Heath Ledger landed one in every of his most well-known roles with easy appeal — inside seconds.
“10 Things I Hate About You” director Gil Junger recalled in an interview Friday that he was determined to search out his main man for the 1999 rom-com, and had already auditioned lots of of younger actors when a then-unknown Ledger entered the room.
What occurred subsequent, he informed Entertainment Weekly, was pure “magic.”
“I’m very picky,” Junger informed the outlet. “I had already read 253 guys — 253 guys! And then Marcia Ross, the head of Disney casting, said, ‘Look, this next kid, I don’t know him. It’s a favor for an agent I respect. So if he’s no good, just stop it and send him on his way.’”
Ledger had already established himself as an actor in his native Australia on the time with roles in numerous tv collection, however was nonetheless very a lot unknown within the U.S. Junger recalled Friday that the choice to hurry by means of his audition, nevertheless, vanished instantly.
“Don’t forget, I’ve been casting for months and did not have the guy yet,” he informed EW. “And this is the God’s honest truth, on my parents’ life: He took three steps into the room, and my thought was, ‘If this fucker can read English, I’m going to cast him.’”
Ledger’s efficiency because the mysterious new highschool pupil Patrick Verona arguably made him a star and virtually launched him to American audiences. His chemistry with Julia Stiles, who performed his love curiosity, turned Ledger right into a bona fide heartthrob.
The teenager-centric movie, which is actually a retelling of William Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” has since grow to be a rom-com staple for followers of a sure age. Ledger went on to have a meteoric rise to fame, however died from an unintentional drug overdose in 2008.
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The “Dark Knight” star posthumously gained an Academy Award for his villainous flip within the Batman movie because the Joker. Ledger, who shared a baby with fellow actor Michelle Williams, continues to mesmerize followers to this present day — each for his work and for his kindness off-screen.
“He just had a magnetism unlike I’ve ever felt,” Junger informed EW. “It was undeniable.”
“If there’s old souls, he must have been centuries old because he just had a way about him — he was only 17, and yet he just was so confident and loving and wanted to be the best he could be,” he continued. “He was just an incredible young man.”
