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"I think that's the problem with a lot of actors in the industry. We all just think we're brilliant, you know? And ninety-eight percent of us are crap. And we've got to realize that, before we can improve."
— Heath on acting, Rolling Stone, March 10, 2006
Sweat
Heath Ledger most notably began his career in the television series Sweat. Ledger played gay cyclist Snowy Bowles for one episode in the drama series about students at an Australian school for the athletically gifted. The series lasted only one season however and was canceled in 1996. Although the show was filmed in Perth Australia, the series did air on ABC in the US for a brief amount of time.
“I was crap," he says. The show chugged ahead. "I remember just burying my face in my hands, thinking, 'This is the end, it hasn't even begun.'"
— Heath, on his role as Snowy Bowles in Sweat, Rolling Stone March 10, 2006
Roar
Heath also appeared in the television series Roar playing the brave warrior Conor on 13 episodes between 1997 and 2000. Set in Ancient Ireland, it tells the story of Conor defending and uniting the Celtics and Ireland from the threat of Roman invasion an over turning Roman rule in both the mythical and literal sense. The series aired on Fox and garnered a good bit of national media attention for the young actor.
Two Hands
Two Hands was filmed in Ledger's home land of Australia and has the young star on the run from a local gangster when some money that was left in his care disappears.
10 Things I Hate About You
Heath left his homeland of Australia for the States in 1999 to star in the high school comedy 10 Things I Hate About You alongside Julia Stiles and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Ledger played the dark and wild Patrick Verona in this modern day take on Shakespeare’s masterpiece The Taming of the Shrew.
The Patriot
Heath went on to star in Mel Gibson’s The Patriot in 2000 playing Gabriel Martin the son of a farmer turned military leader who is killed in battle by the British Army while fighting under his Father’s command. Heath received much critical acclaim for the role and even received a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Best Newcomer in 2001 for his role in the film.
Heath's role in The Patriot may have led to his being cast in his next blockbuster hit A Knight's Tale which was released in 2001. The film was inspired by The Canterbury Tales and tells the story of William, a young squire with the gift for jousting. He and two cohorts leave after his Master dies and run into an author by the name of Chaucer who is unknown at the time. William is then made a Knight under false documents of his birth and in the midst of jousting, finds romance.
"We go to this huge boardroom table meeting with 15 people in suits, and huge posters of me captioned, 'He Will Rock You' and I'm freaking out.
"They outline their plan for the release...we're sending you around America, to 20 states, then 20 countries around the world ... and I got this two-hour spiel on how they were turning me into Columbia's new It boy."
"They offered me ridiculous amounts of money to make franchise movies, Spiderman to James Bond. Studios do this - find one person, invest a lot of money in him like a product, own and make money off him."
"At the end it was, 'So kid, whaddya think?' I can't do it, I don't want my life to be in their hands, I'm not ready to be seen on such a grand scale, I can't act well enough yet. I don't want a career handed to me on a platter, it's too easy, it wouldn't be mine because I haven't earned it.
It feels wrong."
— Good Weekend Magazine, April 8, 2006
Monster's Ball
Heath departed from his role as a 'Hollywood pretty boy' to take on his next role as Billy Bob Thornton's son Sonny Grotowski in the 2002 film Monster's Ball. This was perhaps Heath's meatiest and complex role to date. Though Heath only appears in the film for the first thirty minutes, his character Sonny leaves a lasting impression. Sonny works as a prison guard in the racially divided south under the overly watchful eye of his racist father, Hank (Billy Bob Thornton). Hank falls for the widow of an executed man which places him in a delicate situation and forces him to confront his own prejudices in the time and place in which he lives. Heath's performance as Sonny impressed critics and viewers alike, eventually landing him the role of Ennis Del Mar in 2005's Brokeback Mountain.
The Four Feathers
In his second film of 2002 Heath starred in the epic war drama The Four Feathers along side Kate Hudson and Wes Bentley. The movie didn't score with critics or viewers and was considered by most to be a box office bomb. Heath played Harry Feversham in this film based on the book by A.E.W. Mason. It tells the story of a British officer who resigns his post right before his brigade ships out to battle the rebels. His friends and fiancée give him four white feathers, the symbol of cowardice as they believe that is the reason he left, but in fact he is actually going undercover with plans to redeem his honor.
Ned Kelly
Ledger's next project tells the tale of the Australian Rebel Icon Ned Kelly. This film was also based on a novel, Our Sunshine by Robert Drew and was filmed in 2003 in Australia. Ned Kelly, played by Ledger and his brothers as well as two other men form a gang and rob banks and eventually hold up a train station waiting for a train of police officers who are eventually are tipped off by a school teacher. A shoot out commences between the two forces at the end of the film. While the film won several AFI (Australian Film Institute) awards including a Best Actor award for Heath in his role as Ned Kelly, the film did not make a big impact at the box office.
The Order
Ledger's bad luck streak at the box office continued with his next film of 2003, The Order. Heath plays a young priest by the name of Alex Bernier. When the head of his order, the Carolingians, dies, Alex is sent to Rome to seek out answers and clues to the leader's mysterious death. He uses the help of an old friend and a tortured artist to help him decipher the strange markings on the body which may be the sign of a Sin Eater. Shannon Sossamon, Heath Ledger and Mark Addy star in this movie, this trio also worked together in 2001 during another one of Heath's films, A Knight's Tale.
