There that he does nothing out of vanity or the need to be liked. If there's a movement to get him the first posthumous Oscar since Peter Finch won for 1976's Network, sign me up. Ledger's Joker has no gray areas -- he's all rampaging id.

Comments

[tasukibeth1]

Giving him an award NOW....for THIS ROLE...feels incredible tacky to me. Hollywood didn't give a crap about him when he was alive, and now they are fawning over him because he is dead? This is phony, manufactured sentiment.

He was a talented actor - he should have won for Brokeback. Giving him an award now is just an empty symbolic gesture.

[mikegoodyearaz85338]

"Died from an overdose", that is how he should be remembered.

[helonias]

Dead druggie, nothing more

[foolchild0]

He was taking perscription drugs, and he took too many. You people are ignorant a$$holes.

[walk0nwalls]

So many jerks in the world.

Of course I keep in mind that you all came out of the Reagan years and still subscribe to that "War on Drugs" crap.

[andvoodoo2]

Then don't go see his movies. I feel better knowing YOU are the loser here,, because you are the one who will miss out on his fine acting and talent. Assuming, of course, you could even comprehend the movie.

[DonaLunaMoon]

The BIG picture in Heath Ledger's death is the gross over medication, those who write the scrips[who are only leaglized pushers] and the mind altering, dumming,and addictive pharacuticals, that are handed out like candy to resolve issues, that the average person, is sorely uneducated about, thus trusting the "professional" So we have BIG Pharma, The Doctor[s] yet you blame the young man, whose gifts were many, but should be to teach us that mind altering, addictive[he had several drugs that are highly addictive in his system] man made chemicals are not the answers to life's issues, ie not being able to sleep, or being stressed out. For more, and better info look at
www.cchr.org and watch Valley of the Dolls. Sick is blaming the deceased, peroid.

[SweetAngie]

ACCIDENTAL OVERDOSE, you idiot, by a guy who had serious insomnia.

Now, how should we remember you, death by lack of the complete facts?

[MarciL]

He should have won for Brokeback.

[AngryCitizen]

You're damn right!! Screw the Oscars.

[Dots]

Only Brando can get away with mumbling.
Even then, it's borderline.

[andvoodoo2]

The "mumbling" was who his character in "Brokeback" was. See some of his other movies, like the very funny "Casanova" for a look at the versatile actor Ledger was.

[walk0nwalls]

Who won that year? He totally should've won.

[SweetAngie]

Heath was up against some heavy hitters . . . it is understandable why he did not win, even though he had an amazing performance.

Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Capote” won that same year.

He was also up against Joaquin Phoenix, Terrance Howard and David Strathairn.

I don't think the Academy hates him, I think Australian actors as a whole have their challenges with the Academy, for some reason, that I cannot understand. Russell Crowe is one of them. Abbie Cornish is another one.

[hypnus]

Just looking at his picture, it's clear Heath had health issues. Looking that way, you'd think someone would have noticed or said something. How sad.

[walk0nwalls]

...That's makeup. He's playing a psychotic anarchic killer in the movie.

But yeah his prep for the movie was pretty intense.

[Eric8869]

The academy had their chance to honor Heath Ledger if they had given the Ocar to BROKEBACK mountain but they were homophobic and gave it to CRASH. (An excellent movie but hardly groundbreaking)

If he was alive they wouldn't nominate him for this role- if they do it now it is just a farce. I

[Spinfusor]

Accusing AMPAS members of being homophobic because they didn't vote for your pick shows that you have no ability to comprehend that people just might think differently than you.

Crash deserved to win. Get over it.

[AgentMacGyver]

Crash was even sappier than Brokeback, so I guess it deserved the award.

[walk0nwalls]

Yeah my argument is that Crash had a stronger initial impact, I remember watching the film and thinking "Wow!" But Brokeback took a bit longer to sink in and they just run back to back screenings for all the AMPAS members so that's probably why Brokeback lost out.

Though it's worth noting that while I was a Crash adherent at the time, Brokeback is now on my lifetime's best movie list and Crash is not. So in my mind Brokeback won that year.

[samguy]

Check out Ledger in "Lords of Dogtown" He was about 25 when he made it, but I thought it was Val Kilmer! Just brilliant !

[Readbetweentheelevens]

"They" are aiming way too low here. "They" should give him the Nobel prize with a gold crack pipe.

[andvoodoo2]

He wasn't using crack. He died from an overdose of prescription medication.

[96Bravo]

The buzz seems to be that this is not just going to be a great Batman film, but also an epic crime drama. I think it's going to be one of a kind. Can't wait!

[CostaMesaJoe]

JULY 18 - GET HERE NOW!!!
This movie is going to rock!

[LaShon]

WOW! The promotions for "Dark Night" look awesome. Bravo Heath Ledger.

I CAN'T WAIT!

[paganmist]

Ugh. There have been few celebrity deaths which have hit me hard. Most of them, to me, are people - people live, they die, and every death is a tragedy, but if I felt moments of real pain for them all, I'd go insane.

But there are a few that get under my skin, and Health Ledger is one of them. I know "A Knight's Tale" wasn't his cinematic best, but there was something about him that was really endearing in that - beyond the character, he really knew how to make the best out of a role. And maybe he was acting on several levels - I always got the impression that he enjoyed what he did, even if his life off-screen wasn't the greatest.

Chalk Heath up there on my list of artists who were troubled and yet undeniably gifted, and whom I personally still think about sometimes with sadness: River Phoenix, Brandon Lee, Aaliyah Haughton, Tupak Shakur, Mitch Hedberg... just too many to count.

