Heath Ledger shouldn't have won the Oscar

[TheLoneWolf]

Don't get me wrong, Heath was a talented actor and I enjoyed his work, but he shouldn't have won the Oscar, let alone been nominated. No actor or actress has ever been nominated for their work in comic book/super-hero movie, and Ledger should've been no exception. Hell, Tobey Maguire should've been nominated nominated for Spider-Man and Jack Nicholson could've gotten a nod for his Joker. Everything about Heath Ledger has been blown out of proportions and his death has been exploited, after a viral marketing campaign with his character. It seems that all this attention has been drawn to the Dark Knight and Ledger's Joker all because of his death and I feel that he not died, he wouldn't have been nominated or won. Personally, I felt that Josh Brolin should've won for his role in Milk or at least Philip Seymour-Hoffman, whose work has been better than Ledger's. I'm not trying to be rude or nothing, it's just how I feel. I will be expecting a nomination for Hugh Jackman next year, should X-Men Origins live up to its potential.

 

[klunderbunker]

Dark Knight didn't live up to its potential. It went way beyond it. Ledger's performance was hyped up before he passed away as well as before the movie hit the strides that it hit. So what if it's a super hero movie? It's nowhere near a typical super hero movie. Dark Knight is amazing for any genre. Who else would you have given the Oscar to? Ledger was one of the biggest parts of one of the biggest movies of all time. What more do you want?

 

[My$terio_Fan]

I disagree, Heath deserved the nomination and the win. Is it true that he may not have been nominated if he didn't die? That's quite possible, but does that mean he didn't deserve it? Maybe not.

The thing is your right there is a biasis against super hero/comic movies and even comedy's. Nicholoson didn't get nominated which is a shame, but Ledger deserved the nomination and most likely the win. It's not his fault that the Oscars have a unfair biasis against thoes sort of movies.

So I disagree and feel Ledger deserved to win because his performance was great, but I agree that if he didn't die a win let alone a nomination may not have come to him although it was deserved.

 

[PlayTheGame]

Dark Knight didn't live up to its potential. It went way beyond it. Ledger's performance was hyped up before he passed away as well as before the movie hit the strides that it hit. So what if it's a super hero movie? It's nowhere near a typical super hero movie. Dark Knight is amazing for any genre. Who else would you have given the Oscar to? Ledger was one of the biggest parts of one of the biggest movies of all time. What more do you want?

Exactly.

Have you even seen The Dark Knight? It was amazing, arguably the best movie of the entire year, especially if your a comic book/sci-fan fan. That's really an undisputable fact.

Now, in terms of Ledger's win, think of it this way- who's role in Batman was more memorable: Bale's Batman or Ledger's Joker. I think most people would go with Ledger's unique mastery of the Joker that really stole the show over Bale's gravley-voiced Batman.

Ledger made his character of the Joker so complex, yet simple at the same time. His delivery, screen presence, and general acting skills were nothing short of amazing and fun to watch. Whenever the Joker went off-screen, I was just waiting for his next appearance so he could wow me again.

Ledger deserved it. End of story.

 

[crapamaniac]

He would have been nominated regardless of his living status the performance ticks all the boxes that the best supporting actor should, I havent seen all the films this year but find it hard to believe many roles will be as memorable. I was a big fan of nicholsons joker and truly feel ledgers surpassed that great performance, did he deserve to win? you can only answer this question if you`ve seen all films as i have not i cant give a definative answer but it would be a special performance to top him.

I do think there`s alot of people who will say he won it cos he`s dead and as that may be slightly true you cant argue with the nomination.

As for the joker who started this thread he says Tobey Mcguire nominated for spiderman, how old are you 8? the guys wooden and cannot act his best role was in sin city and thats cos he said fuck all, christ you`ll be wanted Ben Affleck nominated for daredevil next, as for no one being nominated for a comic role didnt pacino get nominated for best supporting in 1990 for his bullshit role in dick tracy? wasnt this the same year nicholson shudda got a nomination? mayabe the academy have righted a wrong this year but what i know is three things.

1.ledger deserved the oscar
2.tobey mcguire didnt for spiderman lmao
3.kids shouldnt start threads

 

[Minor League Brian]

Are you serious?

