What if Heath Ledger Lost?

Let's face facts. Heath Ledger's going to the win the oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Not only does he deserve it for his performance, but it will be a tribute to a great actor that we lost far too early.

But the guy's screwing all the other nominees, who have no shot at being recognized for their great performances.

If for some reason any of the other actors win, they'll be viewed as that A-hole who deprived Heath of the posthumous honor. Say Phil Hoffman takes home the Oscar: A-hole. The guy's already got one. Great actor he may be, but no matter what his Heath-praising acceptance speech says, the audience will hear "I'm a dick. I'm a dick. I'm a dick. See you next year when I deprive another dead guy of an award that the world wanted him to win." What an A-hole.

Imagine if Robert Downey Jr. beat out Heath Ledger and then couldn't even be there to accept the award? That would be the ultimate slap in the face, sending a pre-recorded message saying "sorry I couldn't be there, but at least I'm alive to accept my award." Via-satelite A-hole.

What if Josh Brolin won? Oh, I bet he really wants to win. I bet he'd love it. He'd say "I'm honored to even be associated with great actors like Heath" and maybe he'd even shed a tear. Pulling-at-our-heart-strings A-hole.

I don't know who Michael Shannon is. Was he the guy from that depressing movie about people being depressed about how good looking they are? Who-the-eff-are-you A-hole.

Luckily none of this will happen. Heath will win. And he should. Even if he had not died, he deserves the award. His Joker was mind-blowingly good. In an A-hole way.

Comments

[DennyCrane]

People will look at Ledger's win and say that it was because he died. That robs him by dismissing how great his performance was.

[leftbehind2000]

It sucks, but is inevitable, to view this on those terms. Ledger's performance was so worthy of this award. Many will now say - when he wins, which he will - that it was due to his death. Simply not true. All of the other performances were Oscar quality, but Ledger's joker was simply brilliant.

That said, I'm glad he isn't in the best actor category this year, as I felt Sean Penn's performance, above all others, deserves the trophy.

[rudyinbama]

He should have won for Brokeback Mountain.
It's too late to right that wrong.

[Jaidit]

The Oscars: created as a promotional tool of the film industry, sometimes called "Hollywood's Consolation Prize," since films with big box office typically don't get named "Best Picture."

Now, sure, Elizabeth Taylor reportedly won the sympathy Oscar for "Butterfield 8," since she was sick with pneumonia during voting. But will Heath Ledger win a sympathy Oscar for his tragic death?

One thing that's certain about a sympathy award: it's undeserved. So let's assume that for every voter who says, "he died, what a tragic Hollywood story, let's give him the Oscar," there's another voter who thinks, "if he gets the Oscar, people will think we threw it away on a sob story."

Let's get to the merits. I loved Heath Ledger's performance in "The Dark Knight." Too bad he seemed to be in a different movie. There were two movies: the fairly pedestrian action film (The Dark Batman) and a bizarre art film (The Dark Joker). The seams show.

If we want to consider Ledger as Best Supporting Actor, we have to ask, "how did his performance support the movie?" Well, it undercut it and ripped it to shreds.

The only other nominee I've seen is Josh Brolin, who at least had the courtesy to be in the same film as Sean Penn. Oscar worthy performace? Don't much care. I only know which movie was the more coherent whole.

[leftbehind2000]

I know this is faint praise, but at least the Oscars haven't sunk to the level of the Grammys, the most ridiculous display of annual ignorance we celebrate. For, unlike the grammys, an occasional great movie and often a great performance DOES get nominated.

[procrustes]

Dan,

"If for some reason any of the other actors win, they'll be viewed as that A-hole who deprived Heath of the posthumous honor. "

This is the best example of convoluted Hollywood-think I've seen in a long time. Let me untwist things into real-think: someone who wins does not deprive, they just win.

[Bananafarm]

Last time I checked, nominees don't decide who wins? WTF?

[jillian222]

Is an award the only way to remember a shining star who left the world much too soon?
This is not about winning although I am certain that his young daughter would treasure
this honor as she comes into age and understanding.

Sometimes loss must be acknowledged outloud because we are all so vulnerable. Ledger was
a beautiful man and had a certain resonance that touched his viewers. I was deeply disturbed
by his role in "Dark Knight" because he was so out of character yet Ledger made me believe in his
shadowy side.

I am not invested in ceremonial events but I do think that there is an intrinsic sadness
to his death, one that perhaps made us more aware of our own mortality. He has won and lost in the same breath already. Being glib or cynical about his posthumous nomination is a futile. The
Oscars are about celebrating the immense talent of an industry that makes us see and feel.
Everyone who was nominated has given us their best.

[Hank007]

I don't think Heath cares one way or the other at this point, and he certainly won't be there to accept his award anyway.

[booboo111]

Is anyone interested in the oscars?

[leftbehind2000]

evidently, there are enough interested to post here...

[Eclectic Radical]

And it's a shame too.

