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The Joker’s Happy Just to be Nominated


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See the smile on his face? Seriously, as big sis has reported, the late Heath Ledger has officially been nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as the joker in The Dark Knight. He’s up against Josh Brolin (Milk), Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt) and Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road). I think Ledger has a shot, but I think that because he’s dead. Not to be crass–his death was obviously tragic–but I don’t think the Academy has given an award for an actual performance in years; they work entirely on emotion, which is why they give Oscars to folks who make stories about inspiring people as if the actors had done the deeds themselves, and for people who gave Best Performances previously but the Academy snubbed because they gave it to someone else that year.

If Ledger wins, it will because he died, and died tragically young. Not because his role as the Joker was amazing. Frankly, I can easily see the Academy giving them award to Brolin for being in An Important Picture this year, for his work in No Country for Old Men last year, for his overall career, and because the morons of the Academy might not be able to bring themselves to vote for a comic book character no matter how incredible the performance was.