Last night was the Screen Actors Guild awards show, the first of which had celebrities and a telecast.
A montage of the recently passed Heath Ledger paid tribute to this actor on the verge of greatness. However this was not the only mention of Ledger during the awards, as Daniel Day Lewis gave tribute with his own personal message.
Accepting the award for best actor in a film (There Will Be Blood) and reflecting on his ongoing discovery as a performer, Day-Lewis said, “There are many actors in this room tonight… who have given me that sense of regeneration, and Heath Ledger gave it to me. In Monster’s Ball, that character he created seemed to be almost like an unformed being retreating from himself, his father, his life… and yet we wanted to follow him. It was unique.”
Now a lot of people were calling Ledger a b-list actor, and I think this had to do with his previous choice of movies. They typically were teen fluff movies or adventure films, and only once he did Brokeback Mountain did anyone actually even consider him a real actor.
I think it is fitting that Ledger’s potential is recognized by Daniel Day Lewis.
We will never know just how far Heath will have gone, but his impact on those around him is clearly felt.
