Heath Ledger earns Oscar as Joker in 'Dark Knight'

[onehandle]

Source: AP

LOS ANGELES – Heath Ledger has won the supporting-actor Academy Award for his demented take on Batman villain the Joker in "The Dark Knight," becoming only the second performer to win an Oscar posthumously.

Ledger's triumph comes 13 months after his death from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs on Oscar nominations day last year.

His Oscar was accepted by his parents and sister.

Ledger joins 1976 best-actor winner Peter Finch of "Network" as the only other performer to win an Oscar after his death.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oscars

[sasquatch]

1. He earned it hands down

[Oregone]

4. I was much more impressed by Michael Shannon's performance

Neither here nor there I guess. "Hands down" is a bit definite though.

[TheWraith]

10. Indeed. There was an interesting story I read about the production of The Dark Knight...

Michael Caine was talking about how he'd never met Heath Ledger up until they were doing the production, so the first time they came face to face was during shooting, when the Joker breaks into the party scene, and that Caine was so terrified by Ledger's performance that he forgot his lines.

[sasquatch]

30. Oh wow, that is impressive

[Supply Side Jesus]

2. Hell yes!!

His performance is terrifying in the sense of complete madness manifesting. Brilliant performance, he earned it!

[alexandria]

7. The best Joker quotes.

The Joker: I believe whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes you… stranger.
The Joker: Where do we begin? A year ago, these cops and lawyers wouldn’t dare cross any of you. I mean, what happened? Did your - did your balls drop off? Hmm?
The Joker: See, I’m a man of simple tastes. I like gunpowder…and dynamite…and gasoline! Do you know what all of these things have in common? They’re cheap!
The Joker: It’s a schemer who put you where you are. You were a schemer. You had plans. Look where it got you. I just did what I do best-I took your plan and turned it on itself. Look what I have done to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple bullets. Nobody panics when the expected people get killed. Nobody panics when things go according to plan, even if the plans are horrifying. If I tell the press that tomorrow a gangbanger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will get blown up, nobody panics. But when I say one little old mayor will die, everyone loses their minds! Introduce a little anarchy, you upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I am an agent of chaos. And you know the thing about chaos, Harvey? It’s fair.
The Joker: I use a knife because guns are too quick. Otherwise, you can’t savor all the emotions. You know who people are in their last moments.

[Ilsa]

11. He had superb dialogue to work with. He made that movie worth seeing.

His character had me frightened even after the dvd was out of the player and back in the box. His sociopathy had me feeling paralyzed. His ability to evoke that in me showed me what a fearless and brilliant actor he was. I never knew it before.

[alexandria]

13. I only seen the movie recently,

I heard all about the "he is going to win a oscar" ,and i was thinking they are trying to hype up Heath now that he is dead.
When i watched it i said brilliant,he deserves it.

[Ilsa]

19. I wondered about that too until I saw the previews and then

him in the role. He was brilliant in every scene, so even the brief appearances in trailers reflected his talent. Watching him in the movie, at home, was still frightening. I don't know about all of his competition for the oscar, but he was wonderful.

[Mind_your_head]

3. oh right, the oscar's.....we forgot to turn it on this evening.....

no loss, though.

[JNelson6563]

5. Pretty good this year actually.

Hugh Jackman is pretty talented and he's hosting.
Julie

[Blue_Tires]

6. If Ledger won for the Joker, the Jack Nicholson deserves a retroactive one

:hide:

[Ilsa]

8. I found JN's Joker to be comical. HL's Joker was such

a sociopath that he frightened me. He felt like he could be a real person. The older Batman movies and their characters just seemed cartoonish and silly, for little kids.

[Larkspur]

16. I was never a big fan of Batman until Chris Nolan took it over

I really like his interpretation of the Batman character. Christian Bale has been the best Batman to date. Bale has almost perfectly blended the humanity of Bruce Wayne with the golem-like Batman. And Heath is the best Joker, a true villain to Batman's heroics. It's a shame that Heath has died. I really wanted to see his Joker again.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

25. the old Batman TV show was campy and silly.

The movies have gotten darker, and I regret seeing The Dark Knight, very much.

I have no interest in comic book heroes and such a dark, depressing vision.

Mindless and pointless violence. A waste of time IMNSHO.

[Occulus]

28. The old "Battlestar Galactica" was also campy and silly.

The new one has been hailed as being the best drama on television. What do it and the darker Batman films have in common?

Realism. Or at least, as much realism as you can get, given the subject matter. After all, if over 99.9% of the human population has just been nuked out of existence, visiting a casino planet is not at all on the survivors' minds; if you're a superhero with no actual "super powers", you're going to need villains who don't have any either and more "ordinary" violence.

The Joker is and has always been a dangerously psychotic, criminally insane (but I would say IMHO not in the least schizophrenic) character with a sociopathic streak a mile wide and an intellect to match. His violence almost always has a really twisted, seriously fucked up point to it.

You should read some of the published short stories centered around the Joker*. He's always been this way, from the standpoint of the actual character; we've just never seen him portrayed as he truly would behave.

*In one such short story, he goes about murdering VIPs (including a judge) by planting a chemical tab in strategic locations which reacts with water; this creates a remarkably potent substance that apparently causes bones to dissolve on contact. He puts one of these in a showerhead, one in a swimming pool, one in a telephone rigged with a watergun 'joke', etc. I can't even recall his reasoning, such as it was, but the Joker has ever been thus.

[Orrex]

12. Jack's Joker had about three good moments

Ledger's Joker was superb from start to finish.

If you say otherwise, I'm going to come to your house and stuff over-ripe pears into your mailbox.

[LeftyMom]

15. Only if he can tell us what the hell that line about dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight

meant.

