Ledger's last performance hits screen in Cannes

Australian actor Heath Ledger's final performance before he died of an accidental overdose in January 2008 nearly never made it to the big screen, U.S.-born director Terry Gilliam said on Friday.

The film maker's first thought when Ledger died in New York was to ditch "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," which was only half finished.

But encouraged by people around him to continue, and helped by actors Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell who played Ledger's character in three separate dream sequences, Gilliam eventually completed the movie.

"The choice I made was to close the film down," Gilliam told reporters at the Cannes film festival, where the out-of-competition movie has its world premiere.

"I couldn't see how we could finish it without Heath because we were in the middle of production.

"Fortunately, I was surrounded by really good people who insisted that I shouldn't be such a lazy bastard and I'd better go out and find a way of finishing the film for Heath.

"That's what we did."

Gilliam decided to use three actors rather than one to complete the role of Tony, made possible because they appear in a land of the imagination entered through a magic mirror.

"I started calling friends -- Johnny Depp, and he said 'I'm there'. And I basically was just calling people who knew and loved Heath.

"Everyone in the cast and everyone in the crew was determined that this film would be finished and everybody worked longer, harder and somehow we got through. It was really ... people's love for Heath that propelled this thing forward."

ENERGY AND AD-LIBBING

Gilliam praised Ledger, who won a posthumous Oscar for his performance as the Joker in Batman blockbuster "The Dark Knight," for his enthusiasm and energy on set.

"Heath was enjoying himself so much and he was ad libbing a lot which I don't really allow that much ... in my films. He got everybody else going. Everybody was just energized by Heath, he was extraordinary, he was almost exhausting."

Ledger plays Tony, who is found hanging from a bridge in London but is revived by Anton and Valentina, members of a horse-drawn traveling theater which has the power to allow people to walk into a world of their dreams.

Christopher Plummer stars as Doctor Parnassus, an man who has lived for centuries after making a pact with the devil, performed by Tom Waits.

The devil plans to take away his daughter Valentina when she turns 16, but gives Parnassus one last chance to save her.

The action moves from the streets of London and inside the rickety old wagon to fantastical, special effects-laden landscapes that represent people's imaginations.

"I just know that story telling and the restructuring of the world through stories is vital," Gilliam said. "What I'm talking about is using one's imagination to expand the possibilities and the view of the world people have."

Ledger's family, who Gilliam said supported him completing the film, have yet to see it.

"What was important for me was just to make a film with Heath's last performance up there alive and well, and I think they're going to be delighted by it."

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE54L2EU20090522

Vampires vs Slumdog for MTV award

Teen vampire film Twilight has taken the lead with seven nominations at this year's MTV Movie Awards.

The film, based on the Stephanie Meyer book, is up for best movie and male breakthrough performance for its star, British actor Robert Pattinson.

It competes with Slumdog Millionaire in four categories, including best kiss. The Oscar-winner has six nods in all.

The awards will be hosted by Saturday Night Live star Andy Samberg on 31 May in Los Angeles.

Twilight, the story of a passionate romance between a mortal girl and an enigmatic vampire, is also nominated for best female for star Kristen Stewart, best fight and best song - for Paramore's Decode.

Taylor Lautner will also go up against his co-star Pattinson for best breakthrough male.

Slumdog Millionaire, a rags-to-riches story set in the slums on Mumbai, is up for best movie, male and female breakthrough performances, best kiss and best song - for AR Rahman's Jai Ho.

Its final nomination comes in a category for the most surprising scene of the year, for a sequence in which a young boy escapes from an outhouse to meet his movie idol.

Public vote

Other nominees for the "golden popcorn" trophy for best movie include High School Musical 3: Senior Year and comic book epics The Dark Knight and Iron Man.

Heath Ledger has been nominated in the best villain category

Kate Winslet, who won an Oscar for her role in The Reader, is up for best female performance, along with Angelina Jolie for Wanted, Anne Hathaway for Bride Wars, Kristen Stewart for Twilight and Taraji P Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

The nominees for best male performance include Christian Bale for The Dark Knight, Robert Downey Jr for Iron Man, Shia LaBeouf for Eagle Eye, Vin Diesel for Fast & Furious and High School Musical heartthrob Zac Efron.

Heath Ledger, who won a posthumous Oscar for his performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight, is also nominated in the best villain category.

For the first time, awards organisers are allowing MTV fans to choose the nominees, as well as vote for winners.

Votes can be cast on MTV's website until 27 May for all categories except best movie which will remain open until 31 May, when the show will air live in the US from the Gibson Amphitheatre.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8033185.stm

Ledger's last film awaits deal for U.S. release

Backstage at the Oscars on Sunday night, where her brother was awarded a posthumous supporting actor's award, Kate Ledger told reporters that her family is very much in the loop on his final movie.

"We've seen a little bit of the footage," she said of Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," Heath Ledger's last film. "I think it's going to be amazing."

But the comments only highlighted a larger question: When will U.S. audiences get to see it?

The head-trippy "Parnassus," about a traveling magician who gives customers more than they bargained for, is a joint production of financial entity Grosvenor Park and sales mogul Samuel Hadida of Davis Films. It was gliding along as just another independently financed production -- and product of Gilliam's funhouse imagination -- when Ledger died early last year, in the middle of production.

