Male hollywood stars, no matter what country they come from, have always been reluctant to play gay roles, especially when it comes to love scenes. Ang Lee's masterpiece "Brokeback Mountain" is set in Wyoming and adapted from a short story published by Anne Pull in 1997, and many viewers must be curious about whether a straight man like Heath Ledger can cope with it when playing the conflicted cowboy Ennis. Admittedly, he's played some challenging roles over the past few years, but that doesn't fully explain that.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
On a cold November morning, Heath Ledger and I met in Manhattan, and I got an indirect clue from the conversation. I mentioned my favorite actress, Judy Davis, who, like him, is from Perth – almost the most remote city in the world, in the largest state in Western Australia.
He was obviously a little tired, perhaps because of the late-night party and wine that had lasted until the previous night's "Cinrina" premiere (he said the wine tasted very good), or because he and his fiancée Michelle Williams' newborn daughter Matilda had interrupted his sleep and suddenly became active.
Michelle Williams, Ang Lee and Heath Ledger (left to right)
"Did you see her playInguette Garland on TV?" he asked. "There was a scene on stage where she dressed up as a clown and sang 'Above the Rainbow' in close-up shots. It's one of the most beautiful shots I've ever seen." He was so sensitive, as he handled the cruel and tender sex scenes with Jack Gyllenhaal, his cowboy lover Jack Twester.
"The first time I kissed Jack, it felt very unreal." Ledger said with a smile. "But after that scene was filmed, it didn't make me think of running away or shooting another one, all I thought was, well, what's the next scene?" They're just a small part of the whole play."
Ledger and I sat in a hotel suite on Columbus Circle In New York, just a stone's throw from Brooklyn— where he and Williams recently moved. Williams played his wife who was betrayed by Ledger in Brokeback Mountain.
He laughed often, showing warmth and courtesy with an Australian sincerity. Both the round head and the decadent temperament had disappeared from him. He dressed up like a Midwestern businessman—though he forgot to tie his belt. A tattoo loomed under the sleeve of his shirt—a leaf with the words "Old Man's River" tattooed on it— and an artificial bracelet.
Heath Ledger, whose father was a mining engineer and his mother was a French teacher, was now divorced, and they named him in honor of Emily Brontë's Heathcliff. However, the tall, 26-year-old actor of Irish and Scottish descent may not be as striking as his image in a novel or film.
"He's very photogenic, even better than Jack," said Ang Lee, the director of "Brokeback Mountain." "For some actors, you have to avoid things like that. But Heath is different." There is a special charm in him. Lina Heidi agreed. She co-starred with Ledger in Terry Gilliam's Brothers Grimm. "I can't imagine anyone saying no to him. His energy is contagious."
Given his portrayal of the shy, repressive, moody, and unspeakable Ennis, critics have begun to chant "Oscar!" finish. He picked up the whole movie, completely beyond Pru's expectations. "Heath Ledger erased my imagination when I wrote this novel. He was so impressive. How did this actor sneak into my brain? He seems to know the role better than I do. A 70-year-old woman may not be very good at saying that, but it's like an intracranial orgasm."
In Brokeback Mountain, Ledger almost makes a makeover, as if an elf had completely transformed him. But from the very beginning of his films, he has been a chameleon. In The Hands, he plays a talkative strip club bouncer who becomes a strong and panic-prone adult when his life is threatened, and the film was shot in Sydney, when Ledger was only 19 years old and had already moved to Los Angeles.
Hands (1999)
Still, his performance caught the attention of Hollywood casting agents. That same year, in his first American film, Gil Jorgel's Ten Things I Hate You, he showed his neat white teeth and glow, not to mention his ability to grasp the timing of comedy. In this film, he plays a gothic-style high school gangster who betrays his lover in order to win the heart of Julia Steeles.
Ten Things I Hate About You (1999)
Fearing being stereotyped as a teenage megaloman (his Australian TV series had turned him into a power meme), he subsequently played the "serious" and monotonous role of Mel Gibson's son in Patriot, a film that, while not brilliant, was commercially successful.
The Patriot (1999)
In Ledger's next film, The Knight of the Mujahideen— another box office blockbuster and his first major character — he deftly transformed himself from a ragged medieval peasant into a heroic knight.
Knights of the Holy War (2001)
However, Ennis neither laughs nor is active. He often squinted his eyes, his mouth almost closed, and only on rare occasions did he open his mouth. "I hope this is somehow a reflection of Ennis's way of looking at the world," Ledger said. "I want the lights to be too bright for him and the world too noisy for him." His face was that of a real farmer, including a stiff upper lip, which Australian farmers would have done to prevent flies from flying into their mouths." He finally smiled.
