Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan used his Golden Globe speech to pay tribute to the late actor Heath Ledger on Sunday night.
Addressing the audience, Nolan recalled the ‘challenging’ moment he had to accept a posthumous Globe on behalf of Ledger in 2009 for his supporting role in Nolan’s smash hit The Dark Knight.
Ledger died of an accidental drug overdose in his New York apartment aged 28, after filming was completed but before the film was released.
His haunting portrayal of the Joker earned Ledger a posthumous Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.
During his speech in 2009, Nolan became visibly emotional as he he spoke about the loss of such a promising young actor.
After winning his Golden Globe on Sunday night, Christopher Nolan recalled the heartbreaking moment he accepted Heath Ledger’s posthumous Globe for The Dark Knight in 2009. (Nolan pictured accepting Legder’s award in 2009)
‘All of us who worked with Heath on The Dark Knight accept this with an awful mixture of sadness but incredible pride,’ Nolan began.
He went on to say that Heath’s death had caused a ‘rift in the future of cinema’.
‘But with the extraordinary response to his work that we’ve seen all over the world, I for one started to be able to look a bit less at that gap in the future and a little bit more at the incredible place in the history of cinema that he built for himself with his talent and with his dedication to his artistry,’ he continued.
Ledger died of an accidental drug overdose in his New York apartment aged 28, after filming was completed but before the film was released. (Ledger pictured in 2005)
‘All of us who worked with Heath on The Dark Knight accept this with an awful mixture of sadness but incredible pride,’ Nolan said in his 2009 speech. (Ledger and Nolan on the set of The Dark Knight)
‘For any of us lucky enough to have worked with him, I think for any of us lucky enough to have enjoyed his performances, he will be eternally missed, but he will never be forgotten,’ Nolan concluded.
The British filmmaker harked back to the gut-wrenching moment on stage as e he accepted the Best Director award for Oppenheimer at the 81st Golden Globes on Sunday.
It was his first ever Globe, after previously being nominated Memento (2000), Inception (2010) and Dunkirk (2017).
The British filmmaker harked back to the gut-wrenching moment on stage as e he accepted the Best Director award for Oppenheimer at the 81st Golden Globes. (Nolan pictured at the Golden Globes on Sunday)
Addressing the audience, Nolan said: ‘The only time I’ve ever been on this stage before was accepting one of these on behalf of our dear friend, Heath Ledger, and that was complicated and challenging for me.’
‘In the middle of speaking, I got all stuck, and Robert Downey Jr. caught my eye and gave me a look of love and support — the same look he’s giving me now.’
Nolan to admit he’d thought it would be ‘simpler’ accepting the award for himself this time around, but now realises he ‘can only accept this on behalf of people’.
‘As directors, we bring people together and we try to get them to give their best,’ he explained, before praising the ‘incredible’ cast of Oppenheimer including Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr. and Florence Pugh.
Oppenheimer scored eight nominations, including best picture drama and for actors Cillian Murphy (pictured) Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt
Oppenheimer was released four months ago on July 21 – the same day as Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.
The double screening prompted many to flock to the cinema to see both films in a phenomenon dubbed ‘Barbenheimer’ – boosting the sales of both.
Since its release, Oppenheimer grossed over USD $953million worldwide and became the third-highest grossing film of 2023.
