Author Topic: Heath Ledger in his own Words  (Read 184662 times)

Offline TOoP/Bruce

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Re: Heath Ledger in his own Words
« Reply #160 on: February 09, 2008, 07:07:50 am »
"I've always been picky in my choices."

"But nowadays, I'm a lot more so."
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Offline TOoP/Bruce

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Re: Heath Ledger in his own Words
« Reply #161 on: February 09, 2008, 08:39:52 am »
PAUL BETTANY: Hello, mate. How are you?

HEATH LEDGER: Hey, Paul. How are you? Where are you?

PB: I am in Canada.

HL: How is that?

PB: Big and white. Jennifer [Connelly, Bettany's wife] is making a film [Dark Water] in Toronto with Walter Salles, and I am "set bitch."

HL: Sorry? You're what?

PB: I'm set bitch [Ledger laughs], which is a position I find myself strangely comfortable with.

HL: Do you just stay in the trailer all day, naked?

PB: That's right, yeah. Though with Stellan [Bettany and Connelly's baby] here, it's a bit weird. Now, in the time-honored journalistic tradition, I've just poured myself a large drink, and I was thinking of wearing one of those little sun visors that journalists seem to wear in films. If you want a moment to pour your own drink, please go right ahead.

HL: I might make something a bit later.

PB: Okay, then. Well, I've just seen Ned Kelly. You do a really lovely job in it.

HL: Oh, thanks, Paul.

PB: It's nice to see a young actor taking on a physical transformation because that seems to be out of vogue at the moment, you know? You really transformed yourself, just in the way you held yourself--

HL:--I got that from the only physical insight I had into him. There was, of course, the famous Jerilderie Letter, which Ned Kelly wrote to a newspaper editor by dictating it to [his gang member] Joe Byrne. It was key to understanding his voice because it was, like, 56 pages long, and very passionate and quite humorous at times. But there were only two portraits of him, taken in the days before the government hanged him. One was a close-up of his face, where he had the full ZZ Top beard [Bettany laughs] and thick Irish hair with the big curl coil on the top of his head. And the other photograph was a full-body shot, and that's where I got his physicality and his posture. The thing about this photograph is that he couldn't actually stand--he was kind of sitting on a metal pole--because by the time they caught him, he had 29 lead bullets embedded in his body. That was all I had, really. The rest was guesswork.

PB: I had a look at the Jerilderie Letter last night. I pulled it off the Internet so I could have some sort of notion of who Ned Kelly was. As an Australian, is his image very much in your consciousness in the way that I, as an Englishman, have my own images of Robin Hood?

HL: Definitely. Though the public image of him in Australia is divided fifty-fifty. Half the country believes he was a robber and a cop killer who should have been strung up, and the other half believes he was a hero.

PB: Right. We have in England, from our dreadful colonial heritage, an image of Ned Kelly too. And my image of him, of course, was this man dressed in--

HL:--Metal.

PB: Yes, exactly. That thick metal suit of armor he wore on robberies, and which was a big part of the making of his legend. So is there any truth to the affair between your character and Naomi Watts's character?

HL: Offscreen. [both laugh] No, there isn't, actually. The movie was based on a book called Our Sunshine [by Robert Draws], and the love affair is a bit of license taken by the author. But without the love story there would have been no opportunity to see the human side of Ned in the movie. There would have been no opportunity to see him smile or laugh, because he's always on his cause, being chased by cops, and there was no opportunity to create a person out of that.

FS: Well, I am massively impressed by what you did. You know, since we worked together in A Knight's Tale, I've thought a lot about how tough all of this fame must have been for you. I mean, I spent my twenties waking up in gardens drunk. and no one was watching, you know? As well as being quite blessed, the past number of years must have been a really difficult time for you.

HL: Yeah, it really was, Paul. Particularly after we worked together, because it was a time when I had not really chosen my career path--it had been chosen for me. I didn't audition for A Knight's Tale; I was given it. And then the studio put my face on a poster and wrote "He Will Rock You," and if I didn't, my career would have been over. That was the first lead I'd had in anything, and there were all these new pressures, which freaked me out. I felt like my career was out of my hands. I wasn't making any decisions; they were being made for me. And so to a certain degree, I had to go out and destroy my career somewhat in order to rebuild it.

