I don't think anyone was surprised to hear that, last night, Heath Ledger clinched the coveted Screen Actors' Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor for his absofuckingloutely brilliant portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight, a role any actor would kill for, and quite possibly the darkest and most intriguing movie villain of our times.
The award, and more importantly, the Oscar nomination, couldn't have come at a more significant time for the family and friends of the late great actor: exactly one year after his tragic death. (Ledger died on January 22, last year; the Oscar nomination was announced on January 22, this year). Many of them have said it was a very bittersweet moment for them.
Any Batman geek will tell you that Ledger's take on The Joker was by far the best ever, even better than that of Jack Nicholson in Batman (1989). The Joker's fate was left (intentionally?) ambiguous at the end of TDK, but I doubt the producers would want such an iconic character killed off just two movies into the series; it doesn't make sense... at least in terms of "Hollywood Commerce". Now the question is, if The Joker is indeed alive, who's going to play him in a future Batman movie?
And you can bet that there will be at least one more movie in the franchise, and Christoper Nolan and Christian Bale will return (they'd BETTER - It's thanks to them that the Batman story is getting the respect it deserves. Anyone remember the disgustingly campy Batman movies of the mid '90s?). And the producers (maybe not Director Nolan, but definitely Warner Bros) can be tempted to recast the role.
But I really can't think of anyone that could fill the (very big) shoes left by Ledger. I say, if the producers can't find a good enough replacement, then drop the role altogether. That, I think, is the right thing to do, for Ledger and for the fans.
Bring on the Oscars, baby. Let's put a smile on that face!
____________________________________
Image courtesy Wikipedia.
4 comments:
Wish he was here for the award. Sobsob. :(
And yeah I doubt they'll be stupid enough to make someone else fill his shoes in the next movie, but will star a character as big as the Joker instead!
Liiiiike, heard it through the grapevine that Johnny Depp's the next Riddler! XD
Yeah, I heard that too. But has it been confirmed?
I dunno. There's been a lot of speculation about the next villain and many people seem to believe that it's going to be either the Riddler or Penguin. While Johnny Depp would be an excellent choice for the character, I doubt he's the kind of guy Nolan has in mind for his vision of the Batman universe.
I also read that Nolan has no plans on doing a 3rd movie, because most 3rd parts have been failures. But I think he can pull it off. He's too great a director to fuck up a movie like this.
There was also a rumor that the Joker role will continue, but that would be like spitting in Heath's face. They should leave that role as it is as a tribute to him. The amazing Joker is Heath's parting gift to the world, and that should be protected and cherished the way it is.
Congrats to Heath on the award. No one would have deserved it better.
Agreed. Not going for a recast is the best tribute they can pay to this great character actor.
About the series, I doubt Warner Bros wouldn't want to go for a third installment given the huge box office success of TDK. However there has been speculation that Nolan might not return, and apparently Bale has said he might not put on the Batsuit again if Nolan doesn't return as director.
I don't know how any director, no matter how good they may be, can pick up from where Nolan left off. His take on Batman, Gotham and all those characters are the closest any movie incarnation of Batman has ever come to the dark, edgy and moody Batman we have read about in the comics (the only exception being the animated series of the early '90s, which I thought was brilliant. Mark Hamill did a great job as The Joker in that series IMO.). And who can replace Bale?
Post a Comment