When the new Batman movie "The Dark
Knight" began screenings last month before its U.S. debut on
Friday, some moviegoers saw Heath Ledger as an instant Oscar
candidate as the deranged villain, The Joker.
But Oscar watchers and veteran critics say the joke may be
on fans creating mostly Internet-based buzz because an Academy
Award for the Australian actor, who died of an accidental drug
overdose in January, would be a rare event.
Only one actor has won an Oscar after death, Peter Finch
for 1976's "Network."
"Dark Knight" is the type of comic book, action adventure
that Oscar voters generally do not favor and there are many
movies to see later this year, the experts said.
Still, Ledger's critically hailed performance may bring a
nomination for the U.S. film industry's top award, to be
presented next February 22, 2009.
"All this Oscar talk is a phenomenon of the Internet age
that I like to call 'a wish-fulfillment rumor.' If people say
it often enough, they think it will happen," said Leonard
Maltin, film critic for TV program "Entertainment Tonight."
"That's not to say it might not happen," he said, citing a
"great performance" by Ledger. "But I assure you that the
people who are spreading all this are neither Oscar voters nor
(Hollywood) movers and shakers."
Tom O'Neil, a columnist for award-watching Web site The
Envelope.com, said "it really looks good" for a nomination but
was "a long shot" to win.
Hollywood has a long history of seeing big stars -- James
Dean, Marilyn Monroe and Bruce Lee among them -- appearing in
high-profile films released after their untimely deaths.
O'Neil said that when Finch died, Hollywood was in the
middle of Oscar season and also in shock. Prior to that, Robert
De Niro was sweeping the critics' awards for "Taxi Driver."
Veteran Oscar watcher O'Neil also sees parallels between
the truncated careers of Ledger and James Dean.
"Like Heath, James Dean was a heartthrob star who was
considered a serious actor, who died tragically young," O'Neil
said. "He was nominated twice posthumously, for "East of Eden"
and "Giant," and he lost both times."
Even the legendary Spencer Tracy was ignored by the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which gives out the
Oscars, after he died in 1967 just as "Guess Who's Coming To
Dinner?" was coming out in theaters. And he was the
front-runner, O'Neil said.
Tracy's co-star Katharine Hepburn did win best actress for
"Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?"
"That's how reluctant Oscar voters are to hug the dead,"
O'Neil said. "These awards are all about hugs and there's
something creepy about embracing the dead."
(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and John O'Callaghan)
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