Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Heath Ledger's Joker named 5th Best Movie Villain of All Time: Moviefone

Moviefone has published a very interesting list of their top 25 movie villains of all time. Landing at number five, just behind Anthony Hopkins' legendary performance as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, is the late Heath Ledger for his take on the Joker in this week's big release, The Dark Knight.

Only the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz, Darth Vader from Star Wars and Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter are considered better screen villains by Moviefone. Ledger is two notches ahead of Javier Bardem's Chigurh from last year's No Country for Old Men (and Bardem won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for that one.)

That's quite the accomplishment for the late actor and will no doubt add to the ongoing Oscar buzz surrounding his performance. I can't wait to see The Dark Knight.

What does this have to do with queer politics? Not much, except that I continue to admire Ledger for his tragically brief career and talent. He touched my heart so profoundly in Brokeback Mountain. It would be truly amazing to see him receive a posthumous Oscar nomination for his final screen performance, or indeed the Oscar this winter.

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