Heath Ledger: A Tribute

By: Andrea Tuccillo
AndreaTuccillo@TheCinemaSource.com

I've always loved saving magazine clippings. Saving a magazine is like a mini time capsule. You can whip it out and look back on what was going on in that particular week or month"”movies you liked, people you found interesting. As I sat looking at my mini time capsules a few days ago, a familiar face repeatedly stared back at me. Heath Ledger on the cover of Rolling Stone. An article from Entertainment Weekly on Heath Ledger. A sweet picture of Heath Ledger and his look-alike baby daughter from People magazine. Heath Ledger on the cover of GQ. Headlines referring to him as a "Hollywood Maverick", talking about his Oscar-caliber talent and his star on the rise.

It's no doubt that Heath Ledger fascinated me"”whether it was for his acting talents or the fact that he led a low-key family life just a borough-hop away from me in Brooklyn. It's not that I've seen a whole lot of his movies. On the contrary, actually. He just had that indescribable "it". But where those magazine clippings once provided a glimpse into the life of this guarded actor, they now serve as a sad reminder of a life lost.

By now we've all heard the story. On January 22, the 28-year-old Ledger was found dead in his SoHo apartment. The cause is still unclear. The entertainment industry is still reeling. And, frankly, I'm still kind of in shock. I'm not going to speculate on any "troubles" Ledger may have had in his personal life, because honestly that's none of my business. But I can give my impressions and memories of a gifted actor who constantly affected and surprised me, and who was taken much too soon.

Good-looking but not exceedingly so, Ledger tried desperately to wipe away the blonde, teen heartthrob image that many people first associated him with. His street attire was all quirky-grunge"”a way to blend in, be inconspicuous, rebel against carefully-polished fame. His demeanor in interviews was typically shy, polite. Talk show interviews especially, he always seemed slightly uncomfortable as if he didn't understand why people were granting him so much attention. In the last article I wrote on him for the film
I'm Not There
, he even joked at the press junket that he was "boring". Nothing could have been farther from the truth.

I first became interested in Ledger a little over two years ago when I heard he was to play a gay cowboy opposite Jake Gyllenhaal
in Brokeback Mountain. I was curious. This sounded like a pretty hardcore role for someone whom I had only previously known in teen comedies (10 Things I Hate About You) and smaller bit parts (The Patriot, Monster's Ball). Then came the comparisons"”like a

young Marlon Brando, critics said of his performance. Color me intrigued. Were they talking about the same Heath Ledger I thought I knew?

I instantly wanted to know more about this actor who was able to so completely shed past conceptions of himself in order to play the tortured Ennis Del Mar, a man who feels so deeply yet is afraid to express it. I was transfixed. As Ennis, he walked like he had been punched in the gut, he talked in a clench-jawed mumble; you could feel his frustrations just by looking at him. I kept a particular picture of Ledger, a screen-capture from Brokeback Mountain. As I look at it now I see traces of a James Dean-like soulfulness. His brow is furrowed into an intense expression as smoldering as the cigarette firmly pressed between his lips and his gaze is fraught with uncertainty. With Ennis, Ledger created a character never before seen on-screen"”some even called it iconic.

He had just completed another iconic (though in a different way) role as The Joker in the highly anticipated Batman sequel, The Dark Knight. The mere sight of Ledger as the psychopathic Joker in the movie's trailer sent people into a frenzy. He looked deliciously insane with a paint-smeared face and a devilish grin. I was beyond excited to watch him play a villainous character with such reckless abandon. Now, the movie's summer release will be bittersweet.

I have a new set of magazine covers to save now. Heath's picture is still staring back at me, but the headlines are different. They all read: Heath Ledger 1979-2008. And I can barely comprehend the words.