He Just Wanted To Act

Its not easy a simple human being to identify with how another person can feel only at ease in his own skin when he is pretending to be someone else. There are very, very few stars who get to this mood. They are special entities who, like Heath Ledger, took only a few years to grasp the high regard of his peers in the homeland of cinema, Hollywood.

At no more than 28, I remember seeing Heath Ledger in Home and Away, one of Australia's ancient soap operas. He was a little younger than me, so it was not one of those adolescent puppy-love situations, but I recalled his face at once when he showed up as a guest on Parkinson, one of the UK's chief chat shows. The interview spoke of Heath's leap forward in Hollywood. After his stopover in London, he was taking the plane to Los Angeles. He had just been cast to perform in a film in Hollywood. Unacquainted with that young man’s story, I remember thinking, "right on, mate! You're moving places!". I remember feeling really glad for him, maybe even exaggeratedly as I watched the inhibited young man sail little by little through the interview whispering only a few, quiet utterances, as if it were agonizing. I sympathized with him and it was rather awkward to sense his distress under those stage lights. I didn't have to know him to see he was not comfortable. The twitches. The hand covering the mouth as he spoke. The endless doodling with his imaginary fringe.

People are comparing him with the likes of Marlon Brando. I don't remember him much. I do recall seeing a few Brando interviews, and the sense of dislike in being interviewed was crystal clear. I did not however denote any shyness in Mr Brando. I guess its easiest to just bag all the ones who are not easily understood in one single bunch. Brando was not forthcoming. Health Ledger was not forthcoming. Maybe de Niro, or Pacino are not that forthcoming in interviews either. Do they have to be? That's a whole new question that deserves its own page. But the fact is, fans demand it that actors tell them all about their lives - what they buy, where the shop, who they sleep with.

Blogs and sites ooze with delicious gossip. Gossip is needed to fill the gaps because so many actors are not forthcoming. Forums abound with fantasies from adoring fans who protect their chosen actor as if he belonged to her. It makes strange reading. It is awkward, at times downright frightening, to read how far the fantasies of some of these fans go. So, maybe it is not that difficult to understand how the one under the spotlight might feel threatened by the intrusion.

Heath Ledger seemed different. He just wanted to act. He didn't want everything else - the fans, the screaming, the adulation, the flashes, the fake friends...he just wanted to act. Its probably not that he simply enjoyed acting other people's lives. There may have been a touch of sweet fantasy in the prospect of living someone else's life temporarily. But maybe he was tormented by his own shyness, and had difficulty letting others accept him as he was. Its called self-esteem.

I always felt that the best actors in the world are the biggest liars given their knackthe ease they have to convince an audience believe they are who and what they perform on the big screen. I deduce I was in the wrong. Heath Ledger was a stupendous young actor who gave the impression he was utterly legitimate on camera. He clearly showed he abhorred to be there on central stage, under the glare of the world. Because all he wanted was to act. Not to be the idol.

Article Source: http://www.search4allinfo.com

Health Ledger’s collection of movies and interviews can be found at Movie Blast!, www.Demondvd.co.uk, www.riled.com”>Riled Video or at We are Bored’s Viral Video collection.

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