How do you run an Oscar campaign for Heath Ledger, the widely admired young actor who died last January of an overdose of prescription drugs?
Very carefully, it seems, as Warner Bros., the studio behind "The Dark Knight," tries to tread the line between tribute and exploitation in rallying academy support for Ledger's performance as the maniacal, nihilistic Joker.
Oscar campaigning is serious business in Hollywood, as studios have been known to spend as much as $50 million in a quest for those golden statuettes. The mantra from Warner Bros. sources -- though no one will go on the record -- is that the studio is running a campaign for all members of the filmmaking team and all the actors. The film, which earned almost a billion dollars, was a critical darling.
But consider one Internet ad featuring Ledger in his ghoulish Joker outfit, with a shaded Christian Bale looming in the background in his Batman gear: The ad touts both actors, but it's clearly the white-faced Ledger whose Joker leer is front and center.
It is a near-consensus in Hollywood that Ledger is a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination for supporting actor and might even win, which would make the forever young Australian the only actor besides "Network's" Peter Finch to earn an acting Oscar posthumously. Still, he faces strong competition from other contenders, who could include Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Doubt") and Michael Shannon (for his breakout performance in "Revolutionary Road").
Already, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members say that if Ledger is nominated, his spectral presence could help reverse the ratings slide for the Academy Awards show as fans tune in to see if his riveting turn as the demonic Joker is honored.
Eleven months after Ledger's death at age 28, still not much is known about his final days or why he had ingested the six drugs the autopsy detected. Ledger apparently suffered from insomnia, and theories were floated through the Internet and the media that his ferocious commitment to the crazed Joker had taken an emotional toll on him. But, for the most part, Hollywood has succeeded with an improbable media blackout, with almost no real information (aside from a few unsourced quotes in tabloids) leaking out about Ledger's death.
The fascination with the actor has hardly abated, and interest will probably be juiced again when Warner Bros. releases "The Dark Knight" on DVD next week and stages another nationwide theatrical release of the movie Jan. 23 -- the day after the Oscar nominations are announced and the first anniversary of Ledger's death.
Forbes recently named Ledger the third highest-earning dead celebrity, after Elvis and "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz, estimating that Ledger's estate will earn at least $20 million from "The Dark Knight" (his deal included a cut of the film and merchandising revenue).
In Australia, there's been an ongoing controversy over whether to name a new theater complex in Perth, Ledger's hometown, after the actor. Ledger's estate filed suit against the insurance company ReliaStar after the firm stalled on paying the actor's $10-million life insurance policy while it investigated whether the actor committed suicide. (The New York City medical examiner has ruled his death accidental.)
Warner Bros. was deft in its initial marketing push for "The Dark Knight," for the campaign neither hid Ledger's presence nor overly hyped it. (The family asked the studio not to take down any ads using Ledger's image in the aftermath of his death, according to one studio source.) In fact, word of mouth did most of the work as Ledger's creepy and brilliant tour de force caught the public's imagination. It's impossible to know how much his untimely death added to the studio's bottom line.
Running an Oscar campaign is even trickier, though, because there are more pointed questions of taste and propriety. Last summer, Terry Gilliam, Ledger's friend and the director of his final film, "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," complained to the Telegraph of London that such a campaign was inherently exploitative.
"They'll do anything to publicize their film," Gilliam said of the studio. "That's just what they do, and you can't get upset. . . . They're like a great white shark which devours whatever it can."
An Oscar consultant who represents other competitors and who declined to be named because of the sensitive nature of the Ledger situation said: "There is sadness to the situation, but you don't use it. It just exists."
One challenge to a full-fledged award campaign is Ledger's absence. Doing the screening-party circuit is usually a must for any would-be nominee, notes another competing Oscar strategist who also asked for anonymity: "One of the biggest challenges is, obviously, not having Heath. You don't have the person to be the face of the campaign."
