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16 years ago, Heath Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for his role as the Joker

Remember some of the achievements that helped Heath Ledger win a posthumous Oscar for his role as the Joker in “The Dark Knight”

When the subject is Heath Ledgerwhich film with the actor is the most emblematic? When you think about it a little, titles like “10 Things I Hate About You” and “Brokeback Mountain” may quickly come to mind, but one specific feature film brought even more weight to the actor’s filmography: “Batman: The Dark Knight”, where he played the story’s villain, Joker.

This is because, the plot, directed by Christopher Nolanbecame the last starring Ledgersince the actor died months before the film’s release in theaters (held on July 18, 2008), on January 22, 2008, at the age of 28, due to an accidental overdose of medication —, in addition to marking an extremely important achievement: the title that brought him an Oscar even after his death.

THE POSTHUMO OSCAR

Heath Ledger as Joker in ‘Batman: The Dark Knight’ – Reproduction/Warner Bros. Pictures

The incident happened 16 years ago, more precisely on February 23, 2009, around 13 months after the actor’s death. The date marks the 81st award ceremony of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which recognizes the best actors, technicians and films released in the year, where Ledger He won the posthumous Oscar for best supporting actor for his work in bringing to life the most beloved Clown Prince of Crime in comics.

On that occasion, the Academy opened space for the family of Leaderyour father, Kimyour mother, Sallyand her older sister, Katereceived the golden statuette in the name of the artist.

“I thank the Academy and Christopher Nolan for giving Heath the freedom to create and explore this crazy character. This award seals his determination to be accepted by all of you and also by this industry”, stated Kim Ledger in the thank you speech broadcast by G1.

Still on the awards stage, the actor’s mother stated that “he was a soul full of compassion”, revealing that he was an inspiration, in addition to that the family felt honored and proud of his achievement. Ledger.

The sister Kate He closed his speech by saying he was happy to receive the Oscar on behalf of “his beautiful Matilda”, referring to the daughter who Ledger left, as a result of his relationship with the actress, michelle williamswhom he met on the set of “Brokeback Mountain” in 2004, and remained together until months before his death, as their engagement ended in September 2007.

It is worth remembering that, in cases of death, the Academy makes exceptions so that the award can be given to the winner’s closest relatives. Thus, the daughter of Ledger would be the ideal person to take home the Oscar, but, as she was only 3 years old at the time, it was decided that the actor’s family would remain in possession of the statuette until she turned 18.

Ledger became the second actor to receive a posthumous Oscar, as until then, only Peter Finch he had achieved the feat, in 1976, for “Rede de intrigues”.

THINGS AS A JOKER

Scene from 'Batman: The Dark Knight'
Scene from ‘Batman: The Dark Knight’ – Reproduction/Warner Bros. Pictures

It is worth remembering that the acclaim given to the actor’s performance is due to the level of dedication he gave to the interpretation, which was achieved with a lot of study of the character, after all, some of the elements that helped him create him for the screen were:

  • Have seen as many works as possible about the antagonist of Batman stories;
  • Having learned about moving puppets to bring out the characteristic gait seen in the film, which resembles a ventriloquism dummy;
  • Having taken as a reference the performance of Malcolm McDowell in the cinema classic “A Clockwork Orange”, since in the film he plays Alex, a sadistic man who guides a gang of hoodlums in a dystopian future.

More than that, in an interview with Empire in 2007, the artist said that he chose to isolate himself in a hotel room in London weeks before recording, where he tested different interpretations for the character, documenting everything in a diary, which was used by him throughout the process of creating Joker. The diary has pages revealed in the documentary “Too Young To Die”.

As a result, the villain he defined, in the same chat, as an “absolute sociopath, a cold-blooded clown and a mass murderer”, became so convincing and frightening that he made even his co-stars forget the lines. , as revealed by the actor Michael Cainewho plays Alfred in “Batman: The Dark Knight” to the magazine.

Also in front of the cameras, Ledger I would like to live the experience in its entirety. This is because, in the iconic interrogation scene, the actor asked that Christian BaleBatman, actually hit him, even breaking the tiles on the walls, when he was thrown without stuntmen in the same sequence.

Furthermore, he created a mannerism that brought more originality to the villain: the constant licking of the lips. This mischief was created for technical reasons, after all, the facial prosthesis he used needed to remain moist so that it would not move out of place and, in order not to have to stop recording, he came up with this function with saliva in order not to interrupt his process of performance.

All this work was not easy to accomplish. To The New York Times, Ledger he had said that “being the Joker was physically and mentally exhausting”, in addition to that he could only sleep for two hours a night while he was in charge of the role.

Still, the effort to Ledger was recognized, since, in addition to the biggest cinema award, he also won trophies from the Actors Guild (SAG), the Golden Globe and the Critics Choice, also becoming one of the main references for the next Joker interpretations in adaptations for the big and small screens.

“Batman: The Dark Knight” is available in the Max catalog. The synopsis says: “With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman intends to destroy organized crime in Gotham forever.”

Source: Recreio

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