For all that we lost Heath Ledger way too soon, in the years that he was with us it was clear that he was an astonishing acting talent – originating as a romantic lead radiating charisma in films like 10 Things I Hate About You and A Knight’s Tale, before putting in incredibly powerful performances in the likes of The Dark Knight and Brokeback Mountain. His impact continues to be felt by audiences around the world – hence why you voted him to be a part of Empire’s 50 Greatest Actors celebration.
Inside the pages of the new issue, we not only speak to the stars themselves, but we gather tributes and celebrations of the listed actors from filmmakers who have worked with them. For Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain director Ang Lee opens up on his admiration for the actor, looking back on his memories of shooting the film and the way Ledger inhabited the role of closeted cowboy Ennis Del Mar.
Read the full piece below, and pick up the new issue – on newsstands from Thursday 22 December and available to order online here – to find more director tributes, including Tim Burton on Jack Nicholson, Ridley Scott on Joaquin Phoenix, Gina Prince-Bythewood on Viola Davis, Baz Luhrmann on Nicole Kidman, and many more besides. Find the full list of the 50 Greatest Actors here.
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ANG LEE ON HEATH LEDGER
as told to Chris Mandle
Heath Ledger was a brilliant young actor. God only knows what he would have achieved later in life. He had so much talent – I’m sure he would have been a great director.
Brokeback Mountain has the elegiac mood of a Western and an inner-twisted repression – Ennis is a very repressed character, macho but gay, gay but homophobic – and often there is no vocabulary to express his feelings. So Heath’s aura powers the whole story. He did a lot of preparation, mostly on his own. And he often surprised me with what he brought to his work.
What stays with me is the nuance, the quieter moments. The trick is to know how to turn a performance down and still shape it. There is a scene I remember very clearly, where an old girlfriend [Linda Cardellini] runs into Ennis at a diner. Ennis is alone, eating a slice of apple pie. Linda is acting her heart out, she’s in tears, confronting Ennis: “Why did you do this?” But she doesn’t get a word from him. Throughout the whole scene, Heath does nothing: he just eats the apple pie. But watching the dailies, the crew were all crying too, saying, “Just leave the guy alone!” I both understood, and cherished, Heath’s quietness, the subtlety of the moment, and how he carried himself in that scene. We are all very lucky we were able to make movies with an actor of that calibre. He had a God-given gift.
One aspect I cherish was getting to witness Heath and Jake [Gyllenhaal] develop that relationship between their characters. I saw it unfold right in front of my eyes, from rehearsal all the way to filming. Michelle Williams broke her knee during pre-shooting, but Heath was always looking after her. He was so naturally caring towards Michelle. When it came to Jake, Heath had a very different attitude towards their work. Sometimes there was friction – not quarrelling, but a clash of styles. Sometimes I would mediate that, but they were both good in different ways. They would always make the effort to find a way through.
In his heart, I think Heath knew the character of Ennis deeply. On a technical level, he took direction very well, but worked alone. He’s not someone you really needed to talk to a lot, because he was very independent. For me, if the result is right, then I’m happy. If it’s not, I could tell him, and he would work something else out.
I gave both men a couple of books about the rural Midwest, and they went to a cowboy camp, too. But Heath grew up on a ranch in Australia – he was a natural. He didn’t need to do a lot of the work, but he took the training in good faith. He was so good with animals, too. When he sat on that horse, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind. He was a cowboy.
Read Empire’s full 50 Greatest Actors celebration – including a wild day spent at Nicolas Cage’s Las Vegas house, an acting masterclass from Tilda Swinton, and many more director tributes – in the February 2023 issue, on sale Thursday 22 December. Pre-order online here.