Easy to speculate of course, but where do you all think Ledger's career would be by now had he not died?
Would he have a Best Actor Oscar under his belt in addition to the Supporting Actor?
Would he be doing a lot of the roles Tom Hardy or Leo Dicaprio have had?
Here's my take on what his filmography would've looked like:
2008 - The Dark Knight
2009 - The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
2009 - The Queen's Gambit (his directorial debut and he would've had a supporting role)
2010 - Inception (Arthur)
2011 - Mad Max: Fury Road (The movie would've been made earlier if he had come aboard then, since Warner Bros. would've wanted to stay in the Heath Ledger business and George Miller sought him for the part.)
2012 - The Dark Knight Rises (Joker)
2013 - The Place Beyond The Pines (Avery Cross)
2013 - Rush (James Hunt)
2013 - Prisoners (Keller Dover)
2014 - Inherent Vice (Doc Sportello)
2015 - The Revenant (Hugh Glass)
All solid choices. I've often wondered what direction TDKR would have taken.
A Heather Ledger/Tom Hardy rivalry in The Revenant would have been epic. No disrespect to Leo's great job, but I have to agree on that one the most.
Arthur interesting I always wondered if Nolan had him in mind for Inception; I think he would have made a great Cobb.
shareHe wouldn't have a Oscar but I'm sure his career would be really good
shareHe was strongly considered for Brad Pitt's part in The Tree of Life and I think he would have been amazing in that. I don't know why but I can totally picture him playing the character. But Pitt was still amazing as well and deserved an Oscar for it.
I also would have liked to see Heath play either Fassbender or Pitt's role in The Counselor. He would have nailed either role. Jeremy Renner's role in The Hurt Locker. Ryan Gosling in Drive or The Place Beyond the Pines. Tom Hardy in Legend. Jake Gyllenhaal in Prisoners.
There were rumors that the movie would've been like Silence of the Lambs where Batman would get help from a locked up Joker to defeat the villain in the movie. Near the end the Joker would escape and Batman would have to battle two foes
shareHe'd most likely be playing a lot of the roles that now go to the likes of Fassbender, Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Tom Hardy. I do not think he would have played a superhero. I think a number of indie directors would have favored him the way they do Fassbender now.
I do not think he would be given that Oscar for the Joker. People would not have paid attention to that performance the way that they did as far as the award season buzz goes... had he been alive. He'd be like Jake Gyllenhaal - giving performance after performance worthy of all the awards, yet never even getting nominated.
He would have also lost all his hair, so it would have been challenging for him to find employment in blockbuster movies. He would have also ended up in rehab a few times.