PB: You know what? I think it was a really wise thing to do.

HL: I do too. And believe me, at the time, I had studios telling me I was crazy. I had agents on my back, publicists, family members, everyone saying, "What are you doing? You should be this. You should be that. You should follow the dollar. Follow the gloss."

PB: Well, I was worried about you. I spoke to you about it at the time, and you sounded--as I imagine anybody going through that needed to be--entirely confident that it wasn't going to get to you. I'm just so pleased you kept your shit together and on track.

HL: Thanks. My life is together, both professionally and socially. But it's been a big learning process, and there is no Yoda--there's no one who points you in the right direction. You've got to figure that out by yourself.

PB: I'd say you have, mate. So now you've gone and just made this Terry Gilliam movie with Matt Damon.

HL: The Brothers Grimm. It was extraordinary working with Terry, but I'll tell you, it was also a lot of hard work. We were in Prague [shooting] for 112 days, but turning up every day was an absolute pleasure because he's this eccentric, mad scientist who feeds you energy. You want to perform for him. You want to make it big. The humor in this film was somewhat [Monty] Pythonesque, and the thing about performing that way is that you really have to trust the director. You have to be able to let go and feel brave enough to do anything and know he's going to pick the right moments. And because Matt and I had that confidence in Terry, we felt like we had license to play around. It was like a big playground, and it was brilliant.

PB: You just took a holiday in Australia. Is there any anonymity for you over there? Is there any way you can not be Heath Ledger Incorporated?

HL: I think there would be if I were living there full-time, because then people would get sick of seeing me. I guess it's a bit of a novelty when you come back into town if it doesn't happen all that often. To tell you the truth, it's a bit of a hassle when you can't go to the beach because you're so self-conscious of taking your shirt off to dip into the ocean because you're aware that [the paparazzi] are zooming in on your nipples or something. I think if you spend enough time in one place [the paparazzi] eventually begin to say, "Fuck it. We got this photo of him five times already. There's no story to tell anymore."

PB: The trick is to wear the same clothes every day because they can't keep repeating the same photo. [Ledger laughs] What's your next move?

HL: I'm doing a film with Ang Lee. I just got it the other day.

PB: Whoa! Is this the gay-cowboys movie?

HL: Yeah, man. Brokeback Mountain. I'm going to wrangle a wrangler.

PB: You bastard! Somebody called me and said, "There's an Ang Lee film with gay cowboys." I thought, Gay cowboys, that's me! [both laugh] Oh, fantastic. Congratulations. When are you doing that?

HL: We start in July. But listen, it's the strangest thing: I haven't met Ang Lee or even spoken to him on the phone yet. He's a shy man, apparently.

PB: He's terribly, terribly sweet.

HL: Yes, that's what I hear. I'm superexcited. I love his movies, and I can trust that story in his hands. I think. [laughs]

PB: That's brilliant. Well, that's all the questions I have for you, Mr. Heath Ledger. Take care of yourself, mate. And keep destroying your career just as much as you can.

HL: I will. Don't you worry.

« Last Edit: February 09, 2008, 02:31:58 pm by TOoP/Bruce »
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Offline Toycoon

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Re: Heath Ledger in his own Words
« Reply #162 on: February 09, 2008, 03:37:09 pm »
I had to post this magnificent video for the song, "Morning Yearning" by Ben Harper and directed by Heath Ledger.

[youtube=425,350]http://pop.youtube.com/watch?v=rqbcV39Sq1o&feature=related[/youtube]
"The most important thing is being sincere, even if you have to fake it." - Cesar Romero

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Re: Heath Ledger in his own Words
« Reply #163 on: February 09, 2008, 03:45:10 pm »
Here's an interview discussing his work as the Joker.

