Independent Film Guide

Moviefone: Did you find it particularly tricky to play a junkie? Seems like a role that could so easily slip into caricature.

Heath Ledger: Yeah, it could. The first place I started was trying to find out the person I was playing and then let the junkie aspects kind of naturally take over in a way, for that reason, probably. Hopefully it worked.

MF: What did you find relatable about your character in 'Candy'?

HL: Not a lot. I didn't necessarily agree with many of his choices in life or the decisions he would make, but I've never been addicted to anything other than tobacco, so I think it's hard for us outside of their world to comprehend how they're making their decisions, you know?

MF: What do you think really drives the relationship between Dan and Candy?

HL: I don't know. I mean perhaps before the film starts, you would initially think she was allured by the dangerous aspects of him. She'd seem like she was coming from a place where she was entertaining the idea of punishing herself a little or being a little self-destructive, and he represented that a little. And then pretty early on in the story, it quickly becomes the drug. There's like a love triangle kind of a thing. And then something bad unfortunately becomes their drive.

MF: There are some seriously heart-wrenching scenes in the film, the childbirth scene especially. Are those as difficult for you to shoot as they are for us to watch?

HL: Yeah, it was. It was definitely tough to shoot. I'd just found out Michelle was pregnant with our first child, and that was four weeks before we had to shoot that scene. So it was strange. I didn't want to jinx our own pregnancy and having to hold a little prosthetic, bloody dead baby in your hands ? It was very uncomfortable. It's supposed to be uncomfortable. I'm not sure whether or not we should have seen as much as we did, but that's not really up to me to make that call, obviously. But yeah, it was definitely difficult to shoot.

MF: What are your impressions of Abbie Cornish from working with her?

HL: Well, as a person she's incredibly down to earth. You know, what you see is what you get. There's just absolutely no bulls---, so I really admired that. And as an actress, she's incredibly explosive and instinctual to a tee. She refuses to do anything else but run off her instincts, and she has very good instincts as an actor, so I think she makes for a very good leading lady.

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