Heath Ledger

Interview By: Andrea Tuccillo
AndreaTuccillo@TheCinemaSource.com

Heath Ledger can come across as the intense, silent type in some of his films, namely in the pent-up frustrations of Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain or the suppressed agony of Sonny, his suicidal character in Monster's Ball. But at a recent press junket for his film I'm Not There, he's relaxed, almost playful. When one sleepy journalist starts to doze off right in the middle of one of his answers, Ledger is the first one to call him out. 'Wake up!' he interrupts his well-thought-out answer to shout. 'I know I'm boring, but come on!' Of course, he's just messing with the sleep-deprived reporter. And the truth is, Ledger is quite riveting and not at all to be blamed for an impromptu nap.

I'm Not There is a film which chronicles the life of Bob Dylan, using different actors (and one daring actress'Cate Blanchett) to portray the singer during various stages. Ledger plays one of the incarnations of Dylan, 'Robbie'.

'Essentially Todd dissected Bob and I was like an amputated limb,' he says. 'So I was just concentrating on one arm of Bob Dylan. And likewise Todd dissected the script and handed us little short films so we just concentrated on our stories. I guess I tend to feel that the story my character and Charlotte's character lives within, their circumstance and the era are represented more in a portrait of Dylan than perhaps the actual individual. In the end of the day what did I learn about Bob' I read the books, I watched the documentaries, and my catalogue of Dylan's music was expanded, but I think the beauty of Todd's film is that I can't tell you that I know anything more about Bob Dylan than you do. Todd respectfully tried to preserve Bob Dylan's mystique and has kept him respectfully in the shadows still. I kind of still feel that way, happily.'

There are different approaches one could take when making a film based on a real person. They could do a lot of research and preparation, or they can choose to let the character form naturally. Ledger thinks it's usually a mixture of the two. 'I think it's a bit of both,' he says. 'I think it's necessary and unnecessary. I think we can under-prepare, we can over-prepare. I think it's all to fill our superstitious needs and to comfort ourselves. But in the end of the day you usually just have an understanding of what you're going to do innately. It's kind of embedded somewhere.'

Perhaps Ledger's real-life role as a father helped him relate to portraying Robbie's personal and family life. 'I guess just like anyone in this industry, it's a fairly gypsy-esque lifestyle,' he says. 'I can certainly relate to that, like struggling with keeping consistency with family life and your social life and your professional life. It's both an annoyance and it's also an addiction. So I can definitely relate to it. I didn't agree with Robbie on a lot of his actions and his words, but that's not my job to agree. But I can relate and I could try to understand.'

It was also Ledger's love of music that further helped him become the character. 'On so many levels [music] has affected my life and still continues to,' he says. 'I guess one example is, to me the music'particularly the voice singing, songwriters, poets, Dylan, whoever'to me it's such a pure expression or song from the soul that deeply connects to mine and has been a key that kind of unlocked or enabled me to express anger or pain of any sort. So it's always been sort of a wonderful excuse or door unlocked for me for being able to express creatively and personally.'

Ledger was impressed by his co-stars interpretations of Dylan's personality, but remains self-deprecating when it comes to his own. 'I was truly blown away by what Marcus [Carl Franklin] did; I thought he was just phenomenal,' he says. 'I really loved everyone. I thought Ben Whishaw was incredibly surprisingly, I mean I hadn't seen him in much but I think he's outstanding. I really loved Richard [Gere]; he was a surprise'who else was there' Christian [Bale]! I loved Christian's afro, it really suits him. And obviously Cate. Was that everyone' ...And I sucked!'

In addition to the great Bob Dylan, Ledger also had an affinity for his next big role as The Joker in the highly anticipated Batman Begins follow-up The Dark Knight. 'I was definitely a fan of Dylan, but I think Dylan was definitely someone I felt like I had scheduled somewhere in the future, down the line to become obsessed by because I do get obsessed with people, musicians and artists,' he says. 'But I think Todd prematurely invited me into the obsession on this film. And The Joker, yeah. I was definitely a fan of what Jack Nicholson did in the world that Tim Burton created. And I can tell you right now that if Tim Burton was directing The Dark Knight and he came and asked me do it I would say no, I couldn't. You couldn't reproduce what Jack did and so the reason why I so confidently stepped in their shoes was when [director] Chris [Nolan] asked me, I had seen Batman Begins and I knew the world in which he created and I also knew that there was different angle to be taken and so that's why I did it.'

Tackling roles as one of the greatest musicians of a generation and one of the most recognizable comic book villains of all time' See, Heath Ledger's not so boring after all.