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.
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.
It's too late to right that wrong.
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.
"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.
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.
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?
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."
for me...I think Downey should win....this year...Heath should have one...gosh...5? years ago?
I don't give a damn about a mercy Oscar for "The Dark Knight".
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.
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.
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.
they were both frikkin hilarious and amazingly good in tropic thunder
dark knight sucked