First off, Nicholson's Joker wasn't -that- good. It was a damn comedy routine, I don't understand how people can RAVE about it like they do. Ledger played the Joker to the T, nothing short of amazing. He, as of now, IS the best Joker ever. And Toby Maguire was shit, seriously. The Spider man movies were shit. Don't even try this bullshit with because Maguire and Nicholson didn't get Oscar nominations, Ledger shouldn't have, one was a comedy routine and the second was a crybaby in tights, please.

Second off; its a Comic Book movie? Are you shitting me? So, just because it's a comic book movie it's automatically not better then a completely unique idea? Shit, we should disqualify almost all movies now a days because a lot of them pull their ideas from things like Anime's and the such. That's just bias against the archetype.

Third; Just on Ledger himself, you can bitch and moan about the movie all you want, but you CANNOT say Ledger's performance was anything short of brilliant. If he wasn't on the screen, you were almost BEGGING for him to come back on just for more of his awesomeness. You cannot tell me he didn't MAKE that movie, and deserves every bit of recognition he's getting for the part. I don't care if he's dead or alive, he was Abso-fuckin'-lutely brilliant in that movie, brilliant.

 

[Shocky]

Yeah, this argument is tired. When Rolling Stone and Empire visited the set while the movie was just beginning shooting, the hype machine was on full tilt. As early as summer of 2007 people were beginning to compare this Joker to Hannibal Lecter.

The Viral campaign started around then too. The I Believe in harvey Dent, and then the I believe in Harvey Dent Too started, and then the entire Halloween 2007 viral campaign. This is the stuff that got people at a fever pitch. The trailer that came out with I Am Legend, along with the IMAX prequel is what put this movie over the top.

The Viral marketing stopped at Ledger's Death. The Movie was running on momentum from all of the viral marketing to trailers, and the Death hit, and you virtually saw nothing on the Dark Knight until June last year. Then the early critic screenings came out, and highly reputable people and critics began to reconfirm what the magazines had already said, Ledgers Joker was spectacular.

Heath very much so deserves the Oscar. That Joker put Jack's too shame. No disrespect to Hoffman, but that role didn't match up at all with what Heath did with the Joker. Everytime the Joker was on screen, there was alegit sense of dread that someone was going to die, or something equally as bad was going to happen.

And not to sound like a dick, but Tobey Mcguire was just dreadful in the Spiderman movies. Willen DaFoe was the only thing remotely salvagable from thos movies.

 

[TheLoneWolf]

This was response I was looking for when I made this thread.

I wasn't trying to be completely morbid or demeaning to what was accomplished by Mr. Ledger and I wasn't taking anything away from Heath...I just didn't think now was the time to start acknowledging movies outside the normal drama-esque range of Oscar movies. This also goes for Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder, seriously?

The whole Maguire thing was simply for ranting purposes; would it have been better had I mentioned Ron Perlman, or either Eric Bana and Ed Norton, two accomplished actors? Tobey Maguire wasn't great in Spider-Man, but 1 & 2 were great (3 sucked), so it isn't necessary to completely shit on him or Nicholson's Joker. Maybe you prefer Cesar Romero's Joker or the great Mark Hamill as the Joker...

 

[mhz gusto]

I just didn't think now was the time to start acknowledging movies outside the normal drama-esque range of Oscar movies.

Why? I mean which is it; because the nomination, and ensuing victory, led to unfavorable recognition for your preferred performance(s), or is it the failure in living up to tradition?

Whether you decide to select one answer, or both, none of them are near the range of legitimate reasoning.

The Dark Knight received vast acclaim from critics, not just from the nerds who have some concept of the masked vigilante. The grades earned were enough to consider it a worthy adversary to the other nominated films. For you to void the film of its credit because of its inability to conform to tradition and your preference is absurd.