It's still very difficult to imagine that Heath is not with us any longer. He is so cute, vibrant and energetic in this clip:

[youtube=425,350]http://youtube.com/watch?v=uKa-aDga1fE[/youtube]
"The most important thing is being sincere, even if you have to fake it." - Cesar Romero

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Re: Heath Ledger in his own Words
« Reply #164 on: February 10, 2008, 10:59:29 am »
24 March 2003

Heath Ledger on Andrew Denton's show "Enough Rope" promoting his movie "Ned Kelly"


Andrew Denton:  My good friend and golfing buddy Sir Ralph Richardson once said that "acting is merely the art of stopping a large group of people from coughing," which means that our next guest could probably cure the common cold. Please welcome a fine stamp of a man on the rise, Mr Heath Ledger.

Andrew Denton: Shouldn't you be in LA tonight, pressing the flesh, kissing the ring, as it were?

Heath Ledger: Uh…(Laughs) Whose ring?

Andrew Denton: Well, that is the question, isn't it? How come you aren't at the Oscars?

Heath Ledger: I wasn't invited.

Andrew Denton: No! No! Do you need a fake nose [reference to Nicole Kidman in "The Hours"] to be invited to the Oscars? Seriously! But you've never been, have you?

Heath Ledger: No.

Andrew Denton: Surely you've been invited in the past?

Heath Ledger: To the Oscar parties and stuff like that, but, no, never to the event.

Andrew Denton: Are you sorry?

Heath Ledger: Not really. No. I'd like to go. Yeah, it would be fun.

Andrew Denton: You'll get invited. I'm sure you will. Look, I'll see to it.

Heath Ledger: Thanks.

Andrew Denton: I'll make a call. I'll give you my invitation next time. Uh, Nicole, of course, won tonight.

Heath Ledger: I know. That's fantastic.

Andrew Denton: Yeah. Are you going to…is it that sort of thing where you've got her number and you give her a call?

Heath Ledger: No, no, I don't.

Andrew Denton: You've never been invited to visit Nicole either?

Heath Ledger: No. It's…

Andrew Denton: this is a very sad and lonely picture. It seems to me, though, I mean, she's got an Oscar with a fake nose. You've put on a whole fake beard and a helmet. You are a shoe-in there for the big one.

Heath Ledger: Yeah.

Andrew Denton: Look, I certainly… We'll get back to 'Ned Kelly' in a minute. How do you know when you're hot in Hollywood?

Heath Ledger: You usually start to perspire and… No, God, I don't know.

Andrew Denton: Well, seriously, you'd be A list now, wouldn't you?

Heath Ledger: No.

Andrew Denton: No? What list are you?

Heath Ledger: Uh, 'B'. (Laughs) I don't know.

Andrew Denton: But people talk about this stuff all the time in the industry.

Heath Ledger: Yeah. I don't know. I really don't know what list I'm on. I'm obviously not on the Oscar list.

Andrew Denton: Maybe you're A-plus, maybe you're too special.

Heath Ledger: Yeah, A-minus, or something.

Andrew Denton: Well, for instance, if I were an LA exec coming up to Heath Ledger right now, how would I be talking to you? What would the patter be?

Heath Ledger: Um…oh, God, I don't know. I try not to talk to those kind of people if I can.

Andrew Denton: Is there a lot of — and I really don't want to, you know, go too far here — but is there a lot of smoke blown up the anal fundament?

Heath Ledger: Yeah, there is. Um, I don't know. I tend to try to disattach myself from that as much as possible. And I don't find it that hard. I live a fairly normal life outside of this. It's hard to believe, but I do.

Andrew Denton: You just dag around?

Heath Ledger: Yeah, I really do. I've been spending the last eight months on my arse, raising two puppies, learning how to cook lasagne, and doing my washing, and keeping my house clean, and loving it.

Andrew Denton: Can I just say that over eight months, that's not a lot of work! I mean…

Heath Ledger: I know.

Andrew Denton: Far be it from me to call you a lazy bastard.

Heath Ledger: I am a lazy bastard.

Andrew Denton: What sort of puppies are we talking about?

Heath Ledger: I got a little cocker spaniel named Ed.

Andrew Denton: Ohh.

Heath Ledger: Ohh. And a little Yorkshire terrier named Bob.

Andrew Denton: Bob? How did he get the name Bob?

Heath Ledger: I don't know. It just…it just rolled off the tongue.

