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Terry Gilliam Says Dark Knight “Shamelessly Capitalising” On Ledger’s Death
I’m not really sure what Terry Gilliam is smoking… but whatever it is, it must be some damn good stuff because he’s completely lost touch with the reality I live in. Here’s the deal… Gilliam is accusing Warner Bros of capitalizing on the tragic death of Heath Ledger in the promotion of their new film “The Dark Knight“. Here’s the word from Yahoo News:
the producers of Ledger’s second to last picture, The Dark Knight, are shamelessly capitalising on rumours that the late star will be awarded a posthumous Oscar for his role as evil villain The Joker.
He says, “That’s what Warner Brothers are saying, but they’ll do anything to publicise their film. That’s just what they do and you can’t get upset because it’s bulls**t. “They’re like a great white shark which devours whatever it can.”
Ok, I’ve got to chime in on this:
Shortly after Ledger died I both feared and EXPECTED WB to take full advantage of the situation and start plastering Ledger’s face everywhere and talking constantly about “Heath’s final completed film” and to basically use Ledger’s corpse as a mule to market the movie. And really… even if they did… would it have been all that bad? I mean, as long as they were saying POSITIVE things about him and not capitalizing dirty secrets of his or his shame or mistakes to promote their film I wouldn’t have really seen much wrong with that. But it doesn’t matter because that didn’t happen.
I’ve actually been very impressed with how WB has handled Heath’s death. I’ve never seen them mention Ledger’s passing in any of their official promotion, and the only time I hear the stars of the movie mention it is when they’re specifically asked about it, and let’s face it there’s no getting away from that.
No, as much as the big studio monsters are heartless and quite idiotic sometimes… you have to give the devil his due. I think the way WB has handled the passing of Heath Ledger has been nothing short of classy AND smart. So yeah… pass whatever Gilliam is smoking my way.
This week there is a Hollywood True Story that will tell of Heath’s career and the whole story behind his death.
3 days before the wide release of the Dark Knight.
Convenient no?
Oh wait… isn’t Terry Gilliam using this bold accusing statement to draw attention that Heath’s last movie is the one HE directed??
Shameless indeed.
I anticipated them propping up the corpse to promote this film, but so far all I have seen is their praise of his living accomplishments. He is being given credit for what he did, not for what happened to him after.
Terry Gilliam hasn’t been sane in quite some time. It seems more like a shameless plug for his own film starring Ledger.
@Rodney: No it’s more than convenient. E!’s gotta get dem ratin’s yo!
As a longtime Python fan I’m really dismayed to hear Gilliam make these claims. As mentioned above HE’s the one with an un-completed film and missing scenes with Heath due to his sad and sudden departure from his mortal coil.
WB has been very respectful in the whole process. Gilliam needs to step back and reconsider his ill-timed statements. Mr. G hasn’t had a very good track record of late, Hmmmmmmmm…..sour grapes???
*cough*theimaginariumofdoctorparnassus*
I don’t want what he’s smoking. I prefer to be, ummmm, whatever the opposite of ignorant is:)
What’s made me laugh about the TDK reviews i’ve read (and its been quite a few) is that 80% of them read exactly the same and they all mention Heath for an oscar. WB is not giving them all, if any, payolla. Gilliam just has a certain opinion of movie studios now, after some bad experiences, that he’s mouthing off.
I agree with him 100%. I don’t feel Ledge or the film would be getting this much hype if Ledger was still alive.
That being said, I can’t wait to see it this week!
Terry Gilliam has been a sad shadow of his former self for a long long time. what are warners meant to do??
Heath Ledger is playing (arguably) the most famous comic book villain of all time in a 200 million summer tentpole blockbuster.
Pretty hard to get around marketing it without mentioning it but like you said John I am impressed with how warners have handled it.
I do think the praise his performance is getting is definitely affected by his passing but I think the reviews for the film were always going to be great. I think everyone underestimated how much people were looking forward to this film even before ledger died.
Mike:
While I do admit that a lot of the hype surrounding this movie is due to Ledger’s untimely death, I don’t think that much, if any at all, of that is due to WB capitalizing on it, which was Gilliam’s whole point.
If you can point me in the direction of something official from WB that show’s otherwise, please let me know, I will gladly admit my mistake ^_^
The aim of successful marketing is not to make it PAINFULLY obvious (ie go see this movie in honor of Heath), therefore I do believe that WB are seriously raking in from Ledger’s death just using a very clever viral marketing scheme. The amount of endless posters, one-sheets and images all focusing towards The Joker since Heath’s death is ridiculous, I barely even know Christian Bale is IN this picture.
While I think Terry Gilliam is a bit of a hypicrate, there’s no doubt in my mind if this film makes as much money as its rumoured to make it will be because of some very clever marketing. I would have been so interested to see how this film would have done without his death.
That said, Hollywood is business and its out to make money so in the same respect I’m not surprised at all that this is happening, doesn’t mean I have to like it though.
I don’t agree with Terry Gilliam because Warner didn’t have to fuel a very real fire. In that Heath Ledger did die. That is a fact. A very sad fact but a reality.. I remember going on The Drudge Report the day in happened and he had teased the headline which read Heath Ledger found…. I had to click on the caption wait 3 seconds and then read Heath Ledger found DEAD. I was stunned and extremely saddened. I obviously knew he had filmed his part of the joker in a franchise that Im very fond of. I simply couldn’t believe it. As months past I knew that the the fact that he was no longer here would help make this project a part of something bigger than just a movie, and thats what The Dark Knight has become. People who would not see a Batman movie will see this film not just because Ledger and the movie itself are getting great reviews but because Ledger is no longer with us.
