Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Heath Ledger Remembrance Forum
Heath Ledger in his own Words
TOoP/Bruce:
For one, it was something I remembered about Australian ranch-hands; they always liked talking like this. (Changes his voice) But I think it in Australia, it's just to keep flies out of your mouth, but it was something very clenched about it. When I found this accent, I had to find a regional accent and my mouth was moving everywhere when I got it, but that was part of physicalizing his battle and it was an extension of what was within him. I just tried to that and as many as those aspects as possible.
TOoP/Bruce:
“Meat Pies still taste the same [here in Australia], the weather’s still great… I mean it’s a little bit different right now, with the film coming out and all, but other than that, it’s just nice to be back, to see all my mates.
“My Family is coming down on Friday from Perth [for the Ned Kelly premiere] and I’m really looking forward to seeing them. The whole ‘star’ thing is not a big issue with them and that’s what I love about them.”
“My agency helps control scripts, and I feel like I’ve got control over it because I’ve got my choice of 10 scripts, but the truth is these are like 10 of 100 that have been selected for me,”
“Lately, I’ve felt I’d like to get a body of work together, and it was a pretty easy choice to do this movie [Ned Kelly] – I’d be crazy not to. I was also really excited about working with Gregs [Director Gregor Jordan] again.”
“I understood there was pressure, but if I’d taken notice of that pressure I’d be a pretty self-conscious performer. I wanted to just find the character, stick to it, and give a consistent performance.”
“You see all this heart, passion and how he protects his family and so on, and by adding some lighter moments – like the romance – it adds another dimension to him. You get to see him as a normal 20 year old kid.”
“I did read quite a few books and, at the end of the day, the only piece of literature that rang true for me was the Jerilderie letter because it was his voice and I really felt his heart and how passionate he was.
“That was really the only instrumental piece, other than a portrait of him. He held a lot of dignity and pride in his eyes in that portrait, think that was enough also just having that. The rest of it was just guessing. But we certainly did enough research to the point where we didn’t have to figure it all out on the day.”
“They’re really good actors – they certainly don’t need any coaching from me. If anything they were schooling my accent.
“But when you’re doing a movie and the movie is based around a gang of people you end up becoming somewhat usually like a gang off screen.”
“I was really lucky because every role in this film is completely covered right down to the smallest little part.”
“I used to study dance and have a bit of dance history, which I did to make me comfortable with body movement. I love dancing, it’s a great form of expression, and tap-dancing is fantastic. If the right one [film] came along I’d definitely consider it.”
TOoP/Bruce:
"It has taken a long time for me--I've had to really carve a course out and make mistakes and learn and evolve. Every movie has kind of led up to now, to today, and it'll continue to grow. So I'm a little hesitant to give [Brokeback Mountain] the sole credit for my career. It's definitely given me probably the most wonderful opportunity of today in terms of the character and how intricate he is, and kind of textured and tragic. So it was definitely the best opportunity to sort of bite into something and spit it out."
TOoP/Bruce:
"I don't have to hide in front of a mask to go out and observe life. I'm amongst life. I'm participating in life. But I think that I feel like a lot of Hollywood celebrities’ performances get stale when you spend too much time working and too much time in Hollywood because they start to kind of imitate themselves and actors around them. So you've kind of got to not work and go out and breathe and feel normal."
TOoP/Bruce:
"I got called back [for The Patriot] and I went in and I was reading for Roland Emmerich the director and then I just stopped halfway through the reading and I apologized. I said, 'I'm wasting your time. I'm wasting my time. This is silly.' I stood up and I shook their hands and walked out. Then I got the job. I couldn't believe it … I did it every time after that, too, to see if it worked. It must work."
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