Andrew Denton: And now, the lasagne is the lasagne for the puppies? I'm sorry to go into deep domestic detail here, but I'm trying to unpeel your last eight months.

Heath Ledger: Yeah, I don't know. I had so much time on my hands, I just started cooking. And it's so great — you can just go on the Internet, go to Google and just put in 'lasagne' and all of a sudden you've got 100,000 different recipes for a lasagne. And…I don't know. That's how bored I've been over the last eight months.

Andrew Denton: I'm interested in…in dance in your life. 'Cause you choreographed your…your school…

Heath Ledger: YOUR school.

Andrew Denton: My old school. Our old school. You choreographed… Someone very kindly asked the other day, "What was Heath like at school?" Like, yeah, right, he's only 20 years younger than me! He was about that big! No, but you choreographed your school dance. Now, this was an all-boys school. I'm guessing that's not an easy thing to do.

Heath Ledger: No, you couldn't imagine how hard it was to get 80, like, you know, farmers' kids to get up and dance. You know, they don't know who Gene Kelly is. I actually had to get up in front of them and dance, and it was probably one of the most embarrassing moments of my life — you know, having 80 kids laughing and screaming and pointing at me. But it was great, you know, 'cause it was good to see these kids overcome their fear of expression. All of a sudden, you had these farmers who thought dancing was like a nancy-pansy kind of thing and then all of a sudden, they're up there dancing in tights. And…and they won.

Andrew Denton: Really? What was the thing they did?

Heath Ledger: Oh, God, I can't remember. I think it was… We had to come up with a theme. I think it was based on fashion or something. But you had to do it all yourself, choreograph it and…

Andrew Denton: You said you got up and danced in front of them. Where did you learn?

Heath Ledger: I didn't. That was the embarrassing thing about it.

Andrew Denton: You just made it up?

Heath Ledger: Yeah. I mean, I did a little bit of, um… After that, actually, I did some dance courses. Mainly because when I started doing theatre I was really self-conscious of what my body was doing and where my hands were and what my feet were doing and it was sort of just… So I danced to get more control of my body. Look at me, I'm, like, out of control. I'm going, "It's just to get more control of my body so I don't have to worry about it." It didn't work.

Andrew Denton: He took an eye out in the interview. Arggh! (Laughs) Do you…would you like to do a dancing role on stage or in a movie?

Heath Ledger: I don't know. It kind of scares me. It really does.

Andrew Denton: That's good, isn't it?

Heath Ledger: Yeah, it is. I don't know. If it's the right piece, I guess, yeah.

Andrew Denton: You could do 'The Amazing Electrical Man.' Something like that. His own stunning jazz style of dancing. We've some photos of you here as a kid, and thanks for bringing them in. This is, first of all, baby Heath. Look at this. It looks a bit like me. There we go. Ohh! Were you playing 'Ned Kelly' even at that age? What is that? What are you in?

Heath Ledger: A potty. A brass potty.

Andrew Denton: Couldn't afford nappies?

Heath Ledger: No.

Andrew Denton: And then this one. This is a sweetie. This is you as, what, you were about three or four there, I guess? In the movie 'Ned Kelly', there's a lovely bit where Ned is remembering as a kid his father talking to him…

Heath Ledger: Red Kelly.

Andrew Denton: Red Kelly. Is there a moment from your childhood that you still carry with you? One of those defining moments?

Heath Ledger: Uh…oh, gawd, I have to come up with something for my parents now. But, um…oh, God. Yeah, a few, I guess. I have a lot of wonderful moments. I have a wonderful family and I'm very proud of them and I love them dearly. But, oh, God, nothing interesting I can tell you now.

Andrew Denton: It's a tough one. What about when you look back on your childhood years, what's the thing in your head?

Heath Ledger: The first memory I have, anyway, I guess — I think it was my second birthday and the cake came out with the candles and I was very excited and I was, like, "Oh! A cake!" and then my cousin blew out the candles. I was so disappointed. It just broke my heart. And so that's stamped in my brain.

Andrew Denton: And so, does every year your cousin get your birthday presents now?

