Ang Lee and Mel Gibson are arguably the two moviemakers most responsible for the career of Heath Ledger. Aside from the fact that they're both double Oscar-winning directors who were born in the 1950s, could these men be any more different? Ang Lee is an enormously talented director of restrained style and superb taste. His films are quiet, nuanced, and moving. In them he looks on other types, races, and cultures with a compassionate eye and profound humanism. Mr. Gibson is an enormously well-rewarded director of showoff style and bizarre taste. His films are loud, obvious, and violent. In them he looks on other types, races, and cultures with a suspicous eye and harsh judgment.
Mel, part-time Aussie, snatched up Heath Ledger when he was just a hot young Australian actor to play his son in The Patriot (directed by Roland Emmerich) which led to multi-million dollar paychecks and billboard & magazine cover fame. Ang then rescued him from a dwindling career and guided the performance of a lifetime in Brokeback Mountain. We owe both Mel and Ang for lifting the career of this very promising actor into our sight line.
Thank you Mel. Now please go sell crazy somewhere else!
Thank you Ang. You can stay. Make lots more movies, please.
tags: Heath Ledger, Mel Gibson, Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain,celebrities, Australia
