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Could Heath Ledger Earn A Posthumous Oscar Nomination For The Joker?
FIRST PUBLISHED: March 10, 2008 5:14 PM EDT
LAST UPDATED: March 10, 2008 7:36 PM EDT
LOS ANGELES, Calif. --
The late Heath Ledger is garnering early buzz for his role as The Joker in the upcoming Christopher Nolan-directed "The Dark Knight,” but could his performance be Oscar-worthy?
In a new article, Tom O'Neil of the Los Angeles Times suggests there is a possibility of Heath earning a posthumous Oscar nomination, if the hype surrounding his performance in the film is accurate.
One person who is offering up rave reviews of is the film’s director, Christopher Nolan, who has described Heath’s performance as “iconic.”
Nolan told the New York Times he felt a "massive sense of responsibility" to make a film that would honor Heath's "terrifying, amazing" performance and said that Heath's interpretation of The Joker is inspiring.
"It’s stunning, it’s iconic," Nolan said "It’s going to just blow people away."
Wally Pfister, "The Dark Knight's" cinematographer, echoes Nolan's sentiments, telling the New York Times, Heath seemed "like he was busting blood vessels in his head. It was like a seance, where the medium takes on another person and then is so completely drained."
If the film does result in an Academy Award nod, it won't be the first time Heath has been up for an Oscar. He was previously nominated for Best Actor for "Brokeback Mountain" in 2005.
And if Heath were to win, he would follow Peter Finch as the only actors to ever win a posthumous Oscar. Finch won for his role in "Network" in 1976.
Copyright 2008 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
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