Heath Ledger: He flies out, yeah.

Andrew Denton: 'Ned Kelly' was really good. And you'll forgive me for getting personal now, but… I thought you were stunning in the role, but I…I don't know how to put this. I should have had the role myself.

Heath Ledger: I know you should have.

Andrew Denton: I auditioned, and I'd like you to tell me what is wrong with my Ned Kelly. (Puts on helmet with spectacles) Stand and deliver! For I am Ned Kelly. And what's more, I can play the sexy roles too. Actually, yours is a stunning performance and I said that this evening privately, so I can say it publicly. It's very intense and intensely watchable. Here is a clip from 'Ned Kelly' with Heath.

Woman: Ned, Ned! Ned. Jesus, Ned, they've arrested Ma.

Ned: They what?

Woman: They've taken her to the cells. Charged her with attempted murder.

Ned: Attempted murder?

Man: And Fitzpatrick is saying you took a shot at him.

Ned: I wasn't even there.

Man: We know that. It's your word against his.

Ned: They'll take the word of a drunken liar and arrest an innocent woman. Is that right? I won't take this injustice. I'm going to kill him. I swear I'll scatter his blood and brains like grain.

man 2: Ned!

Man: Stop it, Ned!

Ned: Stand aside!

Man 2: Don't make it worse for Ma!

Woman: Stop it, Ned!

Andrew Denton: It's powerful. It's great. Absolutely. The bit in the film — Ned's always chewing. What's that? Where did that come from?

Heath Ledger: It's his jaw. He's just angry.

Andrew Denton: That's just anger, is it?

Heath Ledger: Mmm. Well, that's what I was doing, anyway. It was the chewing gum I had in my mouth.

Andrew Denton: It's the merchandising. What about the Irish accent? 'Cause there's some conjecture as to whether or not Ned spoke Australian or Irish. Yeah, we did talk about it, but obviously…but at the end of the day, we don't really know what they sounded like and if anything it was probably a hybrid between Irish and Australian accent. But we figured, you know, it's an Australian…it's an Irish story in an Irish community in Australia, so we figured, you know, keep it Irish. And I had an incredible dialect coach, who's named Gerry Grennell, and he just made it easy. He really did. I owe it all to him.

Andrew Denton: Could you go to Ireland now and pass yourself off as…?

Heath Ledger: No.

Andrew Denton: You owe a little bit to him, in that case.

Heath Ledger: Dead right.

Andrew Denton: I read that you…look, that you booked a room overlooking the old Melbourne jail as part of your research. Is that true?

Heath Ledger: No, actually, I had no idea where the Melbourne jail was.

Andrew Denton: It sounded like bullshit to me.

Heath Ledger: It was bullshit. No, but I did have a room overlooking it. It's just I didn't know it was the jail until a week later. I know, it's sad.

Andrew Denton: Did you stand there just looking at it, going, "Yes."

Heath Ledger: "That's an interesting old building." No, it was the guy who played my brother, Laurence Kinlan, actually pointed it out to me and it was kind of surprising. But, yeah, from my apartment I could see his final walk and the spot where he was hanged. It's kind of eerie actually.

Andrew Denton: Did you actually learn anything about Ned Kelly making this film that you didn't know? Because we all grew up with the legend.

Heath Ledger: Yeah, I did. I guess what was surprising is how young they were, for starters. I mean, he was hanged when he was 25. But I guess, just how much of a victim of circumstance he was. And so, you know… But I obviously have a really biased point of view of him because I had to play him and I had to believe him and his story. But, yeah, it was tough times and just the extent of how tough it was was kind of surprising. Like, the cops back then in the Irish community used to get kids and put them in barrels — beer barrels with spikes in them — and roll them down hills.

Andrew Denton: Seriously?

Heath Ledger: Yeah. Well, no, I made that up.

Andrew Denton: That would be a reality TV show today.

Heath Ledger: Yeah, exactly! 'Fear Factor' or something.

