Sad News - The passing of Heath Ledger

This really isn't the way I wanted to start off my brand new blog but I do want to share my thoughts on the subject.

The death of Heath Ledger is sad news on many different levels. Sure, he was an actor who brought hours of entertainment to our lives and his talent will be missed and many will wonder at what heights he might have been able to achieve since he was just entering the prime of his career at 27 years old. The really sad part is his daughter growing up without him in her life.

I won't spend anymore time on this point because I do realize that there are lots of children who have lost one or more parents and why should Heath Ledgers daughter be any more special then the rest? Well, she's not, but Heath was someone who, whether we liked his films or not, entered our lives to some small degree. At the very least our sympathy is in order.

Thus far, it looks as if his death was accidental which makes it almost tragic. The autopsy is due to be completed later today where will will know better what happened.

Looking over Heath's resume on IMDB it's interesting to note that I haven't seen a Heath Ledger movie since "A Knight's Tale" in 2001. He has starred in twelve movies (10 released, 1 in post production and 1 filming) since then and I have never seen one of them. Even the one that earned him and Academy award nomination - "Brokeback Mountain."

However, it's the 11th entry on that list, a movie not yet released, that has many people very excited, myself included - The Dark Knight.

Obviously a cloud will hang over this picture from now until the end of time. But in what may turn out to be his final performace on screen (Terry Gillium has not commented about the project he was filming) Heath Ledger looks prepared to blow us genre fans into the back of the the movie theaters.

Director Christopher Nolan risked the ire of fanboys everywhere with his casting of Heath Ledger, but after seeing the trailer for this film, only the most nitpickey of the nitpickey would have any doubts about Heath's performance as one of the most iconic villains of any media - The Joker.

While it may not amount to much in the grand scheme of life, at least Heath Ledger will go out in a movie that will be #1 at the box office in what could turn out to be a performance that would show the world just how great a talent we have lost.

With sympathies,
Wicked