Heath Ledger, dead at 28.
Well, that's a surprise.
I'm assuming that since the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was still filming, and that The Dark Knight is in post-production, that the Dark Knight will wind up being his final movie and the Joker his last finished role.
Whether his death turns out to have been suicide or an accident, it's certainly going to lend even more gravitas (and pathos) to his portrayal of the nihilistic Joker, the role that was expected to put him on a whole new level as an actor.
Naturally, Ledger's had quite a few interesting roles, even for one who was so young. But for those of us who are comic book fans, this is surely be the one that will matter most. There are only a handful of people who've portrayed the Joker: the effervescent Cesar Romero, the unpredictable Mark Hamill, the predictable Jack Nicholson, the reliable Ted Knight, the remarkable Kevin Michael Richardson, and, now,
the late Heath Ledger.
I welcome his forthcoming addition to his own legacy and that of the role of the Joker.