Seemingly to avoid nosy people, Ennis often folded his chin and pressed his cowboy hat down. He pressed his tongue against his jaw nervously, tightened his flat cheeks, and muttered in a low, hoarse voice. His accent was typical of Wyoming's accent in the 1960s, with a hint of Texas — a perfect combination because, according to Pru, many Texans lived in Wyoming during that decade. He has somewhat arched legs and sagging shoulders. Ledger explains, "If you're riding on a horse all day, once you jump down, you'll still feel like there's a horse between your legs. This will affect your shoulders. They sag."
He was familiar with horses as a child — "If we accepted the job of feeding horses, my father would have rented a house on the edge of the national forest at a cheap price" — but he had never ridden a horse. His first horse ride was for Roar, a short-lived American drama filmed in Australia in 1997 in which Ledger played a Celtic warrior wearing a tunic.
The Roar (1997)
"Since then, I've made three films on horseback." He learned about the farm and horse breeding from the Wrangler on set. He also observed other students in the school, the Guildford Grammar Boys' School in Perth, where "farmers in Western Australia send their children to board".
Ledger says he's been thorough in interpreting his role. "I've never taken an acting class, so I made a lot of mistakes when I made movies," he explains. "I would buy books to study and meditate. I need a space like this where I can sit down and think, find a voice for the character and visualize it. For Ennis, I think what he was struggling with was genetic structure, something genetic, his fear, what his father showed him—a murdered gay farmer. Of course, I also saw the flaws in him. I never felt like I had fully achieved my goal. Like the simple farmers, they never complacent about a good harvest season. They feel they will be punished."
"I noticed that Heath was very different when he starred in 'Hands' and 'Kelly's Party,'" said Greg Jordan, the director of both films. "In Hands, he's childish, willing to try anything, and — I wouldn't say sensitive — but very sharp. By the time of "Kelly Party", he had already made a lot of movies and had a more fixed way of acting. He's figured out what style his performance will be and uses it with ease."
The Kelly Party (2003)
"Heath is very meticulous," Ang Lee said. "I generally don't recommend that actors look at themselves on the monitor, but he's the only exception. When he becomes more self-conscious, he acts better. He set an area for himself, believed in it and continued to improve it. Jack would think of something one way or another and try anything, just like De Niro. Heath wasn't like that. He has a clear goal."
Following Ennis, Légé starred in Las Holstrom's Casanova in Venice. "There was a heavy responsibility when making Brokeback Mountain. Playing Ennis made me very nervous and I needed to change my role to relax myself. The script for Casanova is more joyful. Making this film was a great opportunity for me to enjoy without being too demanding of myself. It's a great feeling to drink red wine for lunch and eat pasta."
Casanova (2005)
Casanova belongs to the category of easily digestible star films, and the budget is not low. Many of Ledger's films have failed miserably at the box office or had poor word-of-mouth, sometimes both. When asked if he would stay away from films like The Patriot, The Mujahideen, Sin Eater and Four Feathers, he replied flatly: "There is no doubt that it is."
"Casanova" is equally bleak, and if Ledger is a bit eye-catching in picking projects, he is still more picky about the role. Most recently, he starred in a supporting role in "Lords of Dogtown" (another failed film), playing the bearded, iron-hearted surf shop owner.
Lord of Dogtown (2005)
"It's great not to have to take responsibility for the box office." Ledger also played the sensitive, unloved Southern son of cold-blooded cop Billy Bob Thornton in "Dance of the Death Row," who shot himself 30 minutes after the film's opening. More recently, he starred in Neil Armfield's upcoming Australian low-budget film Candy as an addict. Ledger believes That New York offers him other options. "I want to do a stage play. I love theater."
Candy (2005)
"When Heath first got the status of movie star, I thought he was forced to make some movies he didn't really like," Jordan said. "People want him to be the next Brad Pitt or whatever, and he's under a lot of pressure. But he wanted to be an actor, not a movie star. It's a risky thing to do, because at the end of the day, you can only rely on your acting skills or abilities as an actor, not on your own attractiveness and roles tailored to you. I think he managed to do that. He's only just beginning to explore the boundaries of his abilities."
Ledger said he "loved" Brooklyn so much that he bought a well-priced property in the tree-lined Bonn Lamb Hill. "In my opinion, Brooklyn is the closest place in the United States to Europe. The neighbours and locals were great. It's like a village."
His last home was a 5,000-square-foot mansion in Los Felice, California. "Michelle and I really like small spaces right now," Ledger said. "Our circle of life is also smaller. We were away from everything. It teaches us how to survive." Aside from his role as a father, he hasn't made any commitment to the future. This completely open-minded man is still groping his own path.