Andrew Denton: I have for you some 'Ned Kelly' merchandise. Because I've noticed with the film there tend to be a lot of opportunities. First of all, there's the Ned Kelly beer mug, which I think is really going to work. You just put a bit of the old brown ale in there and…it's a tremendous thing. (Spills ale through mug) People will, uh, obviously… OK, you might not like that. But what we have here… This is the Ned Kelly…the full Ned Kelly doll set for kids. We've got your trooper and we've got Ned Kelly. And this thing is, you see here, if you pull the string at the back…

Heath Ledger: Funny horse, isn't it?

Andrew Denton: Well, obviously we're a little bit cheap on the show. If you pull the string, though, you get the full Glenrowan siege. Listen to this. (Sounds of battle) Sorry, oh, sorry. Just to give it the full authenticity. But this is the one I think, Heath, is going to work. This is the Ned Kelly toaster. You plug it in, you put in your ordinary toast, like so, and about two minutes later… A toast to Ned Kelly!

Heath Ledger: That was cheesy.

Andrew Denton: They're turning ugly, aren't they? Did you manage to watch any of the Academy Awards?

Heath Ledger: No, I was working all day.

Andrew Denton: Of course, Michael Moore…I have a transcript of the speech Michael Moore made.

Heath Ledger: It's fantastic.

Andrew Denton: Fantastic speech. I'll read the last little bit. He got pretty much booed off the stage. He said, "We live in a time where we have fictitious election results that elect a fictitious president. We live in a time where have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons. Whether it's the fiction of duct tape or the fiction of orange alerts, we are against this war, Mr Bush. Shame on you, and any time you've got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up." You were in Melbourne the other day, leading the march. I saw you on TV last week, after a bit of thought referring to our Prime Minister as 'a dick'.

Heath Ledger: Yeah.

Andrew Denton: You stand by that?

Heath Ledger: Well…yes, I do stand by that, absolutely.

Andrew Denton: There are those…and they've written over the weekend to suggest that you've been duped, that you're grandstanding.

Heath Ledger: Well, you know what? It's like… Screw it, man, everyone has their right to their opinion and that's mine. And, look, I'm not alone, am I?

Audience: No.

Andrew Denton: And to those who'd say, "Get your hand off it, Ledger, what do you know?"

Heath Ledger: Yeah, look, I do… I mean…yeah, the unfortunate truth is none of us know enough and we will never know enough. But, screw it. Our country…we've never… This is the first time in the history of our country that we're an aggressor, and we're not an aggressive nation or people. I'm certainly not, and I'm very proud of my country and I'm the very proud of the people here. We shouldn't be a part of this. It's not a fight for humanity. It's a fight for oil. And screw it and screw them. I think we should all pull out and live a peaceful existence down here.

Andrew Denton: Do… Are there people around you saying, "Just pull back, Heath. Don't say this, don't blow it?"

Heath Ledger: Yeah, but at the end of the day, what am I going to blow? My career? At the end of the day, my career is so insignificant in this…this war. It just is, and I'm willing to lose a few jobs over it. God. Yeah. I'll start to cry soon.

Andrew Denton: No, it's a man of passion. I like that.

Heath Ledger: Well, we need more of it and I think it's only going to get…we're only going to get more and more support. I don't know how much effect it will have on it, but hopefully we can stop this thing before it's too late. Unfortunately, you know, within the human kind of instinct, we don't… It's like, I could tell you, Andrew, "Don't touch the fire because if you touch it you'll burn yourself," and you'll go, "OK." But then when I'm looking that way, you'll go over and you'll touch it and burn yourself and then you'll learn. I just hope we don't take it that far. I hope we learn before something disastrous happens.

Andrew Denton: Sadly, I think the fire has begun.

Heath Ledger: It has.

Andrew Denton: Let's end on a cheerier note, shall we? We've discovered your dancing.

Heath Ledger: Yes.

Andrew Denton: I'd like to reveal your other talent tonight. Thank you very much, Angelo. Something perhaps not known about you. The didge. You play the didge. [a wind instrument used by some Australian aboriginal people]

Heath Ledger: Yeah.

Andrew Denton: Can you give us a blast?

Heath Ledger: Alright.

Andrew Denton: Ladies and gentlemen, first time, Heath Ledger on the didge.

Andrew Denton: Thank you for coming in.

