Heath Ledger found dead

[Teheheman]

I dunno, I've heard that he's REALLY puts himself into his roles, and that the Joker was SO intense that it caused him to lose sleep. So it could have very well drove him insane. But probably not enough to kill himself. I'm hoping that it's a reaction that he had from the prescriptions that he had. We may not know for a couple weeks so let's not speculate what happened til everything comes out.

Daniel

 

[Winslow Leach]

I dunno, I've heard that he's REALLY puts himself into his roles, and that the Joker was SO intense that it caused him to lose sleep. So it could have very well drove him insane. But probably not enough to kill himself. I'm hoping that it's a reaction that he had from the prescriptions that he had. We may not know for a couple weeks so let's not speculate what happened til everything comes out.

Daniel

A lot of actors get under the skin of their characters, but I doubt the roles were enough to drive them insane. De Niro in "Taxi Driver." Joe Pesci in "Goodfellas." The aforementioned Eric Roberts in "Star 80." Christian Bale in "American Psycho", etc. Heck, Anthony Perkins, while he was shooting "Psycho," was in rehearsals for a Broadway musical comedy. I could see someone losing sleep over playing an intense role, but literally being driven crazy? I don't know...

 

[frogboy4]

This is more about the movie than Ledger, but one cable news channel was reporting that Jack Nicholson was upset at Nolan, The Dark Knight and Ledger for not allowing him to "reprise" his role which is ridiculous. Not only does it not make sense in the new world of the Batman, it also doesn't seem likely to have happened. Batman has been around since 1939. Tim Burton, much as the master film maker might seem to believe sometimes, did not invent the characters in that film. Neither did Nicholson. Many people have played the Joker. I'm sure Jack would have enjoyed performing the iconic role again and making even more millions from it, but it appears to be a media created story because there really isn't anything sinister about Ledger's death. Everything points to a very tragic absent-minded mistake. One that's made by many everyday. The problem major media outlets have is that it simply isn’t sexy enough for them or their audience’s palette. The way he died was more about being the unfortunate part of a statistic than an intentional or malicious deed.

As for Heath Ledger being a lesser-known actor – that is far from the truth. He’s a lesser-known tabloid star as he stayed out of that dirty business as gracefully as possible. Even before “Dark Knight” he had a decade track record in film to make even most middle-aged actors envious. We all remember his crafted performances in high profile roles in Oscar winning films “Monsters Ball” and “Brokeback Mountain”, he starred with media popular star Matt Damon in “The Brothers Grimm”, got the teen crowd with “A Knights Tale” and “10 Things I Hate About You”, headlined the stylish popcorn movie “Casanova” and had a starring role with (then very popular) Mel Gibson in blockbuster “The Patriot”.

He was an actor. One that would have been well remembered for his work had he lived a long life.

 

[Winslow Leach]

Oh yeah, Jack Nicholson...that's another thing. One of the news shows said Ledger and Nicholson recently chatted with one another. Then we saw a clip of Nicholson walking, surrounded by papparazzi, asking about how he felt on Ledger's passing. Jack sneered, "I warned him." The insiders were trying to speculate on what that meant.

 

[Teheheman]

I'm thinking that's what Jack was saying was that the Joker is SUCH an intense role and Jack probably wanted to play the Joker and the reason for him wanting to play it is not because of the money or the fame, but do you think that he wanted to play it because he felt like he KNEW the character. He knew the character and what it takes to play it because he's done it before. But that's just me.

Daniel

 

[BEAR]

It's a very sad thing. He was a great actor.

Incidentally, the other day I took a little quiz online for fun that tells you what celebrity you're like. It came as quite a shock when it said I was like Heath Ledger. It kinda creeped me out, actually.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I am going to post only once here. Because while it is genuinely tragic news, celebrites get more than their fair share of attention. People die every day and we barely blink an eye.

I didn't keep up with Heath Ledger too much, but the moment I saw his picture on the Internet, the headline "Found Dead" and the fact that he was only 28 years old...I nearly burst into tears. He was much too young for this to happen.

Whether it was a suicide or accidental, it frightens and pains me how so many young people are so careless with their lives. Everybody's in pain and we all turn to some form of self medication to make it go away, even temporarily. But with pills and the like, the price is just too high.

I wish people who engage in such self destructive behavior (drugs, alcohol, irresponsible sex) would just stop for a moment and think of all the people who will be left behind when they are gone. All the pain their loved ones will have to go through when they find out their child or lover has died before their time, and it could have been prevented.

We all have problems, but it shows more strength of character to deal with them head on, rather than giving up and taking the easy way out. We never know how strong we can be until we try. Things are only hopeless until we decide they are not.

I'm reminded of the song the BeeGees wrote for their younger brother Andy, who died young, partially due to his years of drug use.

"We can take the darkness, and make it full of light.
But let your love flow back to me
How can you leave and let this feeling die?
This happy room will be a lonely place when you are gone.
And I won't even have your shoulders for the crying on.
No woman's love could be as true, I'm begging you...
Don't throw it all away, our love our love, don't throw it all away
Don't let it die..."

 

[Speed Tracer]

There was a recent story where Ledger was out with his daughter, and was being followed by a photographer. Ledger handed the photographer a flower, and said "I would really appreciate it if you didn't take my picture," and the photographer left him alone.

That's without a doubt the most wonderful thing I've heard in relation to the man. Thank you for sharing that.

 

[Winslow Leach]

That's without a doubt the most wonderful thing I've heard in relation to the man. Thank you for sharing that.

No problem, Speedy. Aside from his talent, I think this was the least lurid thing I heard about Ledger last week.

 

[Winslow Leach]

The Dark Knight is Heath Ledger's final completed film, but at the time of his death, he was currently working with Terry Gilliam on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which is still in production.