 

[The Big Gunnzbowski]

Don't get me wrong, Heath was a talented actor and I enjoyed his work, but he shouldn't have won the Oscar, let alone been nominated. No actor or actress has ever been nominated for their work in comic book/super-hero movie, and Ledger should've been no exception. Hell, Tobey Maguire should've been nominated nominated for Spider-Man and Jack Nicholson could've gotten a nod for his Joker. Everything about Heath Ledger has been blown out of proportions and his death has been exploited, after a viral marketing campaign with his character. It seems that all this attention has been drawn to the Dark Knight and Ledger's Joker all because of his death and I feel that he not died, he wouldn't have been nominated or won. Personally, I felt that Josh Brolin should've won for his role in Milk or at least Philip Seymour-Hoffman, whose work has been better than Ledger's. I'm not trying to be rude or nothing, it's just how I feel. I will be expecting a nomination for Hugh Jackman next year, should X-Men Origins live up to its potential.

This is a touchy subject. Plain and simple. But saying that Ledger shouldn't have won, let alone been nominated is like saying Eddie Guerrero shouldn't have been let into the HoF. Personally, I think he deserved every nomination he would've received this year. It was a stellar performance, he did an awesome job, and he did craploads better than most of the others that were nominated. His Joker was flawless. Much darker than Nicholsons was. It was his last role and he earned the nod. He's dead now, so honestly, you shouldn't even be worried about it. I mean, he played a gay cowboy and was nominated for an oscar... What do you want?

And to say that nobody has ever been nominated for their work in a superhero/comic book role... Doesn't there always have to be a first for everything? That's not a very good argument, really.

 

[WinstonDeckard]

I'm sure he would've been nominated if he hadn't had passed, although I am less sure on actually winning the Oscar. The fact is that his performance shone and stood out from all others in a very lackluster year at the movies. Yes Brolin and Hoffman delivered terrific performances but neither were the revelation that Heath's was. Heath took a character that is famed for it's campish aspects and made him a harrowing, disturbed character who will go down as one of the true villains of the silver screen.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

As for the joker who started this thread he says Tobey Mcguire nominated for spiderman, how old are you 8? the guys wooden and cannot act his best role was in sin city and thats cos he said fuck all

That wasn't Tobey MacGuire dude. That was wasshisname who played Frodo in LOTR.

I can understand why comic book movies don't get Oscar nominations regularly, and i guess it's because the judges look for films that tell a gripping yet believable story, with characters that the audience can relate to, identify with or could imagine bumping into on the street.

Sadly, you're not going to walk into your friendly neighbourhood spiderman, nor will you sit down at a bar and find Wolverine drinking a beer next to you.

You could however, easily walk into a homicidal weirdo with little to no regard for human life, who also enjoys the subtle arts of torture and manipulation, who disturbs you right down to your stomach purely with the sound of his voice. I feel Ledger did very well playing the part of the sadistic madman, and while his Joker wasn't written to be so elaborate and over the top as the comic book/Nicholson's Joker was, Nolan's Joker combined with Ledger's portrayal was nothing short of mesmorising.

Oscar worthy? No, i didn't think so either. Rourke didn't deserve an Oscar in opinion too. Still both were truly awesome movies and those two in particular, played awesome roles and deserved acknowledgement

 

[Tim]

Heath Ledger should have won the Oscar. Batman was a comic book movie; so what? Does that, and should that, change anything at all? No. And this wasn't even like your average comic book movie, and it was easily one of the best films in 2008. Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker was outstanding, he made the maniac seem believable and he made the Joker seem real. He may have even made the Joker a little too real, that's how good he was in The Dark Knight. And Heath Ledger was easily the best pick out of the nominations. Ledger's performance as the Joker will be one of the main reasons that The Dark Knight is remembered.

 

[LigerBomb]

For all the backlash he's gotten, I still have to somewhat agree with the OP. I simply did not care Ledger's joker either. Having seen all the other nominated films I find it very possible that any of the other actors could have/ should have won. It's my belief that Ledger's win was a combination of sentimentality over his death, a body of work recognition, and "belated win" for Broke Back Mountain.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Maybe he would have got nominated if he was alive, maybe not. He wouldn't have won if he was still around. But since he was nominated there was no other option but for him to win. It would have been hilarious if he hadn't though, with the supporting actor who won having his moment ruined by people frowning and shaking their heads at him.

