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Should Heath Ledger win an Oscar®?

Posted on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009
by Andrea Miller - Cineplex Entertainment

Heath Ledger

Following his posthumous Golden Globe win for Best Supporting Actor and nominations from almost every major film critics’ organization, the chances of Heath Ledger joining the ranks of Oscar winners for his startling portrayal as the nihilistic crime-lord The Joker in The Dark Knight are nearly a lock.

Buzz has been building since before the film’s summer release and talk of Ledger sequestering himself in a hotel room while creating the comic book villain added to the myth and legend of the late actor’s near-final performance.

There is no denying that Ledger dazzled on the big screen, bringing a fresh sense of terror and barely-contained lunacy to a very well-known character – but is this enough to net him the first posthumous acting Oscar since 1976?

At the risk of being wildly unpopular and the target of many a rabid fan’s furious rant, I have to say no.

Check out what some people had to say about Heath Ledger winning an Oscar.

That isn’t to say Ledger didn’t do a commendable job of re-imagining a character that was, up until that point, clearly owned by everyone’s favourite grinning lothario, Jack Nicholson. As well, Christopher Nolan made good on the franchise overhaul he hinted at with 2002’s Batman Begins, sketching a darker, more troubled world for the conflicted superhero and depraved baddie whose intrinsic struggle lay at the heart of the film.

So why not grant Ledger the Oscar then, you ask?

Though it’s only human to romanticize the past and lionize the departed, Ledger’s work, while good, simply does not hold up to the canon of Oscar winning roles. Yes, he did an exemplary job of elevating the superhero villain to new artistic levels, but when viewed with respect to the other celebrated performances this year – Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt, Robert Downey Jr. in anything, Josh Brolin in Milk and Eddie Marsan from Happy-Go-Lucky, to name a few – and from years past, The Joker, quite simply, comes up short.

Acting like a lawless maniac who lives to see things go boom certainly isn’t as easy as it sounds but Ledger showed grace, subtlety and more importantly, range, in Brokeback Mountain as Ennis del Mar, earning him his first, and very deserved, Oscar nomination. Similarly, he was one of the many skilled actors tackling a man who knows a thing or two about self-mythologizing in Todd Haynes’ inventive Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There.

There’s no doubt that the Australia native was much more than his chiseled jaw and easy smile originally suggested, taking on roles that made the public forget his part in late-90s teen fare and see him as an accomplished actor in his own right.

But the Oscars are meant to honour the best performances of the year in film and though Ledger’s Joker will no doubt be remembered and widely admired, a Best Supporting Oscar win would be, simply put, unfair.

For a full list of the 2009 Oscar nominees click here.

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What do YOU think? Should Heath Ledger win an Oscar for his work in The Dark Knight? Is his performance overrated or amazing? Discuss your thoughts below!

(Click here for tickets to The Dark Knight IMAX® encore presentation)

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    • Pelle-31
    • Written at 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009

    • Dead or alive it's worthy of a nomination. Should he win? I think so.
      Definately better than Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder.

    • mjbmjb
    • Written at 5:16 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009

    • Last year I picked 9 of the 10 major awards, and all films were seen prior to February. This year I have seen only one of the top movies. I did see The Dark Knight. Obviously I'm not in a position to predict the outcome. I do believe though that his performance was worthy.

    • RobynCobham
    • Written at 4:13 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009

    • Heath Ledger deserves this Oscar, he was outstanding in The Dark Knight, He should have gotten and Oscar for Brokeback Mountain. This Oscar is in my opinion overdue.

      I remember him today RIP Heath!

    • Rock
    • Written at 4:11 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009

    • If he were alive would he even be nominated? He was good, and I have always liked him in whatever he did, but the nominees are alive and one of them should be nominated.

    • marijo
    • Written at 3:05 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009

    • He was ok in Dark Knight but I don't feel worthy enough for any oscar and probably wouldn't even be nominated had he lived. There are far better actors deserving than him.

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