The project's fate was thrown into question until Jude Law, Colin Farrell and Johnny Depp stepped in, with all three part of an elaborate work-around that has the actors playing different parts of Ledger's role.

That saved the production. But the sales process since then has been nearly as complicated.

A number of U.S. buyers during the summer and early fall were said to be interested in acquiring stateside rights -- Lionsgate and Overture reportedly were among the potential suitors -- but word of a potential deal quickly quieted down.

That has fueled speculation concerning such matters as dissent among producers over finances. Rumors aside, the film, whose budget is thought to be upward of $20 million, does present challenges.

Even with the Ledger hook, a distributor would face marketing difficulties. Gilliam has grown more experimental in recent years, with such fare as "Tideland" and "The Brothers Grimm," and marketing experts say that retailing "Parnassus" as a Ledger film risks a backlash among general audiences unaccustomed to artier material.

A U.S. deal is expected shortly, with a mini-major or larger indie expected to make the play. (The movie already has a deal for Mandate International to release it in the United Kingdom, where former Monty Python member Gilliam tends to fare better. It is expected to open there in the summer.)

Still, the absence of a U.S. distribution deal nearly six months after talks began speaks to the difficulty of selling art-house films to the domestic market.

"This movie stars Heath Ledger in his final performance -- it will get a deal and come out in the U.S.," said one indie film veteran. "But it's no accident that it's taking this long."

http://www.reuters.com/news/entertainment

Winners! A Complete List From the 2009 Oscars

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire

Actor in a Leading Role: Sean Penn, Milk

Actress in a Leading Role: Kate Winslet, The Reader

Actor in a Supporting Role: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Actress in a Supporting Role: Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black, Milk

Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire

Animated Feature Film: WALL-E

Foreign Language Film: Departures (Japan)

Original Score: A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire

Original Song: "Jai Ho," A.R. Rahman and Gulzar; Slumdog Millionaire

Art Direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire

Costume Design: The Duchess

Makeup: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Film Editing: Slumdog Millionaire

Documentary Feature: Man on Wire

Documentary Short Subject: Smile Pinki

Animated Short Film: La Maison en Petits Cubes

Live Action Short Film: Spielzeugland (Toyland)

Sound Editing: The Dark Knight

Sound Mixing: Slumdog Millionaire

Visual Effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Jerry Lewis

http://www.eonline.com/

Ledger's Legacy: A new generation's James Dean?

It was a decade ago, and director Gil Junger was seeking fresh talent for his upcoming movie, "10 Things I Hate About You." He'd already seen 250 or 300 kids. In walked a young Australian TV actor looking for work.

After a quick line reading and a bit of improv, "I was stunned," Junger says now. Certain he was looking at someone with enough raw magnetism to be a movie star, he turned to his casting people. "Hire him immediately," he recalls saying of Heath Ledger.

Ten years after that teen flick launched his brief but hugely promising film career, Ledger is an overwhelming favorite to become, on Sunday, only the second actor to win a posthumous Oscar. If he does, the words "Oscar-winning actor" will doubtless precede each mention of his name forever.

But beyond that, what will his legacy be?

Will he be remembered by future generations simply as the talented, versatile young actor he was? Or will his sex appeal endure, lumping him with cinematic heartthrobs of the past? Will he be remembered for one role, his leering Joker in "The Dark Knight"? Or will his premature death be the defining memory, making him this generation's version of '50s cult icon James Dean?

It's easy to see why the Dean comparison has been so tempting. Both actors died in their 20s - Dean in a car crash at age 24, Ledger of an accidental prescription-drug overdose at 28. Like Ledger, Dean was known for a provocative kind of charisma, embodied in the famous photos of his misunderstood teenager in "Rebel Without a Cause."

Both were recognized with two Oscar nominations - Dean's were both posthumous, for "East of Eden" and "Giant." And both will remain forever young, with no inkling of how they would have aged or how their careers would have fared.

But in many ways, the two weren't alike at all.

"Dean was a whole different animal," says film historian Leonard Maltin. "He became a cultural icon because of the rebel role he embodied, and even the sort of glamorously grisly way that he died. I'd wager that many young people who have posters of him on their walls haven't even seen his movies."

Ledger, on the other hand, had no singular screen persona - it was in large part his versatility that set him apart. Imagine another young actor playing Ennis Del Mar, the taciturn, confused cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain," or the menacing Joker of "The Dark Knight," with the heartthrobs of "A Knight's Tale" and "10 Things I Hate About You" thrown in.

"There wasn't a Heath Ledger personality," says Maltin. "Ledger was a serious actor who will be remembered because he gave several indelible performances. He inhabited each role."

Maltin hopes Ledger will also be remembered for the creative risks he took - for example, taking a small role as a prison guard in 2001's "Monster's Ball," a choice that showed his reluctance to be typecast. "That sent a signal that this was a serious young actor, not a pretty boy looking to score points," Maltin says.