Consider the potential if Heath Ledger did show up to claim his award. Not just from the value of 'Undead Movie Star Zombie Devours Hollywood Brains' angle either. There are other perspectives that could be considered for headline potential.

"Star, Believed Dead, Claims Oscar in Person" This headline, of course, would require it all to be an elaborate hoax to tie up ALL the Best Actor votes. Hrrrm. I wonder...

"Family Claims Oscar, Wheels Open Casket Onto Podium" This one is more ghoulish, of course, and would suggest strange and Freudian things about the family. But you know, I find myself wondering again...

Anyone else have good ones?

[palealien]

Simply: there should be a separate and distinct category for dead actors, and still let someone still living benefit from the award- after all, the Oscars do not really signify anything but a popularity contest to build careers.

[johnqsittinzen]

Quick, without googling it, name the last 5 Best Supporting Actor Oscar winners.

Didn't think so.

It's not a popularity contest, that's called the People's Choice Awards.

And you can ask Mira Sorvino et al what the Support Actor award does to "build careers."

[TheyAllSuck]

Or ask Marisa Tomei. They make her get naked to keep getting work.

[Halsey]

john...very very good point...."we'd" only remember this year IF Health wins...and someone earlier wrote he SHOULD have won for Brokeback Mountain..as BEST ACTOR...this is the truth...hoffman was good..but I liken playing Truman Capote to playing the Joker...over the top character roles are much easier than subtle roles... name any othe man who could have captured the 'accent' of a true Wyoming cowboy..and his walk, etc....it was brilliance... I (sadly) grew up with those cowboys..(except in Montana)...and it took an Aussie to nail the role...

for me...I think Downey should win....this year...Heath should have one...gosh...5? years ago?

[fcsakes]

Shame on you Heath, for going and dying just so you could win an Oscar.

[situationcritical]

Heath Ledger should have won the Oscar for playing Ennis Del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain".

I don't give a damn about a mercy Oscar for "The Dark Knight".

[trudem2]

Sympathy awards should NEVER be given... to anybody. Straight up.

[NKR]

Seriously. The other actors may never have another chance to win an Oscar, and their performances may have been better than Heath's. I don't see how anyone can say "Heath deserves an Oscar!" right after seeing Dark Knight...how is it logically possible to say that without seeing the other performances!!??! Besides, if Ledger's performance truly was the best, it kind of takes away from it because its like "Oh, well they had to give it to him".

[johnqsittinzen]

Forgive me, but both of these comments are ridiculous. #1.) Ledger's performance is Oscar worthy. Whenever a great film performance is seen, the natural reaction is that it "deserves an Oscar." You don't wait to see "other performances." You get enough of those reactions and you whittle it down to five nominees - and then the one winner. That is logic. #2.) Whether the guy lived or died, it was a legitimately Oscar worthy performance. ( I never thought one would come from a BATMAN movie, which only underscores how good he was.) If had lived, he might not have won - often because the academy will overlook a young exceptional performer because they expect he/she will have future chances. I bet you every other nominee is much happier to have the opportunity to live and work another day and at least have the chance at another nomination, whereas that door is permanently closed for Heath Ledger. And that is a shame. Give the guy the award and be glad of it.

[Dots]

It's not that I want him or anyone else to OD but, honestly,
I don't enjoy Ledgers mumbly performances. It's not a good example of fine work.
Any decent actor in that role would have done well...playing nutso is not the most challenging gig.
I hope, one way or another, this is the end of all this "great actor" talk about him.

[SethBLiNK]

What a lame attempt at humor. I'm not saying this because it's in bad taste but because it's not even close to funny. A one-joke article and the one joke is kind of lame.

Heath Ledger, who probably would have won anyway because his performance was that good, is now a virtual lock because he pulled the ultimate sympathy move. He died. That's funny? His four competitors stand to lose if they win (not really true) because people will resent them (not really true). That's funny?

The unfortunate thing about Dark Knight is that all it got was the Heath Ledger nomination. After several years where the Oscars only nominated mediocre "quality" movies that nobody saw, we actually have one this year honoring some crowd-pleasing movies. Slumdog is great, Benjamin Button is an imaginintive concept with a great cast and a lavish production. Milk is the kind of small but meaningfull movie that used to make a nice addition to the top 5, but lately has dominated it. But the other two? Please. If the academy could have nominated Dark Knight instead of Frost/Nixon or The Reader, we'd have a real show tonight.

Ledger will win because he should, because he represents an underrepresented blockbuster, and yes, because he died. None of the other four performances are such that overlooking them is tragic in any way. Or funny.

[RobinLandseadel]

If Robert Downey Jr. could get nominated for being almost unrecognizable in his O.T.T. performance in Tropic Thunder, why wasn't Tom Cruise [totally unrecognizable in his T.T. star turn] nominated?

As for Heath Ledger, "Dark Knight" is the most overated movie of the year. Heath's good-ish performance didn't redeem an otherwise awful movie.

[AtTheMoon]

cruise and downey,jr were both better than heath.
they were both frikkin hilarious and amazingly good in tropic thunder

dark knight sucked