"Brokeback" director Ang Lee reacts to Heath Ledger's death...
"Brokeback Mountain" director Ang Lee, who won an Oscar for helming the landmark film, fondly reflected Wednesday on working with Heath Ledger, calling the actor's untimely death "heartbreaking."
"Working with Heath was one of the purest joys of my life," the director said in a statement. "He brought to the role of Ennis [Del Mar] more than any of us could have imagined – a thirst for life, for love, and for truth, and a vulnerability that made everyone who knew him love him. His death is heartbreaking."
Ledger was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award for his role as Ennis Del Mar, a taciturn gay cowboy in the 2005 drama. Here's what Lee said to People magazine in 2005 about Heath's performance: "He understood the cowboy way, just in the way he posed, and his body language and how it developed over the course of the film...He understood the shyness and vulnerability and isolation of the character. He really got that. And he did it while carrying the Western aura."
Greg Hernandez has covered the entertainment industry for the Daily
News since 2001. He's considered a bit odd by some for his obsession
with box office numbers, has been known to camp out near the kitchen
at premieres for first crack at the hors d'oeurves, and Greg's never
seen a red carpet he didn't want to stroll down.