Life Too Short

Getting off the topic of sports a little (though there will be a slight tie-in I promise), Heath Ledger was found dead at the age of 28 yesterday. I have spent a bit of time, since I heard the news. reading up on the young actor and finding a man who enjoyed the challenge of his work but was in a fight to make his career the way he wanted it.

Ledger made his first big role in the movie "10 Things I Hate About You" which was a teen oriented romantic comedy. He was quickly placed as a teen heartthrob and thrown more roles like this. But in reading up on him, he was never comfortable with this position. He wanted to do things more meaningful and things that mattered to him and not just what would give him the next paycheck as so many young actors before him had done. After those first few films he went with more obscure roles which eventually landed him "Brokeback Mountain" and an Oscar nomination.

Clearly "Brokeback" was something very different and something that went against the heartthrob image that Hollywood wanted for him. He was asserting command of his own career and not being pushed into blockbusters that were box office gold but would keep you typecast forever.

In what will be his final completed film, Ledger stars as the Joker in this summer's "The Dark Knight". I have seen previews for this film, and the snippets I see make me very excited to watch this movie. Not just because it is a new comic flick (of which I will watch almost any one no matter how good - see "Spider-Man"- or how bad - see "Daredevil"), but because the bits they showed of Ledger showed a new Joker that could challenge the immortal portrayal by Jack Nicholson.

Two interesting pieces I saw in reading articles today were that when Ledger turned down "Spider-Man" he quoted as saying he didn't like comics. In addition, he was said to be disturbed by the character of the Joker. His intense psychosis and demented capacity for murder apparently were challenges for Ledger. According to various interviews, he was always looking for a challenge and one has to wonder what type of challenge this must be to take a role that has already been done superbly by one the most decorated actors of all time and to do it in a major blockbuster "comic" film that Ledger had indicated he had tried to stay away from since doing "The Patriot".

All too often, Hollywood seems to be able to chew up and spit out those who try to enter its world. Brad Renfro being another recent young death of someone clearly fighting with his own demons. I'm not suggesting that Ledger committed suicide or was an addict. There were no illicit drugs found in his apartment but according to various articles he was having trouble sleeping lately and even a double dose of Ambien wasn't helping. Those sleeping drugs are powerful and if in desperation, attempting to gain some rest and maybe escape his personal issues he may have taken one too many (this is pure speculation, the cause of death is undetermined and may not be for another 10-14 days). But the pressure to keep up that lifestyle and deal with the paparazzi who he repeatedly took issue with in many interviews may have just been too much to take.

There is an analogy here to steroids in sports (see I told you there would be a tie-in). The pressure to hit the ball farther, run faster, or heal quicker is incalculable. Athletes are expected to excel to keep their paychecks and the competition to be better pushes some to steroids. Even those that may feel it is wrong will still do it because they are desperate to keep their jobs. Hollywood has similar pressures to push people into roles they may not want. Past interviews suggest that Ledger felt this pressure to conform, especially early in his career. Some can't handle the pressure and like Brad Renfro & River Phoenix they turns to drugs and alcohol to make it more bearable. Sometimes, like in the case of Kurt Cobain, even with the drugs the pressure is too much and they decide for the way of the gun. There is a push in sports and entertainment to be want people want you to be rather than who you are. Fortunately in sports, it leads to only cheating but in Hollywood it all too often leads to a life ending way before its time.