Heath Ledger Cowboy Ups Repost

* This was originally posted in December 2005… Feels pertinent to repost with Dark Knight’s incredible mass appeal.

“Brokeback” role a challenge, not a risk, for Ledger
By Jon Chattman

Heath Ledger doesn’t believe he risked his career by portraying a homosexual ranch hand opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in the acclaimed Ang Lee drama “Brokeback Mountain.” He doesn’t think he was brave to take the role either.
Courage, the actor said at a recent New York City press stop, is a word that should be attributed to firefighters – not him. “I’m safe. I didn’t get hurt. I’m acting. I’m not mentally wounded. I’m [just] happy to tell this story that hasn’t been told yet,” he said.
“Brokeback Mountain” is based on Annie Proulx’s short story about a Wyoming farmhand (Ledger) and a rodeo cowboy (Gyllenhaal) who fall in love while sheep herding in the summer of 1963, and secretly continue the taboo romance for some 20 years. Screenwriters Diana Ossana and Larry McMurty adapted the story nearly a decade ago and waited patiently for years as directors, producers, and actors praised the work but passed on the project. “[They were] afraid of the intensity of the story…the intensity of emotion,” she explained.
The screenwriters were thankful director Ang Lee, and producer/Focus Features president James Schamus eventually brought the project from script to screen. They’re also thankful Ledger and Gyllenhaal took the roles when so many had not.
Taking the role wasn’t a decision to make headlines for Ledger, who’s perhaps best known for his roles in such lighter fare as “A Knight’s Tale” and “10 Things I Hate About You.” It was to renew his faith in the business and himself.
“The whole year was kind of about re-igniting a little enthusiasm with myself, because I was grim,” said Ledger, who’s recently had a string of uninspired performances and box office failures ( “The Order” and “Ned Kelly” to name two) was just really bored with what I’d done, [and] with the movies I was in. Everything was just boring and I was starting to get stale. Most of all, I felt I had to do something about it.”
What Ledger really needed was to feel challenged and make a quality film. “Brokeback” and the character Ennis Del Mar provided just that.
“It’s a beautiful story that hadn’t made it to screen, which is rare with a script which was so beautifully written and just hasn’t been told before. I looked at it as a wonderful opportunity.”

Downplaying the love scenes, Ledger explained, “The way we looked at it, they’re not actually love scenes for the sake of doing love scenes. They’re actually stories within each of those moments,” he explained. “The first moment…had to be this passionate, adrenaline that just takes over him. Then there’s another moment, where it was really important to show a glimpse of his innocent and vulnerable state. It is true, intimate love that they have for each other.”
Ledger said expanding on such a complex character was difficult. He said he had to attack the role in many ways. First off, he needed to jump right into Del Mar’s head. “I had to go in and discover what was causing his inability to express [and] to love. I figured it was some sort of battle. One of the conclusions was that he was battling himself, battling his genetic structure. He was battling his father’s traditions, opinions, and fears that have been passed down and have been deeply embedded into him.”
He continued, “Once that kind of [came to me], I wanted it to be hard for him to express himself. I wanted him to be a clenched fist.”
And that helped Ledger shape his character. He said since his character was clenched and conflicted, he decided to clench his mouth throughout the film as well to make him less expressive. Ledger also drew inspiration from farmhands he’d seen growing up in a rural Australian town as well as an uncle who, for many years, was stuck in the closet. “He’s always struggled with his sexuality…he’s the most masculine person I know.”
Those traits were all too common for Del Mar. On one hand, Ledger explained how his character loves Twist, but fears what people will think (and do) if it goes public. Twist, on the other hand, is far less reluctant to explore that possibility. Even so, both Del Mar and Twist get married to women and start families to keep a heterosexual image.
“That’s the kind of tragedy of this story,” Ledger said. “I think the only time you really get to see potential or a slither of how [Del Mar] could express it is when he’s with his children. His children are the one area in his life in which he is safe and allowed to love the way he naturally feels he can. With his wife, his love is more manufactured, and more traditional. It’s not true love. His love for Jack is just true in a passionate love, but he hates the way he loves and it’s forbidden.”
“[It] carries out the Western mood,” Lee said of Ledger’s work, noting how the actor brought a perfect combination of “macho and vulnerability” to the role.

Together, Lee said Gyllenhaal and Ledger were “a beautiful couple.”
These days, Ledger couldn’t be happier with the decisions he’s made this passed year on screen and off screen. He’ll appear later this month in the romantic comedy “Casanova,” and he’s reveling in his newest role: father.
As fate would have it, while pretending to be in love with his male co-star, Ledger actually fell in love with his onscreen wife Michelle Williams, who plays the long-suffering Alma. Just six weeks ago the couple welcomed the birth of their daughter, Matilda Rose.
Commenting on her boyfriend and Gyllenhaal’s performance, and alluding to the Oscar buzz Ledger’s been getting lately, Williams said “Honest to god, I didn’t see Jake, and I didn’t Heath when I saw that movie. And, I know both of them well…one of them better than the other. I didn’t see them anywhere on the screen.”

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