CNN’s entertainment-themed Year in Review spends quite a bit of space ruminating on Heath Ledger’s turn in The Dark Knight as it attempts to understand the fact that in a year where Change and Hope seemed to permeate the political atmosphere, the entertainment industry made mad bank on somewhat drearier subjects.
The buzz surrounding his performance was electrifying. He was remaking the Joker; he wasn’t a camp comedian like Cesar Romero or a malevolent clown like Jack Nicholson. He was pure nihilism, with his jagged makeup and ragged hair. Even glimpses of his smile on the “Dark Knight” movie posters were thrilling.
And then he was gone. “We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications,” read the New York City medical examiner’s office report, affectlessly.
Who knows what could have happened? The hype surrounding “The Dark Knight,” partly fueled by Ledger’s death, turned out to have been warranted; the film earned critical praise and planeloads of money. Ledger has been posthumously nominated for a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award and is expected to receive an Oscar nomination, as well. Had he lived, he could have named his price.
Oh yeah – they also wonder how/why that Indiana Jones flick sucked so damn hard.
