28 And Dead

Not that I was ever a big fan, but after he did Brokeback Mountain and got himself into the more serious side of the acting, moving away from the teenage heartthrob image, and playing a role of real substance, I was very curious to see where his career would lead him next. Recently split up with ex-finacee actress Michelle Williams, the mother of his 2 year old daughter, Heath was still very young. As far as I heard so far he had a lot of trouble sleeping and putting his mind to rest, so it might have been some accident which has caused him to die this young. Maybe he took too many pills just to finally go to sleep, never with the thought of killing himself and end his life. So it's not that I'm really shocked, but it's quite strange when you suddenly read that actor Heath ledger has died. It just comes out of the blue, like if one day he was walking down the street and he fell dead. If you would have told me Britney Spears died yesterday, i would be like, that's sad, but I think everyone kind of saw that coming. No big surprise. But this one is. The latest batman film is already finished, they're int he process of post-production. Heath is playing The Joker and it's probably his last role. He also played very recently in I'm Not There, the film about Bob Dylan, in which Dylan is played by multiple actors and even a woman, Cate Blanchett. Other films you might have known him from besides Broke Back Mountain and that were quite popular are 10 Things I Hate About You and A Knight's Tale. Hearing that news late at night, yesterday, just before I went to bed, was thus quite a surprise and it made me think about it quite a lot. Before I heard this tragic news I just had a normal day going to my seminar early in the morning. Again it was very interesting. Tamar is really nice and just like last week we were put into groups and got the chance to analyze a short clip from the film we saw, this time Der Blaue Engel starring Marlene Dietrich. It's really nice how every week she connects acertain ideas or views about acting to one film to make it clear by using the film as an example. Tamar turns out to be my supervisor as well for my long essay and she thought my subject was very good. I will write about excesses of violence, sexuality and emotion in cinema and focus on female performance in films related to those three aspects. After the seminar I went home and watched the live announcement of the Oscars online. So what had to be a very exciting day for the film industry kind of turned into a sad one with Heath Ledger being dead. Most of the categories turned out to be just as predicted. Cate Blanchett did end up being both nominated as best lead actress as well as actress in a supporting role for Elizabeth and I'm Not There. Angeline Jolie didn't get a nomination for her role in A Mighty Heart, but instead Laura Linney received a nomination for her role in The Savages, in which she is said to be very good though. I haven't seen There Will Be Blood yet, even though I can not wait, but because I thought he was very good in Little Miss Sunshine and he seems very promising I hoped Paul Dano would earn hismelf a nomination as supporting actor, but he didn't. Saoirse Ronan who played young Briony in Atonement did get a nomination afterall, even though she didn't end up being nominated as best supporting actress for many other awards. And Sean Penn's Into The Wild didn't receive a nomination for Best Film, to many people's great surprise. But that was it. Some suprises, but never really big, because a lot of the predicitons always turn out to be right. At 4 pm after getting back home I went to the Gulbenkian to watch Hitchcock's Blackmail. It was playing for this film course which I don't take, but I am allowed to watch the films and because I had not seen it before I thought why not go and see it, it's for free! Well have a good day today everyone. I will try and enjoy mine like always. Ciao!