Heath Ledger Winning An Oscar, Is Just Hype Fueled By Bloggers!

Yes, the new Batman movie, "THE DARK NIGHT" opens Friday. All the buzz is about Heath Ledger's incredible performance. But film critic Leonard Maltin says all this talk about Heath getting an Oscar for his performance as the Joker is the real joke... perpetuated by bloggers and chat rooms.

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 favour 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 on February 22, 2009.

"All this Oscar talk is a phenomenon of the Internet age that I like to call 'a wish-fulfilment rumour.' 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."
Iain Blair over at UK REUTERS has more on Heaths Oscar odds.

Halle Berry's Monsters Ball Co-Star Heath Ledger is Dead!?!?

Looks Like The Talented Actor May Have Taken His Own Life

Australian-born actor Heath Ledger, 28, the co-star of the Oscar-winning movie "Brokeback Mountain," was found dead in a New York residence on Tuesday, police said. This is really tragic family!

"Heath Ledger was found dead at 3:26 pm this afternoon," a police spokesperson said, saying he was found in an apartment in the posh district of Soho. "We don't know the cause of the death."

The entertainment website TMZ said Heath was discovered "face down on the floor" adding that "law enforcement sources ... believe it was not a crime."

The New York Times said the young film star who appeared alongside Halle Berry in her Oscar winning "Monster's Ball" was discovered by the housekeeper and a masseuse who arrived in the afternoon for an appointment. They knocked on the door, but "when no one answered, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Mr. Ledger naked and unconscious on a bed. They shook him, but he did not respond," the Times said.

Both the New York Times and TMZ quoted officials as saying pills were found near the body, but gave no further details.