No Stranger With 'Candy':
Q&A With Heath Ledger
by Kevin Polowy
Featuring Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish, Geoffrey Rush, Tony Martin
Directed by Neil Armfield
Theatrical Release Date November 17, 2006
Released by ThinkFilm
Run time 108 min.
Genre Drama, Romance
Rating R
A year ago, Heath Ledger was basking in the glory of 'Brokeback Mountain' mania, seeing his star rise to A-list heights -- and earning a Best Actor Oscar nomination for the part. So how do you follow that act? Some fans have expressed surprise that's it with the small Aussie indie 'Candy,' a poignant story of tortured love between heroin junkies Dan (Ledger) and Candy (recent tabloid target Abbie Cornish). One may well ask, Could Ledger be the rare movie star who actually shies away from the limelight? Well, yes, and no: Ledger certainly enjoyed returning to his native land to shoot a film he believed in, but his real follow-up to 'Brokeback' ('Candy' was shot in 2005) will be in an anti-indie: Ledger plays the Joker in next year's 'Batman' sequel 'The Dark Knight.' We asked Ledger about "becoming" a drug addict, following 'Brokeback' spoofery and living with wife Michelle Williams in Brooklyn.
Moviefone: Did you find it particularly tricky to play a junkie? Seems like a role that could so easily slip into caricature.
Heath Ledger: Yeah, it could. The first place I started was trying to find out the person I was playing and then let the junkie aspects kind of naturally take over in a way, for that reason, probably. Hopefully it worked.
MF: What did you find relatable about your character in 'Candy'?
HL: Not a lot. I didn't necessarily agree with many of his choices in life or the decisions he would make, but I've never been addicted to anything other than tobacco, so I think it's hard for us outside of their world to comprehend how they're making their decisions, you know?
MF: What do you think really drives the relationship between Dan and Candy?
HL: I don't know. I mean perhaps before the film starts, you would initially think she was allured by the dangerous aspects of him. She'd seem like she was coming from a place where she was entertaining the idea of punishing herself a little or being a little self-destructive, and he represented that a little. And then pretty early on in the story, it quickly becomes the drug. There's like a love triangle kind of a thing. And then something bad unfortunately becomes their drive.
MF: There are some seriously heart-wrenching scenes in the film, the childbirth scene especially. Are those as difficult for you to shoot as they are for us to watch?
HL: Yeah, it was. It was definitely tough to shoot. I'd just found out Michelle was pregnant with our first child, and that was four weeks before we had to shoot that scene. So it was strange. I didn't want to jinx our own pregnancy and having to hold a little prosthetic, bloody dead baby in your hands ? It was very uncomfortable. It's supposed to be uncomfortable. I'm not sure whether or not we should have seen as much as we did, but that's not really up to me to make that call, obviously. But yeah, it was definitely difficult to shoot.
MF: What are your impressions of Abbie Cornish from working with her?
HL: Well, as a person she's incredibly down to earth. You know, what you see is what you get. There's just absolutely no bulls---, so I really admired that. And as an actress, she's incredibly explosive and instinctual to a tee. She refuses to do anything else but run off her instincts, and she has very good instincts as an actor, so I think she makes for a very good leading lady.
MF: How was it to be back in Aussie filmmaking?HL: I was very excited to get back there, for many reasons. It was the first time in a long time that I got to use my own accent for one, and so that was primarily what drove me to the story -- just the opportunity to go home. And it was great. Ultimately it's the same thing as working anywhere in the world. Same process and same schedules. But I guess that's the only real difference is just being free of that restraint, you know? Not having to worry about listening to an accent within my laughter or in a cough. You're just free to kind of breathe naturally.
MF: What about in terms of scale? This film's also quite smaller. Do you feel like you're also more free working in independent film and outside of the Hollywood studio system?
HL: I think performance-wise, nothing really changes, because the producers could still stand over the director's back and say, "You probably shouldn't be doing this," but they can't really come up to us and say "I wouldn't say that line that way" or "say it in a different way." So what we do stays the same. It's just the environment around you that changes.
MF: Do you see any parallels in terms of tortured relationships between 'Candy' and 'Brokeback Mountain'?
HL: Yeah, they're both on a horse. (Laughs) I guess the impossibility of their world, the fatal aspects that go with a relationship.
MF: What was your take on all of the satire and lampooning of 'Brokeback'?
HL: It was hilarious. I was given a DVD of pretty much every single joke that was out there. I really got more than a giggle out of it. There were some really good ones. They still come out.
MF: You and Michelle are known to be spotted out and about where you live in Brooklyn. Are people pretty respectful when you're out in public? Does anybody ever cross the line?
HL: No, not at all. I think it's a New York thing, not just Brooklyn, but particularly in Brooklyn we feel very safe. It's not only that we felt accepted, it was kind of like we didn't need to be accepted. It's that comfortable there. We can just be. Yeah I wanna raise my family there and I couldn't think of a better place in the world to be doing so.
MF: Can you tell us anything about 'The Dark Knight'?
HL: I'd probably be shot if I told you (anything). They're so tight-lipped about it. I don't even have a script for it. I went to [the screenwriter's] house in L.A. recently and he allowed me to read it, but I had to read it at his house, and he wouldn't let me take it home. But yeah, I give it a bit of thought every now and then, but I've kind of been delaying the preparation process for as long as I can just so I can extend my time-off period.
Ledger still has more than three months off to enjoy. He begins shooting 'The Dark Knight' in March.
Original Article Link, Moviefone