First Brad Renfro... now Heath Ledger... 2008 Sucks

Flannery10 said:

Perhaps he will even get nominated for Best Supporting Actor for the Joker. He was a great actor and once again we see that the good guys, die way too early.

Click to expand...

Bah. I keep hearing that! The movie isn't even out yet and already people are talking about giving him an Academy Award! He doesn't need a pity nod. If his performance is good, that's one thing. We don't even know that it is yet. You don't give someone an award for dying. At least not an award like that.

It's very sad that he died. But enough with this pity crap. If anything it's exploitative of his passing.

ResidentAlien said:

Bah. I keep hearing that! The movie isn't even out yet and already people are talking about giving him an Academy Award! He doesn't need a pity nod. If his performance is good, that's one thing. We don't even know that it is yet. You don't give someone an award for dying. At least not an award like that.

Click to expand...

I didn't mean it like that, but rather that his unusual performance as a villain might give him one, since his acting in the trailer looks rather promising.

Rest in Peace Heath. You sure are going to be missed terribly.

I couldn't believe it when I first heard about it.

Even though he already had a great career, he would have gone on to bigger and greater things.


I hope he gets top billing for The Dark Knight. And I'm sure it will be dedicated to him.
I admit I doubted his casting when I first heard he was going to play the Joker. But after I saw some of the new photos of him in costume and after I saw the trailer - I was convinced. I'm looking forward to seeing him in the movie more than ever now.

ResidentAlien said:

Bah. I keep hearing that! The movie isn't even out yet and already people are talking about giving him an Academy Award! He doesn't need a pity nod. If his performance is good, that's one thing. We don't even know that it is yet. You don't give someone an award for dying. At least not an award like that.

It's very sad that he died. But enough with this pity crap. If anything it's exploitative of his passing.

Click to expand...

It's disrespectful to him and his craft. He wouldn't want someone to give "him" the award because he died. That's dumb.

It's very sad. It's too bad the world will never get to see what other great roles he could've gotten. It will definitely be strange seeing The Dark Knight knowing he isn't with us anymore.

I too, am sure they will dedicate the movie to him... and rightfully so. I think the most horrible part of the story is that his little girl doesn't have a daddy anymore and that she will have to be reminded of him over and over through the media and TDK and other things.

As much as I liked Heath as an actor, really, it grieves me to think that we've come to a point in society where we seem to value celebrities' lives more than others. If you heard about a starving mother die in Uganda, you might feel a slight sentiment of sadness, but because you never "knew" her the way you know celebrities through their public presence on screen and in the media, you probably wouldn't feel the same sentiment or loss.

Honestly, thousands die every day. People who could aspire to great things if they had the chance but never did. Heath was fortunate in his lifetime to have a chance. But that doesn't make his death any more of a loss in the bigger picture of the world's framework than anyone else. Social equality has been severely compromised due to publicity and the media. We never really knew Heath except for his on-screen presence; that's really what we're going to miss. We're not going to miss the real man, and wouldn't unless if we knew him personally. This is a great time to remember that actors, as immortalized as they are on film, are as mortal as anyone else in the real world. This is the real world. And there are millions dying now.

Rant wrapped.

It was a shock to me. Another shocker is that I just found out today at work he played the Joker in the Dark Knight movie. I had no clue even after seeing the preview. I really liked the Patriot and Knight's Tale. Damn I'll never watch those flicks the same way again.

AlivePoet said:

As much as I liked Heath as an actor, really, it grieves me to think that we've come to a point in society where we seem to value celebrities' lives more than others. If you heard about a starving mother die in Uganda, you might feel a slight sentiment of sadness, but because you never "knew" her the way you know celebrities through their public presence on screen and in the media, you probably wouldn't feel the same sentiment or loss.

Honestly, thousands die every day. People who could aspire to great things if they had the chance but never did. Heath was fortunate in his lifetime to have a chance. But that doesn't make his death any more of a loss in the bigger picture of the world's framework than anyone else. Social equality has been severely compromised due to publicity and the media. We never really knew Heath except for his on-screen presence; that's really what we're going to miss. We're not going to miss the real man, and wouldn't unless if we knew him personally. This is a great time to remember that actors, as immortalized as they are on film, are as mortal as anyone else in the real world. This is the real world. And there are millions dying now.

Rant wrapped.

Click to expand...

This seems partially valid to me though. One of the great problems that came with the Enlightenment was the concept of cosmopolitanism, whereby the value of all is to be considered equal. This is true, perhaps, but we still must surely value those who are close to us more. We might admire the idealist who, say, trades away his mother's life for the life of one hundred villagers somewhere, but I think we also have to say that in some sense their priorities are deeply out of whack. Our first responsibility is and must be to those closest to us, especially when they have served to sustain our own lives.

Our fascination with and concern for celebrities is surely an extension of this, perhaps even one resulting from a confusion of our tribal or animal instincts for preservation of our own genes and societies. There may be something skewed about this, but I'm not prepared to say how much. All human lives have equal value, but the additional benefits (or demerits) to our cultures and societies that they bring vary greatly. A great artist, which Heath Ledger may be or may have become, is one of those, who can help us to articulate who we are and what we value. That is a definite loss.

Gotta give a +1 to the statements of the Poet and the Prof. An untimely death of a celebrity always seems to glorify his or her career and often to a porportions that might feel little... off, once we start really rationalizing with the thought. It's especially getting ridiculous if we name him or her "the best there ever was in his field", like there seems to be happened with guitarist Kurt Cobain, songwright John Lennon (quick, Bono, jump off the roof!) or racecar driver Ayrton Senna just to mention a few examples.

No one's called Ledger the best here however, but at least in my opinion he seems to suddenly get a lot more recognition than just three days ago. Sure, A Knight's Tale was a fun romp and Brokeback Mountain... well, certainly a good movie but didn't exactly help boost Heath's career around here. Heh. Now, the Dark Knight... keep in mind, we haven't even seen the movie yet! It's going to be an eerie experience for certain, but in the end, just another day, just another role.

Premature loss of a human life is always a waste, but like stated already, even if we do know his name, it's still nothing to make him a saint.

It just goes to show you even with fame fortune and money you can still be un-happy

sad news

Yea so E.T is showing this video where he appears to be doing coke and speaks about how he "smoked 5 joints a day for years." All in all its in bad taste if you ask me. More general exploitation of a man's death. We all have our problems but what i rly dislike about it is the video is years old.

Finn said:

. . . and Brokeback Mountain... well, certainly a good movie but didn't exactly help boost Heath's career around here. Heh. Now, the Dark Knight...

Click to expand...

. . .another gem.

Joe Brody said:

. . .another gem.

Click to expand...

Ahhh the good old days!

And to add to the losses, Britain has lost one of it's premier entertainers - TV presenter Jeremy Beadle. R.I.P Jezzer.