Paramount PicturesLee Marks didn’t know Heath Ledger personally, but that didn't stop him from choking up when talking about the late actor.
Why? Because Marks says it was Ledger's role in Brokeback Mountain that helped inspire his own work in Half-Life, a live-action/animated drama centered around an Asian American family living in Diablo Valley, California. The film, by writer-director Jennifer Phang, premiered last night at the Sundance Film Festival, which is where the actor talked about Ledger's influence on his performance.
Marks (below, left) costars as a teacher whose career is threatened when he becomes romantically involved with a man, played by Leonardo Nam (below, right).
“I always told myself that when I was able to play a gay character, I'd feel that I had arrived as an actor,” Marks said while fighting back tears at the movie's premiere. “I read an article about how Heath developed his character and what the character felt. I watched Brokeback Mountain about 15 times.”
Nam, who grew up in Sydney, Australia, said he and Ledger hung out in the same social circle and shared an acting coach. “He was such a brave actor by the way he directed his own career, making choices such as Brokeback and now doing the Batman movie,” Nam said. "It's dangerous to reprise a role that has already been done by Jack Nicholson. It was incredible to choose that."
—Additional reporting by Laura Lane