Ledger gets Oscar nomination for "Dark Knight"
I completely forgot that Oscar nominations happened today. The big news for us comic geeks is that Heath Ledger received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Joker in “The Dark Knight.” He’s competing against Josh Brolin in “Milk,” Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road,” Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt,” and Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder.”
If we’re handicapping things, Ledger looks like he has a pretty good shot at the Oscar — pretty much everyone was talking about what an awesome job he did as the Joker, so he definitely starts out with the most buzz. On the other hand, it’s far from a sure thing — the Oscar voters really love Philip Seymour Hoffman, because I don’t think he’s ever turned in a bad performance. And Josh Brolin got really stellar reviews for “Milk.”
I’m a little boggled that Robert Downey Jr. got nominated for “Tropic Thunder” — Oscar voters generally seem to hate comedies, especially very silly comedies like “Tropic Thunder.” Hey, didn’t that guy also play a comic book character last year?
I generally enjoy the nominations more than the actual Academy Awards — primarily, there are fewer dance numbers. You get a much better overview of what the best movies and performances really were. As far as the other noms go, I’m stoked that Melissa Leo, who played one of my favorite characters on “Homicide: Life on the Street,” got a Best Actress nod for “Frozen River,” that Mickey Rourke got a Best Actor nomination for “The Wrestler,” and that “WALL-E” is a shoe-in for the Best Animated Feature. (But it shoulda got a Best Picture nomination. They coulda put it in place of “Benjamin Button.” I’ve been anti-“Benjamin Button” ever since the trailers, which made me want to projectile vomit directly in Brad Pitt’s face. Yes, I realize the movie is probably perfectly nice, but dangit, those trailers were entirely awful.)
So whatcha think? Is Ledger the likely winner? What are your other Oscar picks? And how much should David Fincher be apologizing to me personally for those barf-worthy trailers?
Maxo Said,
January 22, 2009 @ 12:49 pm
I’m a little disappointed that Dark Knight only got the Ledger nomination and a few more for technical categories. Of course, I don’t know if that’s an objective complaint or my fanboy showing.
I think Ledger has a shot; his performance has incredible word-of-mouth and, cynically speaking, it’s the only chance they’ll have to award an especially talented actor with the Oscar. Superhero movie or not, Ledger turned in a powerful performance. Hopefully the Academy isn’t so out of touch that they would ignore that.
Nikki Said,
January 22, 2009 @ 5:18 pm
Ledger individually made this movie the success it is, partly from the circumstances surrounding his death, but mainly from his phenomenal performance. A real actor is able to create a character from scratch and actually “become” them, and that is what Ledger did in this film, creating a character far from his own persona. When you watch his performance, you don’t see Ledger pretending to be the Joker, you actually see, hear, and feel the Joker as if he were right up in your face. He deserves the Oscar fully, and I hope he wins it, but I also hope people don’t think he was nominated out of pity. He earned his nomination, and he really deserves the award as well, posthumous or not. He put more effort into that one role than some actors put in their entire career.