The movie Heath Ledger called the “turning point” of his career: “I hadn’t really proven myself”
Even though he was only 28 when he passed away on January 22nd, 2008, and had less than 20 feature film appearances to his name, Heath Ledger was already regarded by his peers as a generational talent.
There was something sadly poetic about his final completed performance being the one that will always define him, and even if Ledger had been there to collect his ‘Best Supporting Actor’ Academy Award for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, the Joker would still be casting the biggest shadow.
After all, it’s evolved into one of the most influential performances of the 21st century, with countless up-and-coming stars pointing to Ledger’s tour de force as the ‘Clown Prince of Crime’ as the one that opened their eyes to the possibility of acting, making a mockery of the so-called ‘fans’ who were up in arms when his casting was first announced.
Matt Damon called Ledger the single best actor he’d ever seen in person, and when you consider that he’s shared the screen with Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Tom Hanks, Michael Douglas, Jeff Bridges, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, and more, it speaks volumes to just how good he was.
The only thing that the Australian needed to overcome in his early years was the fact that he was ridiculously handsome, with Hollywood keen to push him into a pretty-boy box that he wanted nothing to do with. He did for a while, which was only natural because it raised his profile, but there was one picture that Ledger called the turning point that opened a brand new professional chapter.
10 Things I Hate About You, The Patriot, and A Knight’s Tale were all successful films that helped put him on the map, but left the actor with a sense of impostor syndrome. “When I was younger, I was kind of handed a career,” he explained, per Empire. “I was given these silly movies, they put my face on the poster, and put all this pressure on my shoulders.”
As much as he appreciated it, he wanted more. “They were basically delivering me a career I felt I didn’t deserve because I hadn’t proven myself,” Ledger continued. “The turning point was maybe Ned Kelly. That was a film I approached with enthusiasm. Since then, I’ve been somewhat destroying the career that was handed to me, and creating one that I feel like I’ve deserved.”
Gregor Jordan’s biographical drama about the legendary Aussie outlaw was far from a hit. In fact, it bombed at the box office and was greeted tepidly at best by critics and audiences. However, it was the first time that Ledger had been awarded top billing in a non-frivolous flick, and it informed almost everything he did next.
While he didn’t quite rid himself entirely of “silly movies”, since Terry Gilliam’s The Brothers Grimm and Lasse Hallström’s Casanova came after, titles like Lords of Dogtown, Brokeback Mountain, Candy, and The Dark Knight were indicative of Ledger’s new post-Ned Kelly direction, even if he tragically didn’t get to make the most of it.
