| He's just your average 22-year-old Aussie bloke who just happens to be Hollywood's next big thing. The frenzy over Heath Ledger has surprised even cynical LA. There, they're calling him the new Mel Gibson. In fact, it was Mel who gave Heath his Hollywood break in The Patriot which led to his first leading role in A Knight's Tale. But it's Heath's tale, from Perth to Tinseltown at lightning speed, which is truly remarkable. Indeed, it reads just like a Hollywood script. Story: TARA BROWN: You won't find Heath Ledger on a Bondi bus these days. In fact, it's rare to see him in Australia at all. Do you live a celebrity lifestyle? Do you drive around in convertibles? HEATH LEDGER: Let's wave to the paparazzi. TARA BROWN: You love the paparazzi. HEATH LEDGER: Let's piss them off. Hi guys, how are you doing? Jerks. TARA BROWN: You don't like them? HEATH LEDGER: No, they like, hound you and they sit out there and follow you. It sucks. TARA BROWN: It's a frenzied reception normally reserved for royals and rock stars. In this full house, on centre stage, is a rather bemused lad from Perth, wondering what all the fuss is about. Is it always this crazy? HEATH LEDGER: No, it's a shock for me because I haven't, you know, I haven't seen any of this, I haven't experienced any of this before. TARA BROWN: So you're feeling famous right now? HEATH LEDGER: Yeah, I guess. Yeah, if this is how you're supposed to feel. TARA BROWN: Now, incredibly, after just three years of knocking on Hollywood's doors, Heath has landed his first leading role. He literally plays a knight in shining armour. A Knight's Tale is a fun romp set in medieval times with a modern beat. HEATH LEDGER: It's a smorgasbord of entertainment, so to speak. It just had, you know, the comedy and the drama, the action and the rock-and-roll music and the romance. It had all these ingredients and I was very curious on how the hell I was going to pull it off. TARA BROWN: He's a bit of a romantic character. Are you a romantic bloke? HEATH LEDGER: I think so. I think, yeah. TARA BROWN: In what way? HEATH LEDGER: Oh, God, I think in life in general, you know, it's one thing to be romantic in love, but I think romance — it's a universal thing in life. It's important to be romantic, I guess. I don't know. TARA BROWN: What does that mean? HEATH LEDGER: I hoped you wouldn't ask that. TARA BROWN: The Perth-based teen soap Sweat was Heath's tentative first step on his stellar path. For this 16-year-old sports champion and school dropout, it was a choice between a career on the hockey field or the role of Snowy Boles, a gay cyclist. HEATH LEDGER: I remember stopping and looking at it and saying, "Oh, that's really bad, you know," and then I'm like, "Mum, that's really bad, isn't it?" And she kind of didn't disagree with me, which made me feel better. Then I stopped and I realised look, I can see the mistakes I'm making. There's no reason why I can't change them. TARA BROWN: And therefore there's no need to go to college or an acting school … is that how you felt? HEATH LEDGER: Maybe there was a need to … no, I didn't want to. TARA BROWN: Why not? HEATH LEDGER: You know, because the one thing that's got me to where I'm sitting is my instincts, you know, and I'm impatient. I didn't want to wait for years to work. I wanted to just get out there and do it. TARA BROWN: How long has it been since you've been in an Aussie pub? HEATH LEDGER: About four days. TARA BROWN: As Heath tells it, it was that impatience of youth that first brought him to Sydney as a 16-year-old. With just a few cents in his pocket and a lot of faith in his beaten up Mazda, he crossed the Nullabor. HEATH LEDGER: It was literally jumping in that car and planting the foot down and bolting out and... TARA BROWN: And running away at all? HEATH LEDGER: Oh no, running TO. I've got nothing to run away from in Perth. I love my family, I love my friends, I love the city. It was just there was all this going on outside of that and I just had to be a part of it. I had to go out and learn for myself. TARA BROWN: Heath began to flex his acting muscles in the international television series Roar. But it was the Australian film Two Hands that proved the kid could act. HEATH LEDGER: It was wonderful. It was nerve-racking at first because it was Bryan Brown and, you know, I was a fan of his and looked up to him, and so you can't help but be a little shaky when you first meet someone like that. |
| Tara Brown interviews Heath (interview taken from ninemsn) |