For some fans, it will always be Ledger's Oscar-nominated performance as the tortured ranch hand in Ang Lee's 2005 "Brokeback Mountain" that remains his defining performance, his diabolical Joker notwithstanding. Screenwriting professor Richard Walter hopes that role will be a central part of his legacy.

"He might indeed be a kind of James Dean figure, but I think he was a far, far superior actor to Dean," says Walter, who runs the screenwriting program at UCLA's film school. "Dean's whole persona was kind of a cartoon character." He predicts Ledger will remain a major name in cinema - "maybe not for as long as 20 to 30 years, but for a long while."

Ledger has now won a slew of awards for "The Dark Knight," including the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award, and it would be a surprise if he didn't capture the supporting actor Oscar. The award would be a fitting yet bittersweet bookend to his career.

"Winning an Oscar would go a long way toward solidifying the actor's legacy," says Todd Boyd, professor of popular culture at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts.

But will that legacy be one of an enduring cultural icon like Dean? "I think any time you have a celebrity who dies young while seemingly on the way up the ladder of success, comparisons to James Dean are inevitable," says Boyd. But Dean remains alive in our minds, he adds, because generations born after his death found his rebel image relevant to their own era.

"If future generations discover Ledger and find ways to make his image applicable to their times, then people may one day be asking whether a future celebrity who dies prematurely while on the way up is akin to Heath Ledger," Boyd says.

Ledger's family is celebrating his legacy in its own way. A dozen family members were in Hollywood this week, attending a party thrown by Australians in Film to honor the first recipient of the group's Heath Ledger scholarship, a 29-year-old Australian actor named Oliver Ackland.

It wasn't known who would accept the Oscar on Ledger's behalf should he win, but the Academy has said the statuette will be given to his daughter, Matilda.

For the many still aching to see more of Ledger, he has one movie yet to be released. He died in the midst of production on "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," and director Terry Gilliam has salvaged the unfinished performance by enlisting three other big-name actors - Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell - to complete the part.

After that, Ledger's fans will be left to wonder what else this hugely talented actor might have had up his sleeve.

"The worst thing is we don't know what he would have done," notes Walter, the screenwriting professor. He points out that a similarly magnetic presence in his youth, Marlon Brando, is now remembered for a whole range of performances - the good, the bad, and the bizarre.

Junger, the director, now working on a TV version of "10 Things I Hate About You" for ABC, finds the comparisons to other actors, like Dean, of little value.

"I just think he was an extraordinary young talent whose life was snuffed out way too early," the director says.

"He would have had a shockingly good career."-AP

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/fronts/ENTERTAINMENT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME

Heath Ledger's family celebrates his Oscar nod

A dozen members of Heath Ledger's family have come to Hollywood, and though it's still not known whether any of them will accept an Oscar on his behalf, they're already celebrating the late actor's legacy.

The twelve - Ledger's parents, stepparents, siblings and cousins - were guests of honor at a party thrown by Australians in Film to recognize Aussie Oscar nominees and introduce the inaugural recipient of the Heath Ledger scholarship Thursday night at the Chateau Marmont.

Family members quietly greeted guests as they sipped sparkling wine in a corner, declining to talk to the press.

Scholarship winner Oliver Ackland, who cites Ledger among his role models, was humbled by the honor.

"The fact that it is in his name means the world," said the 29-year-old actor. "I admired Heath and I admired the work that he chose, the path he created for himself. It shows a lot of integrity on his behalf ... not just the choices he made but the way he went about it, in front of the camera and otherwise."

Ackland said was particularly nervous to meet Ledger's family Thursday.

"I think they could tell I was a bit nervous," Ackland said. "They just said, 'You'll be fine. Just be yourself.'"

Ackland shared e-mail addresses and a warm exchange with Ledger's sister Sally.

"She gave me a big hug and was just supportive," he said.

Australians in Film announced its Heath Ledger scholarship in June. Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts, Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams, mother of Ledger's daughter, Matilda, are among the benefactors.

Ledger died of an accidental prescription-drug overdose last year at age 28. He is the front-running nominee for the supporting actor Oscar for his role as the diabolical Joker in the Batman flick "The Dark Knight."

Other Australian nominees honored Thursday included Kirk Baxter, editor of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Catherine Martin, costume designer for "Australia," Lee Smith, editor of "The Dark Knight" and Ben Snow, visual effects for "Iron Man."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/fronts/ENTERTAINMENT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME

Heath Ledger insurance suit settles

An agreement has been reached in a lawsuit involving Heath Ledger's $10 million life insurance policy.

The confidential settlement was revealed in court documents filed Wednesday in Los Angeles. Ledger's attorneys are seeking a closed hearing next month to establish a court guardian to represent the actor's 3-year-old daughter, Matilda Rose, who is the policy's beneficiary.

An attorney for Ledger sued ReliaStar Life Insurance Co. last year, claiming the company was refusing to pay the actor's death benefits. The attorney claimed the insurer was refusing to pay because it wanted to investigate whether Ledger's death was a suicide.

A coroner ruled Ledger's death last January was from an accidental prescription drug overdose.

William Shernoff, who represented Ledger's attorney, said Thursday that both sides were pleased with the settlement. He declined to discuss specifics of the deal. - AP