Heath Heath Heath

[Fran]

I did not find his review of Heath that negative.
What was bone chilling,  was when he writes, scarier than what the joker does to anyone on screen, is what Heath must have been doing to himself.

Fiona, please notice the "must have."  It's speculation on the part of the author.  The only person that knows for sure what was going on in Heath's head at the time is Heath.  Period.  The rest is guesswork, and anyone's guess is as good as anyone else's.

Since we'll never know all that went on with Heath Ledger in those last couple of weeks -- or months, for that matter -- I try to put a more positive spin on things:  that Heath was doing what he loved and that he relished a challenging role.

[optom3]

Fiona, please notice the "must have."  It's speculation on the part of the author.  The only person that knows for sure what was going on in Heath's head at the time is Heath.  Period.  The rest is guesswork, and anyone's guess is as good as anyone else's.

Since we'll never know all that went on with Heath Ledger in those last couple of weeks -- or months, for that matter -- I try to put a more positive spin on things:  that Heath was doing what he loved and that he relished a challenging role.

I am liking that interpretation much better, thanks. I think I am having one of those glass half empty days.

[LauraGigs]

Yes Fiona, Christian Bale also refutes the idea that Heath "messed himself up" to play the Joker.

"Personally, I find it to be a complete lack of understanding of acting. I also find it very rude to try to create some kind of sound bite for such a tragedy. The man was a complex man, a good man, but you know what? I saw him having the best time playing The Joker. He was someone who completely immersed himself in his role. As do I. But in the end of the day, he was having a wonderful time doing it; he couldn’t have been happier doing it."

http://justjared.buzznet.com/2008/07/14/christian-bale-today-show/

[Brown Eyes]

Yes, that's a nice quotation from Bale, but I think it could probably be said that Bale couldn't really know all the details of what Heath was thinking/ feeling/ doing either. 

To me whether Heath was happy and fulfilled or depressed and unhappy... the tragedy is the same.  If Heath was depressed, stressed and desparate on some level... does that speak less of him or make the tragedy any different than if he was happy up to the last minute?  Again, to me either way the tragedy is a tragedy in equal measure.  If he was depressed or stressed, there's no need to think of that in a judgmental way or to think that type of suggestion when thinking about his situation implies a judgment. Good and wonderful people go through crisises all the time. We can hope that Heath was happy and fulfilled in everything he was doing, but just like the more negative scenario, none of us know that for sure beyond hopeful thinking.

[optom3]

Yes, that's a nice quotation from Bale, but I think it could probably be said that Bale couldn't really know all the details of what Heath was thinking/ feeling/ doing either. 

To me whether Heath was happy and fulfilled or depressed and unhappy... the tragedy is the same.  If Heath was depressed, stressed and desperate on some level... does that speak less of him or make the tragedy any different than if he was happy up to the last minute?  Again, to me either way the tragedy is a tragedy in equal measure.  If he was depressed or stressed, there's no need to think of that in a judgmental way or to think that type of suggestion when thinking about his situation implies a judgment. Good and wonderful people go through crisis's all the time. We can hope that Heath was happy and fulfilled in everything he was doing, but just like the more negative scenario, none of us know that for sure beyond hopeful thinking.

That is a very good way of summing it all up.I guess selfishly it seems easier to bear if he was having the time of his life before the tragedy.It is still no less a tragedy.I just  want for him to have been happy right to the end.It is what I would want for anyone I cared about.It is also the reason that last thing at ight or before anyone in the family going anywhere, I insist we say we love each other.

The critic does not seem to know which way to swing either.He at some points seems very derogatory, and yet admits he can't take his eyes off Heath on the screen.That to me would indicate a mesmerising performance.

He also comments on Heath trying to find the center of a character, without a dream of finding one. Surely that is the whole point of the joker.He is a psychopath, therefore by definition not merely immoral, but actually amoral. He can not respond to any human actions as he is on the verge of being completely inhuman.
If we as humans, are to some extent defined by our ability to distinguish right from wrong and are thus capable of cognitive thought processes, the joker must be seen as human only in the physical form he takes. He would therefore have no center.
Is that not why psychopaths are so bone chillingly terrifying.We cannot cajole, reason or coerce them back on to the road of humanity,with their non existant morals, no act is too barbaric or perverse.
To me all the critic has done is further emphasize the sheer audacity and brilliance of Heath's performance.

It was never going to be a comedic light hearted romp through Gotham, with the title, the DARK knight.

[LauraGigs]

Good points, both of you.   

[Meryl]

The local NY news just had a quick couple of sound bites from Michael Caine and Christian Bale.  They're only 30 blocks downtown from me right now, at the IMAX premiere of TDK.  Speaking of Heath, Michael Caine said, "It's a sense of waste, you know, because this would have been such a wonderful moment for him.  This is where he would have zoomed off, 'cause I think he'll get the Oscar for it." 

The reporter said there is a bittersweet vibe among the fans lined up outside.  Heath's family is there because "they wanted to honor his last completed work," but they didn't walk through the main entrance, which is not the red carpet tonight, but the black carpet. 

[BelAir]

The local NY news just had a quick couple of sound bites from Michael Caine and Christian Bale.  They're only 30 blocks downtown from me right now, at the IMAX premiere of TDK.  Speaking of Heath, Michael Caine said, "It's a sense of waste, you know, because this would have been such a wonderful moment for him.  This is where he would have zoomed off, 'cause I think he'll get the Oscar for it." 

The reporter said there is a bittersweet vibe among the fans lined up outside.  Heath's family is there because "they wanted to honor his last completed work," but they didn't walk through the main entrance, which is not the red carpet tonight, but the black carpet. 

Really?

Is it for Heath and the stuntman (I'm sorry I don't remember his name) who died?  Or because it's The Dark Knight?

[Meryl]

Really?

Is it for Heath and the stuntman (I'm sorry I don't remember his name) who died?  Or because it's The Dark Knight?

They didn't say.  But I would suspect the latter.  The fact that Heath's death (and the stuntman's) looms large over the whole enterprise is undeniable, but I think it would be kind of a trivial way of paying respect to him.

[Brown Eyes]

They didn't say.  But I would suspect the latter.  The fact that Heath's death (and the stuntman's) looms large over the whole enterprise is undeniable, but I think it would be kind of a trivial way of paying respect to him.

Yes, I agree.  On the one hand, if it was a black carpet for Heath it could be taken as a nice gesture, but in another way it could almost be taken as a gimmick or sort of playing up his passing in a sort of uncomfortable way.  I could see it being interpreted either way.
 


I'm curious to find out if Jake attended the premiere with Maggie... I recall there was a rumor about that possibility recently.