Heath gives us Knight fever

10 April 2012

Heath Ledger has a thing about the English. He plays an Englishman called William in his new film A Knight's Tale, and in his next, Four Feathers, another called Harry. A happy coincidence, perhaps, for Hollywood's new prince from Perth, Australia.

Ledger even had the choice of wrapping his dulcet antipodean tones round any accent he fancied in A Knight's Tale - and chose ours. He might have been persuaded by his bevy of fine English co-stars - Rufus Sewell, Mark Addy, Paul Bettany, etc. Or perhaps he didn't want to bend to his director Brian Helgeland's entreaties to speak in a 'thick Australian accent' and to indulge in his off-set pastime - playing the didgeridoo - in front of the camera.

No thanks, said this switched-on 22-year-old, who has only Josh Hartnett as a rival in the charismatic-young-men-with-natural-aptitude-for-acting stakes.

Ledger's Hollywood hero is Johnny Depp - 'he's so brilliant and consistent' - and there are certain parallels in evidence when we meet. Though Ledger has not, to the best of my knowledge, brandished planks of wood at the Brit paparazzi, he is as reluctant as Depp either to trade on his looks or let them be glimpsed in their unadulterated glory.

His dark blond hair hasn't seen any comb action in a while (thank goodness for the bandana then), and his face has not had razor contact of late either. He even dresses like Depp - scruffily and grungily - and sports the same sort of manly leather-thonged jewellery round his neck. This was the look he also wore for last week's swanky London premiere of A Knight's Tale.

It is the first film Ledger has 'carried', as Hollywood parlance goes. After his impressive turn as Mel Gibson's conflicted son Gabriel in The Patriot, Columbia Tristar spotted a star in their midst and promptly lobbed Ledger into A Knight's Tale. An attempt once more to update the Romeo and Juliet fable with a new twist, A Knight's Tale is a medieval romp which sees the not remotely aristocratic William Thatcher (Ledger) inveigling his way into the all-aristocratic competitive jousting arena, to the tune of Queen's 'We Are The Champions' and various other rock anthems dusted off for the occasion.

The film was shot in Prague and, by all accounts, accomplished horseman Ledger had a blast, though he could have done without the armour. 'It was so f***ing hard walking round in that stuff. But it's not every day you get the opportunity to dress up in a kettle.' He was already nifty with a sword - 'I used to throw one around in a TV series I did called Roar' - and reckons he was essentially reverting to childhood, and getting paid for it. 'It's not so long ago I was in my mum's back yard playing a knight with my friend down the road.'

He did hit the weights beforehand - 'I like to go into projects fit and healthy and come out fat and unhealthy' - and it's no wonder he caught the eye of Heather Graham, also in Prague filming From Hell with Ledger's idol Mr Depp.

'Yeah, it was a very romantic city. The Charles bridge is the most romantic spot there and...' He grinds to a halt, realising he's entering territory he'd rather not. 'I'm an extremely private dude,' he offers, hesitatingly. There are a lot of things Ledger despises about Hollywood, but being grilled about things romantic is his primo gripe.

Ledger and Graham are no longer an item, of course. She was not the first older woman he had dated (she is nine years his senior) since he and Lisa Zane (sister of Billy, and 40 this year) apparently hooked up on the set of Roar. His penchant for mature gals is hardly surprising since Ledger is remarkably mature for his age. He puts it down to 'being on my own since I was 15'.

He finished school in Perth a year ahead of his peers and took off for Sydney, having already decided he wanted to pursue an acting career. The youngest of four siblings, he has three sisters, the eldest of whom was already acting. 'She seemed to have so much fun, so I thought I'd try it. I really felt I wanted to scream and shout. Some people do it through drugs, or rebelling, or running away. I thought acting would be a good medium for expressing that stuff.'

Even then, Ledger was savvy about his work choices. He made an effort to avoid the Home And Away/Neighbours route, but did succumb briefly to the former. 'I was starving so I had no choice but to do a week on Home And Away. I was the rebel teenager who came into town and slept with Sally.'

He then won the role in Roar which was initially 'passionate and quite beautiful' TV but degenerated into 'something with G-strings and bikinis once the ratings dropped to the floor'. The show was cancelled but still airing on America's Fox Network, so Ledger decided to 'strike while the iron was hot' and decamped to Hollywood.

He made one passable teen film - 10 Things I Hate About You - but smartly ditched other offers he received for similar teen pap and bided his time. The waiting - a year of it - paid off and he landed his role in The Patriot. Even before shooting a single frame, Ledger knew what he was letting himself in for in Hollywood. When finally put together with Mel Gibson for a screen test, the pair were directed to 'try and look like father and son'. He cringes at the recollection but got the role, of course, and an excellent mentor in Gibson, whose own working credo was well in synch with Ledger's.

'I certainly carried on a lot of his attitude in terms of "it's a breeze". Life in this profession is just a breeze for him. It's about "relax, don't let it get to you, and have fun".'

None of this has helped Ledger overcome the 'surrealism' of the fame game. He was extremely unhappy that A Knight's Tale was marketed in the US largely on the strength of his own mug, which peered down (admittedly very attractively) from enormous, ubiquitous billboards, tagged with the line 'He will rock you'. 'You start to feel like a marketing whore,' he opines, 'just a product because people see saleability and just grab it. I thought I was an actor, not a corporation.'

Ledger's next film was an altogether different experience, and one which should see him neatly side-stepping the dreaded teen genre for good. Four Feathers is directed by Shekhar Kapur, the visionary director responsible for Elizabeth, and stars fellow young luminaries Wes Bentley and Kate Hudson.

It's a grown-up role (you can tell from his huge straggly beard in the trailer) which sees Ledger playing an English soldier who resigns from his regiment the day before it departs for active service in Sudan. His friends each hand him a white feather - a symbol of cowardice.

Ledger found the experience 'brilliant, exciting and passionate. We'd get home at 11 at night and have to be up at five - and Shekhar would ring at midnight wanting to talk for two hours about the next day's shoot. It was hard, rewarding and a real journey.'

Ledger's own journey continues skywards. He tries his best 'to find the comedy in situations because that takes away the stress'. But you won't catch him complaining about his lot in life. Also a free-spirited and rather spiritual dude, Ledger has a life outside showbiz. Life-living comprises photography ('I don't write a diary, I photograph it'), surfing ('I was a Bondi beach boy') and, in yet another homage to we Brits, eating Cadbury's chocolate. 'I love it. I have a pantry full of it in LA.'

When in LA, Ledger stays as far from the business as possible, literally and mentally. 'I'm not going to get freaked out or let anyone take control of me or my life, which is this in here [he taps his chest]. At the end of the day this is all so insignificant. I'm not supernatural and I don't do anything out of the ordinary.'

Hollywood is inclined to disagree. But, frankly, Ledger couldn't give a damn.

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Heath gives us Knight fever

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