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EW.com talks to Heath Ledger of ''A Knight's Tale'' | ledger_l
'TALE''S HOOK Ledger has his first starring role in a major release with this week's ''Knight's''
Heath Ledger: Armando Gallo/Retna

All About

A Knight's Tale

''Can I get you something?'' asks Heath Ledger, star of ''A Knight's Tale'' (in theaters May 11). ''Do you want some water? A Diet Coke?'' Yes, you heard right: EW.com goes to meet the Australian actor, 22, who isn't just ONE of the selling points for the summer comedy cum Middle Ages jousting saga, he's THE selling point -- and suddenly we've stumbled into an episode of ''Twilight Zone'' scripted by Miss Manners -- or maybe the editors of TigerBeat. Expectation: big star attitude. Reality: He's the perfect host.

Even so, there may be a few benighted moviegoers who don't yet recognize Ledger's name. But by now, even these people (peasants!) have seen his face -- on billboards, TV ads, magazine covers. The actor's been on the rise ever since his attention grabbing role as Mel Gibson's rebellious son in ''The Patriot.'' The same studio, Sony/Columbia, is also behind ''Knight,'' which just happened to be in production in Prague when Ledger's ''Patriot'' hit theaters. So an ensemble story about a wannabe knight and his friends has been transformed, if the splashy poster is to be believed, into a story about a guy who ''will rock you.''

Yet his ''Knight'' costars say the actor hardly notices the furor. ''He's walking around with a $40 million plus film on his shoulders like he's been doing it all his life,'' says Paul Bettany, the English actor who plays Geoffrey Chaucer (yes, the famous one) opposite Ledger's aspiring knight who transcends class to become a champion jousting stud. ''I just have to laugh at those posters, though'' adds Bettany. ''They make him look so butch.''

Butch enough to best an box office juggernaut like ''The Mummy Returns''? Ledger doesn't seem worried -- unless it's about you being thirsty while he talks about the knight life. (Um, we'll take that glass of water, thanks.)

You've said that when you tried out for your first U.S. role, in the Fox TV series ''Roar,'' you were a wreck. Are you more confident now?
No! I'm the worst auditioner, really, really bad. I mean, you're being judged and I'm just so aware of it that it consumes me. I can't relax, I'm tied in knots, so the voice is very taut and tense. You're so aware that you're acting 'cause you're sitting across from this lady with a piece of paper who's going, ''I'm. Going. To. Shoot. You. If. You. Don't. Blah, blah, blah,'' in this emotionless voice. It's foul. I hate it.

You've played a modern Petruchio in ''10 Things I Hate About You,'' a knight, a soldier. What's your role in ''The Four Feathers,'' with Wes Bentley and Kate Hudson, like -- another big adventure?
Any child that would dream of being this character would be twisted. He's accused of being a coward. He's not. But society deems him one, because he hands in his resignation the night they're going off to the Sudan to fight.

Yet this is something like the fifth remake of the classic wartime coming of age story -- it's a story about courage, isn't it?
It's very cool. The director, Shekhar Kapur (''Elizabeth'') is brilliant. Shakhar, shaky. Salt shaker. He's an intense man, demands a lot from you, 24 hours, seven days a week without fail for the entire shoot, total commitment. So your head is just FRIED, but it's worth it. Four months in Morocco! I didn't get a day off on the whole shoot.

You, not Mel Gibson, were on the cover of Vanity Fair when ''The Patriot'' came out. How has life been different since then?
I was really slapped with the change when I went back home for two weeks. My hometown, Perth, is tiny -- 2 million people -- and it's the most isolated city in the world. So it's a big deal if you're from there and you're in this industry. It was a shock. Every move I made was written down and documented and released the next day on the front page of every f---ing paper. You kind of want to feel that if there's one place in the world that is always the same, it's your hometown or the town you grew up in. And it's gone now.

How do you deal with intrusive people?
You have to find the comedy in it. People around me don't realize how funny their reactions to me are and how funny everyone else is. Last night in New York, I went out to some bar and this big dude came up to me and stands like THIS close to my face shouting, ''ARE YOU HEATH LEDGER, ARE YOU HEATH LEDGER, ARE YOU HEATH?'' over and over and over again, until I was like ''Yes!'' And then he was like, ''WERE YOU IN 'THE PATRIOT'?'' Really obnoxious. So I just turned around to him and explained, like I do all the time, ''What would you think if just a complete f---ing stranger comes right up to you and gets in your face?'' Regardless of who it is, there's no excuse. If someone's an asshole, they're an asshole. I don't tolerate it. I'm polite about it. But I don't tolerate it.

Other actors say that being a celebrity is like becoming public property. True?
Exactly. It's like you're eating dinner in a restaurant and someone asks if they can take a photo with you and you explain, ''No, I'm out relaxing, I'm not working.'' And they're looking at you like, ''But... what? Aren't you just like that chair over there? I can take a photo of that chair. It's mine! It's ours!'' Whatever. I'm not really that bothered about it, I guess. I'm just talking about it because you asked.


Posted May 10, 2001 | Order Article Reprints