Jesus H. Christ, that movie is 20 years old and I still remember that line. And I still have no idea what the fuck it means.

[Twinguard]

31. Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moon light?

The way Napier/Joker keeps repeating this line is very similar to the way Jules in Pulp Fiction recites "Ezekiel 25:17" right before he kills.

It's not that the line has any real meaning, but as Jules would say, it's just some cold sounding sh!t to say before killing a motherf**ker.

[Supply Side Jesus]

20. Blasphemy!!

I blame Burton for it. Went for a comic style.
Nolan, IMHO, is one of the best directors in the business, grounded his Batman sage in reality, which made the Joker absolutely terrifying.

[sarcasmo]

37. Did you even see the show?

[Blue_Tires]

44. the movie? yes....the award show? no

[inna]

9. wow. thanks for posting this. nt

[CANDO]

14. Ledger was brilliant in the role, but...

maybe it's just me... I couldn't stand to see him incessantly sticking his tongue out of his mouth in some sort of lip-licking obsession. Drove me crazy watching it. Maybe I'm the one with the problem.

[Larkspur]

17. That was part of his character

The Joker is an alter-ego for the Devil. The tongue was Joker's serpent-like trait. In the first Nolan Batman movie, there is the opera scene from Mephistopheles, who is the devil that bought Faust's soul. The Joker is Mephistopheles to the crime syndicate, who hired him to kill Batman, but never trust the Devil. The crime bosses were devoured by the Devil, one literally by his dogs, because The Joker found them boring, had grandiose criminal/terrorist plans of his own, and found his battle with Batman stimulating.

[Supply Side Jesus]

18. Great analogy

You hit that right on the head.

I think the Joker constantly tongue thing he did I bet was a reaction to the scars on his face. Like tonguing a small cut in you mouth, he just never got over the wounds.

[christx30]

29. That is a very good analysis...

I also heard the tongue thing and the limping were also to evoke the thought of a wounded animal. Dangerous, unpredictable, ready to lash out at any random person that invades his space.
I thought he was brilliant in the role. He felt real to me.

[Tempest]

38. Actually...

It was explained in the movie that the tongue movement was from the scarring around the edges of his mouth.

It was like a nervous tick.

[Orrex]

41. Holy moley

If someone had given me a Glasgow Smile, I'm pretty sure I'd be licking at the scars for years to come.

The "serpent-like" interpretation is good, but in the absence of the scars the incessant licking would have come across as a clumsy affectation, malefic subtext or not. It works as allusion because it's also grounded in a basic, tangible reality.

Nice assessment, though.

[ikri]

43. Read up on Discordianism

Discordianism on Wikipedia

There's a lot in there that seems to relate to Heath Ledger's Joker.

He's not good or evil, he's beyond that - he's chaos to Batman's order

[applegrove]

21. He certainly was creepy. I couldn't watch the whole film.

[alarimer]

22. Big surprise- who's going to vote against a dead guy?

I am sure he had the sympathy vote locked up.

I hated that Bat Man movie. Way to fucking long and vastly overrated anyway (including Ledger, who I just found creepy and weird in it).

[progressoid]

24. Yeah,

It's tough for people to admit that if he were alive, it's doubtful he would have won.

[fujiyama]

27. I don't know

A lot of people said this was a pretty mediocre year for movies. Of those nominated I only saw Slumdog. Good, but nothing earth shattering.

[Zhade]

26. From a creative standpoint, your analysis is bankrupt and petty.

It was brilliant.

[Javaman]

35. Oh man, I thought I was the only one that felt that way...

if Ledgers name were on the best screenplay or best sound effects noms, he would have won.

he's the new James Dean.

The famous are holding mock vigils to pump up their own careers.

There are a few that actually miss him, but they are lost in the echo chamber of the hollywood publicity machine.


on a side note: the batman movie was painfully long. Easily could had an hour chopped out.

[Posteritatis]

39. The Joker? Creepy and weird? Say it ain't so! (nt)

[iandhr]

23. there is a great scene

at the party where Pat Lehey says to the Joker "we are not intimidated by thugs"

[Grinchie]

32. For all time Psychopath's, I vote for G. W. Bush

You can take your fake Heath Ledger and shove it up your mindless sheeple rectums.

And I mean it, you guys that idolize some vaporish actor and ignore the real miscreants deserve everything you get.

[and-justice-for-all]

33. That flick was bad ass....

The best Batman EVER!

[underpants]

34. I'd have to agree

just because the one with the PEnguin (Devito) wasn't really a BAS ASS movie

Ledger was excellent

[sarcasmo]

36. Well deserved, IMHO.

[gauguin57]

40. Emile Hirsch should have been nominated for "Milk" instead of Josh Brolin.

Don't get me wrong ... Brolin is a wonderful actor. But his part was much less significant than I thought it would be ... he really didn't have all that much to do.

On the other hand, Hirch had a great role -- with a lot more to do -- and he really nailed it. My friends and I agreed as we left the theater that Hirch was one of the best parts of the movie!

[honoluludaniel]

42. Couldn't agree with you more.

Brolin wasn't bad, but Hirsch stole practically all the scenes he was in. He's really an underrated actor. Should have had a nomination for Into the Wild as well. As for Best Supporting Actor, i thought Michael Shannon gave the best performance of the nominees but Ledger was great as well so i can't disagree too much with the decision, which was pretty obvious for some time now along with most of the other winners from last night.

[Threedifferentones]

45. I think he made TDK watchable

I also felt sure he'd win the Oscar once he died, which IIRC was before the movie even came out. He usually made movies better. As great as The Joker was, the Oscar's are really silly.

[BreweryYardRat]

46. He earned it and then some.

Best performance (by any actor) that I've seen in YEARS.