"I needed to go out and make some bad movies and some interesting movies that weren't based on safe box-office choices. I almost didn't want them to make money. I wanted to suffocate [the hype] a little. And it worked. Because people quickly forget about you. They're like, 'Oh, your movies don't make money? **** off for a while.' It gives you space to sit back a little and get perspective on things.
"Consciously or subconsciously, I wanted to kind of destroy it all and shake it all up, and go, 'Back off, leave me alone. I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that, and you're gonna hate all of it.' I needed to cleanse myself of this commercial filth that was being injected into me. I needed to be reborn."
— Heath Ledger,
GQ magazine, February 2006
Lords of Dogtown
Heath's next piece of work was the 2005 film Lords of Dogtown in which he played Skip, the owner of a local surfboard shop in Santa Monica who encourages and puts together a team of rough and rowdy skateboarders who come to be known as the Z-Boys who create new sport in skateboarding and move into legendary status. Heath won a Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor in an Adventure/Action/Thriller and was hand selected by the original Skip himself to play the role.
The Brothers Grimm
In The Brothers Grimm Heath plays one half of the fairy tale weaving, up to no good duo, Jacob Grimm along side Matt Damon in the 2005 film directed by Terry Gilliam. The pair pretends to protect members of their village using spells and performing exorcisms but is finally put to the test when they are faced with a real magical curse in the enchanted forest and must rely on their own courage to battle it. Heath won a COFCA (Central Ohio Film Critics Association) award for Actor of the Year in 2006 for his role in the film.
"I guess pride came in and bit me on the ankle,"
Ledger says, and laughs. "I was really bored with the movies I'd done, and I was really bored with the choices I was given as a result of the boring work I'd done, and I realized I could be doing better."
— Heath Ledger
GQ magazine,
February 2006
Brokeback Mountain
And better he did. Heath made a career altering, breakthrough performance in the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain. Heath played Ennis Del Mar, a ranch hand who upon herding sheep one summer in 1963 meets and falls in love with Jack Twist, a reject rodeo cowboy. The two meet in secret over the years despite having wives and children of their own and despite the time, place and attitude surrounding them, find love and loss. This performance is said to be one of Heath's best and it earned him an Oscar Nomination for Best Actor in 2006 as well as an AFI International Award and he was nominated for a BAFTA as well as a Golden Globe for Best Actor in 2006. The film Brokeback Mountain went on to win three Oscars including Best Direction.
Once Ang Lee committed to direct and Focus Features obtained financing, we cast the film in short order. Each role, in Larry's words, was cast "to perfection." I had long wanted Heath Ledger for our film, knew in my gut that he had it in him to portray Ennis. Larry saw only his performance in
Monster's Ball and with his keen eye and decisive manner remarked,
"That young man is Ennis."
— Diana Ossana, Co-writer and Producer
of Brokeback Mountain,
Brokeback Mountain Script to Screenplay
Casanova
In December of 2005, right on the heels of Brokeback Mountain being released came Heath's next film, a large departure from his previous role as Ennis Del Mar into the wily wanton ways of the greatest lover of all time, Casanova. Casanova seduces scores of women before finally setting his eyes on the prize, the virginal Victoria. In a mix of masked identities and great farces, Casanova woos and eventually, in an attempt to remain in Venice for his Mother's hopeful return, plans to marry. Only, his plan is soiled when he meets and falls in love with secret political activist and feminist extraordinaire Miss Francesca Bruni played by Sienna Miller.
“Honestly,” says Ledger, who instantaneously becomes animated, “that blow job scene was the most difficult. There was no girl under the table. I had to pretend and the scene went on for literally two minutes. I had my best friend (a guy) under the table trying to help make the scene look natural. He was grabbing my legs, sliding me off the chair, to make it look all the more real."
— Heath Ledger
by Tim Nasson,
Wild About Movies publisher,
December 9, 2005
Candy
Heath's next performance was a dramatic change from his role the clever, womanizing Casanova into the shoes of heroin addict, faltering optimist Dan in the Neil Armfield film Candy based on the book by Luke Davies. The film focuses on Dan, a young man with hopes of becoming a poet who falls under the spell of two different kinds of candy; heroin and the aspiring artist Candy one summer in Sydney. The film is narrated by Dan (Ledger). The story carries them through the summer from love and passion for one another to addiction and obsession of another kind.
I'm Not There
A long time lover of music it only makes sense that Heath's next role would take place in the Bob Dylan picture I'm Not There, directed by Oscar-nominated writer/director Todd Haynes. The film tells a series of stories taking place in America in the 1960's and the 1970's and Dylan's music is used as the background and inspiration for the stories that each show off a part of his personality. Heath actually plays the folk singer amidst a cast of others including Christian Bale whom he would work with in projects to come.
"I'm always gonna pull myself apart and dissect it. I mean, there's no such thing as perfection in what we do. Pornos are more perfect than we are, because they're actually fucking."
-— Heath Ledger
March 10, 2006 Rolling Stone
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