Heath Ledger
Interview By: Benjamin Lee
When the teen movie had an unexpected comeback in 1999, Hollywood was bombarded with a new rush of fresh faces. Many believed that the Brat Pack mk II had arrived as stars such as Tara Reid, Freddie Prinze Jr, Julia Stiles, Mena Suvari and Jason Biggs showed us how tough it was to be a teen all over again.
But like the Brat Pack, the burnout rate was scarily high. So while Freddie Prinze Jr mugs his way through a pitiful sitcom and Tara Reid drunkenly flashes her breasts for the umpteenth time, there's only a select few teens who have managed to carve a successful career and rise above the expectations. Step forward Heath Ledger.
10 Things I Hate About You was a cut above most high school movies with its intelligent Shakespearean origins and helped to make the Australian Ledger a teen heartthrob. This was further cemented in 2001 with A Knight's Tale. But it wasn't until 2005 that Ledger managed to appease all possible contingents of the audience. Brokeback Mountain was the surprise smash of the year, garnering Ledger endless critical acclaim and an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
His perfectly nuanced turn as a ranch hand struggling to come to terms with his sexuality made critics stand up and take notice and suddenly Ledger was part of Hollywood's A-list. But instead of following it up with one of the inevitably mainstream scripts he would have surely received, Ledger decided to return to his roots with the low-budget Australian drama Candy.
Based on the cult novel by Luke Davies, Candy tells the story of a destructive relationship between two heroin addicts played by Ledger and by rising starlet Abbie Cornish. It's a harrowing tale that doesn't compromise in its unflinching portrayal of the devastating effects drugs can have on the lives of those who can't live without them. It's a dysfunctional love story and one that has not two but three elements keeping it together.
'I guess it's a love triangle', Ledger believes, 'between them and the drug. I think they're just kind of intertwined. But I think we were all telling ourselves that it was more a love story than a story of heroin'. The love story which centers the film is between Ledger who plays Dan, a reckless young poet and Candy, played by Cornish, a middle-class painter who is lured into his way of life. For Ledger, it's a far cry from the lighter films he first burst on the scene with. But it wasn't necessarily the subject matter that drew him to the film.
'It was just the opportunity to work from home again. The scripts in Australia are slim pickings these days and it was the best one available' he admits. 'It had been 8 years since I'd used my own accent in a movie and I was curious to see what that would be like'. Up until a few weeks ago, Ledger would have been the only real marketable factor in the movie but some recent rumors have helped to raise co-star Abbie Cornish's profile with tabloids blaming her for the Reese Witherspoon/Ryan Phillipe split. It's a topic that Ledger was reticent to discuss. 'It's unfortunate for everyone involved and really none of my business'. But it's one that will doubtlessly add further interest to such a small film.
In preparing for a role as a heroin addict, Ledger had to shed the heartthrob image he was famously known for, both physically and mentally. 'I had to stay out of the sun and I tried to eat less' he said. 'Abbie and I went to this center in Sydney and we met a gentleman who has been using and still is, over the last 20 years. He took us into a boardroom and showed us a prosthetic arm which was used to train young drug addicts how to find veins so he showed us what angles to inject at and how to tie the tourniquets'. Some of the most harrowing scenes in the movie are those in which the two go cold turkey and try to live without heroin, scenes which Ledger says were as accurate as possible. 'We had someone on set that could take us through step-by-step the stages from experience. Now you're in a cold sweat, in this next scene your stomach feels like its twisting up into a knot, your headaches, you're parched, just spelt it out for us'.
As many of his peers fall foul of drugs and alcohol and find themselves on the road to rehab or worse, Ledger believes that there is a dangerous connection made between the two worlds. 'I do think that drugs and alcohol have been glorified in the art world and what it takes to create' he believes 'But creation comes from your mind and its hard to create when you're fazed and drugged out. I'm sure drugs and alcohol would perhaps inspire new thoughts but its certainly not something I use as a tool to create'.
For such a dark, heavy role, you'd expect an actor who immersed himself so perfectly to struggle in lifting himself out of such a bottomless pit. 'It doesn't really affect me personally' claims Ledger. 'I kind of save that living through it part for that moment between action and cut and certainly when the film's over I just throw it all away and I'm very excited to get back home'.
Home for Ledger is Brooklyn, New York. On the set of Brokeback Mountain, Ledger met and fell in love with his co-star Michelle Williams and the two recently brought a house in Brooklyn, a place where Ledger feels he can lead a normal life. 'I adore it. I love the real sense of community, I love my neighbors, I love the coffee shop down the road. We really are left there to live. It feels like we're on an island when we're just next to one'. Now having made the move from teen star to family man, Ledger views his career differently. 'I didn't immediately get the urge to go out and be a voice in an animated film', he jokes, 'but it definitely changes the person you are. I think your personal evolution runs hand in hand with your professional evolution and I think it affects performance more than choice'
While Ledger has dipped his toe into the mainstream, most prominently as Mel Gibson's son in The Patriot, he seems to be comfortable returning back to his indie roots. 'I think you're generally granted more freedom and I prefer to see the outcomes of films that have lower budgets because you're forced into using your imagination'. But all this is going to change when he takes on the role of the Joker in The Dark Knight, the new Batman movie.
'I guess if I was a fan of a comic book character it would probably be the Joker' says Ledger. 'I was motivated by the offer, the opportunity to play this guy. Somewhere inside, I just kind of knew instinctively what to do with it'. It's early days with the role since it's not slated for a release till summer 2008 and Ledger emphasized the hush-hush nature of such a production. 'They're still writing the script. They're so safeguarded even with me, like I don't have a script. I've read it once at Chris Nolan's house but he wouldn't let me leave with it' he laughs.
While his contemporaries flounder, Ledger's brave choices mean his career is going from strength to strength. From brooding teen to gay cowboy to heroin addict to super-villain, Ledger did the hardest thing a teen star could do - he grew up.
