Boston Herald

Maverick role: Ledger not tossed by gay cowboy part in ’Brokeback Mountain’
By Stephen Schaefer
Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Heath Ledger smiled when asked about his brave decision to star as a cowboy in love with Jake Gyllenhaal’s rodeo rider in ”Brokeback Mountain,” opening Friday.

”I think being brave is what the firefighters are when they put out a fire,” Ledger said. ”We’re just telling a love story.”

Ledger laughed off the notion that he made a risky career move.

”I feel pretty safe right now. I was always OK with the subject, and I think it’s a shame that it actually gets classed as ’daring and risky.’ I don’t think it should be. For me, it was actually just a wonderful opportunity to work with such brilliant material and a brilliant director (Ang Lee). It was a story that’s never made it to screen and that’s just so rare. For me, anyway, I never get handed material like this.”

”Brokeback” looks to revitalize the one-time teen idol’s career. Last weekend, the Boston Society of Film Critics named ”Brokeback” the film of the year. Joel Siegel of ABC’s ”Good Morning America” last week said Ledger was his pick to take home the Best Actor Oscar.

As Ennis, a married father who is tormented by his feelings for another man, Ledger was lonely only when the cameras were rolling. He found a soulmate in his ”Brokeback” wife, Michelle Williams, with whom he now has a 6-week-old daughter, Matilda.

”I’ve certainly never been in a movie and fallen in love with a co-star. But it was actually quite nice, coming home, and escaping this kind of lonely world that was created for us, and snap out of it.

”Fatherhood is what I’ve always wanted. It definitely exceeds my expectations, but I was always expecting it - and a lot from it. It’s marvelous,” he said, adding the couple hopes have to six children.

The Australia native and his family have settled in a Brooklyn brownstone.

”Moving to Brooklyn is the greatest decision I ever made. It’s just we really blend in out there, and we’re friends with all our neighbors. They come around with lasagnas and we go to community dinners, and we’re going caroling next week,” he said, laughing, still sounding amazed at this normal life. ”It’s awesome.”

The 26-year-old is enjoying a comeback. On Christmas Day, he stars as the world’s most famous seducer in ”Casanova,” a Disney comedy.

”It’s been a long time coming to just make choices based upon what I thought was gonna mature me as a person and as an actor. Everything before that had been really boring. My performances were boring, the movies are boring. I was starting to yawn on such a grand scale. So, you know, that’s why I kind of had to make stupid choices and take the shine off everything. I guess it’s self-destructive, but I felt like it was needed.”

Now, he has a new perspective on everything from movies to diapers.

”Hopefully, every day I’m going to continue to grow up. Yeah, that’s what the year is about, pushing myself. I want to continue to do that, to continue to keep turning corners and continue to surprise people.”