Heath Ledger: Thank you very much.

Andrew Denton: You may keep that.

Heath Ledger: Oh, really and truly? That's nice.

Andrew Denton: And I believe we have a huge bottle to make a giant bong with as well. What a man. A man of passion. Let's hear it for Heath Ledger.
Former IMDb Name: True Oracle of Phoenix / TOoP (I pronounce it "too - op") / " in fire forged,  from ash reborn" / Currently: GeorgeObliqueStrokeXR40

mvansand76

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Re: Heath Ledger in his own Words
« Reply #165 on: February 10, 2008, 11:39:12 am »
That's the weirdest interview I have ever read!  :D

Offline Ellemeno

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Re: Heath Ledger in his own Words
« Reply #166 on: February 11, 2008, 05:36:12 am »
The Paul Bettany and Andrew Denton conversations were great, Bruce.  Isn't it wonderful to find more to love about Heath?

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Re: Heath Ledger in his own Words
« Reply #167 on: February 11, 2008, 08:20:12 am »
mtv.com

John Norris: I want to ask you first about the different paths that Ennis and Jack take in sort of dealing with this situation. It strikes me that Ennis is really the tragic figure in this film. Even though Jack pays the ultimate price, at least he has moments in his life where he sort of realizes who he is. Do you agree?

Heath Ledger: That's true. I think that's part of Ennis' problem — that he has no self-realization. I, as the actor playing him, took the time to investigate him and to discover what exactly his battles were. What was preventing him to express and to love? And one of the conclusions I came to was that he's battling himself. Like he's battling his genetic structure, if you will, and all the beliefs, fears and traditions that were passed down from his father, and so on. And that was so deeply embedded and installed in him.

So then I wanted to physicalize it in his walk and into his speech. ... Ennis, he wasn't as self-aware as to ask himself these questions, so he didn't really know what I knew about him. Essentially, as an actor, I had to go in front of the camera and think ... less.

Norris: Certainly when most gay Americans, and probably a lot of straight Americans, hear the word "Wyoming," one of the first things that comes to mind is Matthew Shepard and what happened to Matthew. ... Was the name Matthew Shepard something you guys even talked about in shooting this film?

Ledger: We certainly, um, were aware of it. But we were definitely trying not to mimic or portray any story outside of the short story of Annie Proulx's [on which Brokeback was based] and the script that we'd been given. And we certainly didn't want to be making any political statements. We kept ourselves on a fairly strict budget of the information we were given in pre-production and just tried to create something from that.

Norris: Yours, as is everyone's, is an incredible performance. ... When you hear people say ... "Who knew this was in Heath Ledger?," is that flattering? How do you feel about that?

Ledger: I don't know. I just hope I get to continue to do that. I mature as an actor as I mature as a person, and ... I'm hoping to continue to evolve in both areas.
Former IMDb Name: True Oracle of Phoenix / TOoP (I pronounce it "too - op") / " in fire forged,  from ash reborn" / Currently: GeorgeObliqueStrokeXR40

Offline Ellemeno

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Re: Heath Ledger in his own Words
« Reply #168 on: February 11, 2008, 04:01:11 pm »
I've been meaning to say this for a few days -

Reading Heath in his own words, I notice how often he uses the words "express" and "expression."  It sounds like he was very aware of how powerful and driving a motivation that was for himself.

Offline TOoP/Bruce

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Re: Heath Ledger in his own Words
« Reply #169 on: February 12, 2008, 12:46:35 am »
I've been meaning to say this for a few days -

Reading Heath in his own words, I notice how often he uses the words "express" and "expression."  It sounds like he was very aware of how powerful and driving a motivation that was for himself.

I have also come to appreciate through pulling these things together how much importance he placed on physically embodying a character, and not just relying on his face and voice to play the part.  He has a dancer's sense of physicality in using his body as an instrument for the performance. 
« Last Edit: February 18, 2008, 04:49:31 pm by TOoP/Bruce »
Former IMDb Name: True Oracle of Phoenix / TOoP (I pronounce it "too - op") / " in fire forged,  from ash reborn" / Currently: GeorgeObliqueStrokeXR40