Will Heath Ledger win an Oscar for his performance in ‘The Dark Knight’?

What happened

Press screenings for the latest Batman movie The Dark Knight have begun, and many critics are raving about late actor Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker. Buzz has started about whether Ledger, who accidentally overdosed on prescription drugs last January, will become the only other actor ever to win an Oscar posthumously. (The Canadian Press)

What the commentators said

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Heath Ledger will “absolutely be nominated for an Oscar” for his performance as The Joker, said Sam Rubin in KTLA.com’s Morning News blog, and he “is also a hands-down favorite to win it posthumously.” Not only is Ledger’s performance “amazing,” he is “THE BEST villain in a super hero movie of all time.”

“Yikes!” said Tom O’Neil in the Los Angeles Times blog Gold Derby. “Slow down, Sam!” Let’s not forget that “the only other star” that “has ever won an acting Oscar posthumously” was Peter Finch for his role in the 1976 film Network—but he “died of a heart attack just weeks before the awards gala, when Hollywood was still in shock and grieving over his loss.”

“I’m sure thousands of Internet ‘critics’ already have their reviews written” for The Dark Knight without even having seen it yet, said the blog 2Snaps. Who’s really going to have the guts to say, “Heath Ledger sucked?” There’s no doubt that the latest Batman movie “will break box office records.” But most of the discussion surrounding the film will be about whether “a dead guy can win an Oscar,” and “July 18 is going to be more about Ledger than Bat-who?”