That’s a fact and it has nothing to do with Warner Bros. Like everyone else who knew or didn’t know him the studio is just promoting a movie that there obviously very proud of, and Heath happens to be a big part of it!
Come on people, give Terry a break!
Everybody knows that his relationship with big studios were ahmm…… let’s say difficult.
Of course he is expecting the worst of them.
The aim of successful marketing is not to make it PAINFULLY obvious (ie go see this movie in honor of Heath), therefore I do believe that WB are seriously raking in from Ledger’s death just using a very clever viral marketing scheme. The amount of endless posters, one-sheets and images all focusing towards The Joker since Heath’s death is ridiculous”
As opposed to all the ones that came out before? Seriously, they laid OFF it a bit and start promoting Two-Face and Batman a bit more after Heath died. before that, it was nothing but Joker.
That’s as retarded as Camp Rock. Who would say that? That jerk can go stick it in his smokaholic ear.
ive yet to see heath ledger in any tdk clips.
I leave the tv running in the background a lot of the times, whether I watch what is on or not – and here in Sydney, I am a little disappointed at how much of the trailer is dedicated to Heath Ledger. Yes, he put in a fantastic performance, but so do the other actors, so it would be nice if the trailer was a little less rotated and featured less of Ledger…but it’s Australia, so I guess it has to be expected.
I think people see what they want to see. It’s not like the trailers or advertising don’t show anything but the Joker, but they do show a lot of him because he is essentially the biggest part of this film.
You couldn’t take the focus off the Joker. How can you market a film around Batman and Alfred? The exciting exploits of Rachel Dawes? And Two-Face is essentially a huge spoiler if they were advertising him (thus negating 4/5 of the movie building towards his appearance).
And nowhere have I seen WB plastering pictures of Ledger out of make-up, only ever IN CHARACTER as the Joker.
Ledger has put in a fantastic performance as an iconic character, arguably the main character, of a blockbuster film. Of course he has to be part of the advertising. I would say he deserved an Oscar nomination for this role regardless of his passing. I heard people praising his performance long before he had passed away. There was always going to be a lot of hype and promotion for this film.
The cynical people who want to see this all as cashing in on Ledger’s death are pointing to things that would have been there regardless. Hell, we’d probably have seen far more of the Joker in the marketing had it not been for Ledgers death.
I think Terry Gilliam is a director of eccentric invention and outrageous imagination. I do like/love some of his films, 12 Monkeys, Time Bandits, Fisher King. The uncut Brazil is great.
He also seems to put his shoe in his mouth from time to time and comes off as arrogant. This is one of those times.
B.S. it was almost immediately after Ledger’s death that Gilliam decided to let everyone know how he was going to “artistically” handle the absence of Ledger in the film he’s working on. Like that was the most important thing to decide on after the actor died.
Bitter arrogance indeed.
I am in complete agreement. I have seen a lot of the trailers and read a lot of information about the upcoming Batman movie. I do not think WB is trying to exploit Mr. Ledgers death. I think more than anything, the fan-base surrounding thie movie would like to have Heath Ledgers life honored with an Oscar for his Joker role. It may not be the best role someone has plaid this year, but Heath worked hard for the part and many still believe that this part did him in.
To dedicate such time and mental, as well as emotional capacity to a role that you play must take its tolls, fatal or non-fatal.
I am one of those individuals who thinks that even if Ledger did not play the best role this year, that he should be honored with an Oscar. His life ended so tragically, and although I admit that is not an automatic qualifier for an Oscar, the role that he plays and how fans and reviewers react will eventually determine that award.
To everyone who will watch the movie this weekend, enjoy the film and relax, Oscar or no Oscar, Heath Ledger has always been a good actor.
Terry Gilliam has lost his mojo and cojoles. Such a sad sack.
Regardless of Heath’s death, I’m sure WB was going to aggressivley market this sequal anyway using the Joker.
Stop the Hollywood ‘bitches’ using ‘death’ as an excuse.
WB has had very little to do with the hype surrounding Heath Ledger in this film.
For months after Ledger’s death, webboards were absolutely filled with fanboys making the grandest claims they could:
Ledger was the best actor of his generation, he was of the same caliber as James Dean and Marlon Brando, the Joker would be the best performance of his career, it would be remembered as one of the Screen’s iconic performances, Ledger was guaranteed an Oscar. Comment after comment of sentimental saps trying to outdo each other with pseudo-profundities and garish praise.
Now, Heath might be the least-skilled/talented actor among the DARK KNIGHT cast, but compared to Ledger, Christian Bale was a second-tier star when THE DARK KNIGHT was cast. Ledger was always going to be the star of this film, and the Joker was always going to be the center of it’s promotion.
That’s just so obvious that I can’t believe Terry Gilliam would bother to comment. It just makes him sound like a guy with a bad attitude (and possible ulterior motive.)
So, yeah, I think Warner Brothers should be commended, not criticized. [so far]
Actually, one could make a picture about a studio killing it’s star to make more money from his last film.
Just kidding. Nobody would do that.
E. Arneck