| J17 September 2001 (UK) Heath Ledger makes one big impact. He's tall, gorgeous and already a megastar. If 10 Things I Hate About You and The Patriot didn't convince you, just check him out in A Knight's Tale, this summer's best ye-olde-flick-with-a-stomping-rock-soundtrack. Heath plays a common lad who pretends to be posh so he can compete in jousting tournaments and get rich. Throw a pretty princess, an evil knight and some dodgy mates into the mix and Sir Heath has it all going on. Off screen he hasn't got much to complain about either - the dosh, the house in LA, the laydeez (Julia Stiles, Heather Graham). We couldn't wait to get our hands on him... Is that a real tattoo? Yeah. [He points to the black and white tattoo on his right bicep]. It's the centre of the universe. You know, the sun, the earth and the moon. I designed it myself. Do you feel, like, spirtually connected to the stars, man? Yeah, that's something we should all be interested in. That's the only truth we have! Erm, on to a different kind of star - you play a knight in your new movie, was that a laugh? It was tons of fun. It's what I used to do in my backyard with my friends! Except, this time I had bigger toys and a bigger playground. The accent was easy, cos the director just said "do what you want". But when I turned up, everyone was using an English accent, so I was like "I need to learn to do that!" I ended up doing just any accent. It's kind of English... You ride a horse in the film. Did you have any close shaves? Yeah, but you can't blame the horse. There I am on his back, wearing metal, and the crowd behind are screaming. I'm kicking him to make him move, and there's a guy at the other end of the field charging at him with a pole aimed at his head. The poor horse freaked out. He charged straight for this pole, and the next thing I knew, my leg got busted up. It was a great knight moment! The horse was fine, but it was scary. Your character tries to win the heart of a fair maiden. What's the best way for a girl to bowl you over? Honesty always gets my attention. Not particularly someone who is honest to me, but someone who is honest with themselves. That is a quality I really enjoy, admire and love. Do you go to loads of showbiz parties? Just look at the way I'm dressed [in sweats, like he's just got out of bed!]. What do you think? I'm not into those parties. Going to my own premieres is work. It's fun, but by the end of the night, your voice is so sore cos you've been talking non-stop. So no, I don't go to any of those Hollywood events. Do you freak out when you think about how famous you are? No, I take it as it comes. As soon as you believe it, you start becoming it. I don't want to be anything else. You've just split from Heather Graham. When you were together, did you read the goss written about the two of you? No, but there's a bunch of stuff which I would hear through friends. They'd ring me up and we'd just laugh about it. In fact it was hilarious! Heather never dragged me along to a tarot card reader. I also didn't buy her earrings, so she wasn't disappointed that they weren't an engagement ring either! You have to find comedy in it, because it's harmless fun. So what's up next? I'm going home to Perth to visit my family. I'm dying to see them. I've been working for 18 months flat out... You've just been filming in England. Was that fun? I hated London because of the class system - I think it sucks. I also didn't like the weather. I was over during the winter and I thought it was miserable. But I did like getting out of London and going to the countryside. It was absolutely beautiful. I met a lot of really wonderful people in England. So who would you rather date - an English girl or an American girl? You know, I have no preference to who I date, American, Australian or English - whatever. Sounds good to us. Here's J17's mobile number, Heath. Give us a call.... |