 

[ulimate123]

Heath Ledger deserved all the oscar awards if that was to be ever possible. The reason why his acting is so praised is that he takes a maniac that most people would laugh at and makes him look realistic, a proper threat, not some junky on the street shooting guns and stealing money. He actually makes the Joker look a legit person that if he came into this world for real he would simply be unstopable. The reason why Jack Nicholson didn't ever get nominated was because his joker was very unrealistic and didn't seem to blend in with life. Hell the real reason why the Dark Knight was so successful ie because it actual seems that those events in the movie could happen, but ofcourse without the mask and the facepaints.

 

[LigerBomb]

Heath Ledger deserved all the oscar awards if that was to be ever possible. The reason why his acting is so praised is that he takes a maniac that most people would laugh at and makes him look realistic, a proper threat, not some junky on the street shooting guns and stealing money. He actually makes the Joker look a legit person that if he came into this world for real he would simply be unstopable. The reason why Jack Nicholson didn't ever get nominated was because his joker was very unrealistic and didn't seem to blend in with life. Hell the real reason why the Dark Knight was so successful ie because it actual seems that those events in the movie could happen, but ofcourse without the mask and the facepaints.

Reality? Really? Personally in no way was Ledger's Joker real for me. I dunno, maybe my concept of reality is a bit different from yours. Fact of the matter is I've lived and grown up in various areas where while walking around I kept an eye out for the junky on the street shooting guns and stealing money. In my version of reality they are the people that rob. They are the people that kill. They are the ones who can take a life and end it in the blink of an eye; and not with a monologue prattling on and asking "Why so serious?", but rather with an indifferent and withdrawn silence. A means to an end. No more no less.

Anyone and everyone is stoppable. Average man and psychopathic clown alike, a gun or knife in the hands of someone who doesn't much care will see to that every time. In no way was The Dark Knight a realistic movie. It was high melodrama and Psych 101. The Oscar nod was accident turned good opportunity and Hallmark card sentimentality so Hollywood could pat itself on the back and talk itself up, all the while turning a marginally talented and competent actor into the gift of a generation that tragically was taken much too soon.

 

[Crimson Mask]

Don't get me wrong, Heath was a talented actor and I enjoyed his work, but he shouldn't have won the Oscar, let alone been nominated. No actor or actress has ever been nominated for their work in comic book/super-hero movie, and Ledger should've been no exception.

If he was a talented actor and people enjoy his work, why shouldn't he be nominated? The only reason that no-one had previously been nominated for a comic-book adaption was genre-bias in the nomination process due to the academies traditionalist approach. Times change through, with comic book adaptions becoming more main-stream and attracting bigger names and bigger audiences and the way films are nominated for Oscars, thats already seeming dated, having to change with the times.

Hell, Tobey Maguire should've been nominated nominated for Spider-Man and Jack Nicholson could've gotten a nod for his Joker.

No, they shouldn't, Spiderman was an good film, but it was more geared toward younger audiences and the preformances, particuarly Maguires, didn't have much depth to them. Batman was much better, being darker, it could explore the characters in greater depth, althrough it didn't do that to its full potential. Nicholson was a great joker, through I don't rate the preformance as oscar-worthy.

Everything about Heath Ledger has been blown out of proportions and his death has been exploited, after a viral marketing campaign with his character. It seems that all this attention has been drawn to the Dark Knight and Ledger's Joker all because of his death and I feel that he not died, he wouldn't have been nominated or won.

Althrough Ledgers death raised a lot of interest, especially because of the darker nature of the film, it's an insult to the the fans of the series and everyone else who worked on the films to say that it would wouldn't have gained the attention it did because of what happened. Batmans a hugely popular character and the film would have been a sucess regardless. Ledger might not have been nominated if he had lived (because of the bias in the process) but the Oscars wasn't just in recognition of his work on the film, it was also recognising the lost potential of a young star who passed away too young.

Personally, I felt that Josh Brolin should've won for his role in Milk or at least Philip Seymour-Hoffman, whose work has been better than Ledger's. I'm not trying to be rude or nothing, it's just how I feel.

Seymour-Hoffman is a great actor and I'm sure he'll nominated again, but like I said, it was also about recognising the loss of a great young actor who was just hitting his prime.

I will be expecting a nomination for Hugh Jackman next year, should X-Men Origins live up to its potential.

Thats right, cause you're "not trying to rude", just proking a reaction from people with comments like this. The X-Men films are not in the same league as BB and TDK, anyway.