Heath Ledger's Prior Anxiety Problems and the Mental Strain of Method Acting

Perhaps we should damn that old Stanislavsky acting technique of Method Acting. It arguably provides a process in giving a better performance in movies for actors, but it also can get under both the actor's (and the viewer's) skin when playing an unpleasant role. Actors have to basically live with the role they're playing to the point of eventual madness. Some documented evidence from past actors seems to show what it can do to a person's psyche. In the case of the now late Heath Ledger--it could be an indirect casualty from the process. From all appearances in Ledger's most recent film roles, he was a true advocate of Method Acting, whether through his own personal approach or through disciplined training. And, based on recently cryptic comments he made when playing the role of The Joker in "The Dark Knight" (now, eerily, his last performance), playing a much, much more sadistic version of this character became too psychologically tough to digest.

This isn't to say that Method Acting doesn't have its place in the acting world. We've managed to get some of the greatest performances in the history of film thanks to Method Actors. James Dean, Marlon Brando and Robert DeNiro (just to name the three you think of first) have taken roles they've conceived and made them beyond believable and compelling. The famous Actor's Studio in NYC promotes the process thanks to the controversial Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford and Robert Lewis who started it in 1947. And then, of course, Lee Strasberg forwarded it even further when he took over in 1952. Many of Strasberg's students learned well how to get inside a role--sometimes very disturbing ones. But roles in those days were obviously not as cutting edge as they are now.

Out of dozens of actors who've studied the Method Acting techniques, Robert DeNiro was probably one of the first to take truly disturbing roles and take them to the absolute edge in film. I can't even imagine wanting to be living around DeNiro in 1975-76 when he was filming "Taxi Driver" and playing the gradually unraveling Travis Bickle. Perhaps that's just exaggeration on his real mental state then. Even so, we know how much preparation DeNiro put into those roles in those days. He became all his classic characters as the old phrase goes when describing a Method Acting process. Recently, he hasn't done anything near that level--maybe because it's too taxing when you reach the age of 60.

Now that films take more out of actors--burnout from the process might be happening before an actor even reaches 30.

Looking at the path of Heath Ledger (who now falls under the iconic category where Rudolph Valentino, James Dean and River Phoenix are today)--his tragic death seems to be brought on as the result of feeling anxious and nervous about his work. As mentioned above, the new Joker role was reportedly beyond the scope of most actors out there on a mental level. Ledger, being the ambitious actor, may have placed himself into a role that truly possessed him to the point of mental breakdown that exacerbated the use of prescription drugs to combat it.

While his Joker role may eventually be one for the ages--one has to wonder if it's worth that sacrifice just to be immortal on screen. I guess it is to some actors depending on their philosophies of life. Without knowing all details, some of Ledger's recent interviews have him a bit pre-occupied with death as if he knew he may not survive his industry from all the stress and strain. It's not the first time some famous actors and actresses have been brutally honest about how their famous roles drove them to near-breakdowns...

One legendary actress explained what playing Blanche DuBois can do to a person...

You'd probably expect me to say that Robert DeNiro or Anthony Hopkins made some comment at some point in time that revealed a particular role affecting their personal lives a little too much. So far, they've kept quiet about that. In the 1950's, however, an actress who didn't necessarily use the Method Acting technique cited how a role can get under your skin and affect your mental processes. It was legendary "Gone with the Wind" actress Vivien Leigh who took the role of Blanche DuBois in 1951's "A Streetcar Named Desire" to an even higher level than she took Scarlett O'Hara. Leigh did the Blanche role on the West End for a while before doing the movie version. After doing the movie, she was interviewed a few years later saying how playing the highly difficult role so often on the stage and in the movie almost made her go insane.

Of course, those familiar with Vivien Leigh's background know she was manic-depressive--and the condition couldn't be treated well in those days. Nevertheless, we don't know that Heath Ledger didn't have the same problems. Anybody complaining about having intense anxiety and not being able to sleep on a nightly basis should be examined by their doctor to see what may be behind it.

For Leigh, she found that Blanche DuBois role to be her next lucky break to keep her at the forefront of the acting world where she rightly belonged. Ledger probably felt the same way about The Joker--after having only sporadic overly-challenging roles prior to "Brokeback Mountain" that set a new acting high bar for the guy.

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In previews for "The Dark Knight", it's obvious Ledger's new approach to the role of The Joker is a character with unprecedented evil, overall insaneness (and psychotic makeup job) that only CGI could create from a safe distance. And, yes, Ledger was directly quoted as saying The Joker was just a little bit too disturbing to take--particularly having to inhabit the character for months.

It makes you ponder how many actors are going to want to take risks like this in the future if they don't possess an extremely healthy mental condition going into extremely challenging roles. Everybody's different, but actors are expected too much now to take roles to a higher level.

Nobody said that being an actor was easy, and it may be one of the most dangerous professions right now. Heath Ledger, as awesome of an actor as he obviously was, may have sacrificed his mental health for it...while maybe dying from the result of being over-medicated to control it.

It has shades of Marilyn Monroe in a way--even in the way he was found lying down in his NYC apartment. Now he joins the pantheon of people like her and all the other great actors who were swallowed up by the pressures of Hollywood--yet still being remembered as good people to the end.