Today was only the second day I made it up to Park City for Sundance and I had planned on doing a summary post of the day. Without a doubt the biggest news of the day was learning that Heath Ledger was dead.
That news utterly and completely swept the news of the Oscar nominees away. Everywhere I turned people were talking about Heath’s death - most in shock and talking about what a tragedy it was. Some of the more pragmatic ones wondering how this would affect the release and marketing strategy for The Dark Knight, Heath’s final completed film in which he has been getting rave reviews over his scenes as the Joker.
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I’m not going to lie and say I was some huge fan of Ledger. I didn’t dislike the guy - he just wasn’t on my radar. The last film I saw him in was his 2001 movie A Knight’s Tale. I never saw Brokeback Mountain because, frankly, the subject matter just didn’t appeal to me.
However his death mere months before the release of a movie that I believe was going to propel him into bonafide star status is tragic. The closest analogy that popped into my head was the death of Bruce Lee just prior to the release of Enter the Dragon, which was a movie that had he lived would have propelled him into mainstream stardom.
Everyone was talking about it and wondering what happened. Of course the rumor mill works quickly and the “surrounded by pills” detail, which I’m pretty sure has turned out to be completely false was one of the first to surface. Some of the people I talked to were bloggers like myself, while others were print journalists with resources in the NY police department.
As far as I understand it, Heath had been having trouble sleeping for going on two weeks straight, getting no more than a couple of hours a night. Having once myself experienced five days straight with only a couple of hours sleep over the duration I can understand the desperate need to fall asleep after so much time.
Apparently he had an alcohol problem and had come home drunk last night. Wanting to fall asleep he combined his alcoholic state with sleeping pills (how many I do not know). He had an appointment with a masseuse this afternoon, and when the maid went in to wake him he would not. The masseuse also went in and they confirmed that he was dead. My sources say that he was found in a sleeping position and all indications point to an accidental death.
At one point Heath was engaged to Michelle Williams, but they had broken up back in September. They had a daughter together who is now just over two years old.
Aside from that today I watched three films which I will be reviewing over the next couple of days: Towelhead, a sexually explicit and cautionary coming of age tale about a 13 year old Lebanese girl, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden, a documentary by Morgan Spurlock about finding the roots of terrorism, and Choke, a movie based on a book by the author of Fight Club.
My condolences to Heath Ledger’s family.
Heath Ledger was 28.
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7 Comments
It is a tragedy.
I think it’s interesting to note how many media outlets jumped on loose information and implied (sometimes more than that) that he O.D.’d and even left out the important information that the drugs were prescription for awhile. Maybe I shouldn’t blame them for assuming illegal drugs or suicide were involved considering this is “Show Business” but when they jump the gun like this it makes it seem like they’re rooting for people to self-destruct. Actually, I think they do.
Also disturbing was the media camping out to get pictures of the body bag. I mean, that’s just sick.
Interviews from the set of The Dark Knight had Ledger talking about sleeping 2-3 hours a night throughout the duration. Sounds like he threw himself completely into the role. Could it be due to his problems with his ex-?
RIP, Heath!
heath
Jerseycajun, well said. The media can be a heartless and misleading monster at most times. The price of being famous can be overwhelming. Hopefully Brittany Spear will look at her life a little more detailed seeing Heath’s untimely passing.
I agree Heath. Hopefully the role didn’t have a part in his demise. If found so, I will lose a HUGE won’t to see the film.
I’m really concerned about Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus which Heath was currently shooting. I’d hate for Terry had to endure another Lost in LaMancha.
Also Vic, you mentioned that you hadn’t seen Brokeback Mountain due to the subject matter. I have to say, I too initially, had little interest in seeing that film however, after seeing it with a date I ended up feeling regret, border-lining stupidity for judging a film by its poster. It’s worth seeing just for it’s brilliant storytelling, pace and cinematography if not for it’s significance in film history.
I’m really concerned about Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus which Heath was currently shooting. I’d hate for Terry had to endure another Lost in LaMancha.
Also Vic, you mentioned that you hadn’t seen Brokeback Mountain due to the subject matter. I have to say, I too initially, had little interest in seeing that film however, after seeing it with a date I ended up feeling regret, border-lining stupidity for judging a film by its subject-matter. It’s worth seeing just for it’s brilliant storytelling, pace and cinematography if not for it’s significance in film history.
Well I gotta say even though I wasn’t that much into Heath never really saw anything with him actually, I gotta say that this shocked me. I have only heard his name like I said never really seen him in anything.
But first a few weeks before this Brad Renfro died of a drug overdose and then Heath died of what people automaticlly assumed to be another drug (cocain, coke) overdose. But not every celebity death is caused from overdoses from cocain or whatever.
But as much as I hate to jinx it there is probably going to be one more tragic celebrity death soon. Cause these things always happen in 3’s. Brad Renfro was first, Heath Ledger second and God only knows who is going to be to next unlucky celebrity.
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