Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Heath Ledger's Greatest Hits

Heath Ledger died one week ago today, at the age of 28. While he didn't leave a wealth of work behind for us to pour over and help fuel our inevitable "what if.." questions, he left enough greats to get his own Top 5 Tuesday. So here are the five must sees from Ledger's career. (Oh, that's funny, I don't see Brokeback anywhere? Wierd.)

5. Skip Engblom in Lords of Dogtown
Written by Stacey Peralta himself. Ledger leads a pack of youngsters, looking to change the world with their skateboards, one kickflip at a time. It puts the 'roll' in rock and roll, dude.

4. Dan in Candy
So you got this 3-act Australian film about a poet (Ledger) who falls in love with a student, and next thing you know, they're shooting heroine together in the midst of their young wild romance, and it quite easily propels into one of those explosive Sid and Nancy love stories. And then you add Geoffrey Rush to the cast? I'll take this Candy from a stranger any day. (You get indie film cred points for knowing this one too.)

3. Patrick Verona in 10 Things I Hate About You

Every 90's high school dramatic comedy needed house parties (check), kegs (check), bodaciously beautiful babes (Julia Stiles? check!), and ensemble casts packed with rising stars (check). But Ledger made this more than every other 90's high school flick. Right before your eyes, the withdrawn badboy unfolds into an aussi-accented romancing charmer. Girls around the world started eating there hearts out right then, as he sung Franki Valli to Julia Styles from the bleachers at soccer practice.

2. Robbie Clark, the bearded actor side of Bob Dylan in I'm Not There

While Cate Blanchet easily nabbed the spotlight by portraying the most famous Dylan era in the only movie with a lot of Bob Dylans, Ledger got to portray one of the more treasured eras--The whole "finding himself again" era, centered around "Blood on the Tracks" where he struggled with divorce, and himself.

1. The Joker in The Dark Knight trailer
The movie doesn't hit theaters to July, but the tiny bits of Ledger we've seen as the chaotic face-painted bazooka-wielding anarchist have already chalked up as one of the greatest roles we've seen in ages. In other words, this trailer is better than most movies, and Ledger's psychotic turn as one of the most lauded villains of all time is exactly why.


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