[AgentMacGyver]

Brandon Lee was gifted? With a name, maybe.

[cinemaven]

River Phoenix and Mitch Hedberg are both on my list along with Ledger. So much potential thrown away.

[cinemaven]

Ledger was a superb actor so I have no doubt that his perfomance will be excellent. I couldn't picture anyone doing Ennis Del Mar justice after I read the short story but Ledger was exactly the person I'd seen as I read.

It's unfortunate that his brilliance didn't carry over to his personal life. To call his death accidental when he was mixing 5 dangerous and addictive prescriptions and an over the counter med is somewhat of an understatement. My 15 yr. old son recently had a terrible flu but he refused to take tylenol along with the cough syrop because he understands that mixing meds is dangerous. He waited out the 4 hours before getting relief for his headache. If my 15 yr. old understands this, why didn't Ledger?

Oxycodone (OxyContin): prescription painkiller
Hydrocodone (Vicodin): prescription painkiller
Diazepam (Valium): prescription anti-anxiety drug
Alprazolam (Xanax): prescription anti-anxiety drug
Temazepam (Restoril): prescription sleeping pill
Doxylamine (Unisom): over-the-counter antihistamine sometimes usedfor insomnia

[paganmist]

If you're disturbed/in pain/really upset, your entire perception of things is skewed. Speaking as someone whose both bipolar and has ADD (which is waaaaaaay worse than just being "easy to distract"), I really start to lose perspective on my bad days. Combine that with insomnia, and I actually just spent last Thursday/Friday in the hospital due to exhaustion/dehydration/anemia, which was related to a mixture of taking my meds too frequently while running on too little sleep and too much intense focus on work. I often forget to eat/drink all day.

People who need these kinds of drugs usually also need a "keeper". I don't have a death wish, just some problems that can really make me lose perspective. I get the feeling that's what happened with Heath.

As an aside, I know some normal people whose tolerance for medications are really high, to the point where they have to take way more than what's on the label to experience the effects that a "normal" person would. I worry about some of them ODing, but they never do, and are pretty confident about what they can handle. The sucky thing being that if they ever OD, people will wonder what possessed them to take so much.

[BigSid]

EXCUSES, EXCUSES, EXCUSES!

Cinemaven made a brilliant point. Please, spare us your rationalization of how if you were to have an overdose it would be worthy of labeling it accidental.

Society would be better served by the stark details of how Ledger killed himself, as opposed to the Ledger Estate trying it's best ot get his death ruled an accident.

Is death in a game of Russian Roulette accidental? One could argue that they didn't want to die, but when you put a gun to your head with a 1-in-6 chance of it have a bullet in the chamber I wouldn't see a lot of room to call it an accident. Extremely stupid, but not an accident.

So, when you take a handful of pills all with conflicting uses and documentation saying what should and shouldn't be done with them; and your doctor tells you don't mix them, but you still do in a very excessive manner, how is this considered an accident?

Forgo the luxury of a "keeper" (who too often becomes simply an enabler) and check yourself in if you can't follow the directions on the label and or remember to eat.

[walk0nwalls]

From what I hear he had some serious imsomnia problems. You make mistakes. It's unfortunate, but it was accidental.

Imsomnia's rough dude.

[helonias]

Natural selection dude

[StephenJK]

I can't wait. I'll probably choke back the tears for the entire movie.

RIP Heath Ledger

[walk0nwalls]

You'd like to think so but you'll probably be too scared during the movie to think about his death.

You'll cry afterwards though. Like I probably will.

[LJRettie]

Your ignorance about the literary and artistic merits of the "stupid comic" is astounding. Particularly as you attempt to defend with mockery the integrity of film. Do you really think that it is more difficult, or requires more skill, to take a machine, say a camera, and point it at an actor than it takes to draw hundreds of detailed images of a complex, multi-arcing narrative on paper? Both are complex processes, with complex character development and storytelling, and with many individuals required to bring together the collaborative result. To dismiss the Dark Knight comic character as unmeritorious, while accepting screenplay characters as so, is ridiculous.

[Dots]

Spooky. That makeup makes him look dead already.
Don't know if I will go see that movie.

[Tommygun264]

When Heath Ledger mumbled and fidgeted his way through Brokeback Mountain, I told my friends that it was as if he was channeling James Dean's performance of the awkward, mumbling cowboy Jett Rink in the last movie he made before his death, "Giant". It's well worth renting - I think you will agree that the two performances are eerily similar, right down to the way they both look down and fidget as they speak. James Dean's fatal automobile accident came just before the release of "Giant" and critics said it was perhaps his best performance. Now to have Heath Ledger die accidentally shortly before the release of his very next and last movie, after giving what is being billed as perhaps his greatest performance, it's unsettling to say the least. I won't be surprised if this all becomes one of those spooky Hollywood legends people write and talk about for years to come. What a sad and tragic way to achieve eternal fame.

[Gasparilla]

I think Casanova came after Brokeback. I can see a similarity in Dean and Ledger's performances, both brilliant. Giant is an excellent movie, and a big part of that is Liz Taylor. I think she tends to get overlooked because of all the personal stuff, but she did some great performances in the 50s and 60s. She and Montgomery Clift are excellent in A Place in the Sun.

[Tommygun264]

I agree - James Dean, Liz Taylor and Rock Hudson each gave great performances in Giant and other films, only to have the drama in their personal lives overshadow their talent.