A Comment On The Passing Of Heath Ledger
Unbelievable. I’ve been doing what I do in the mornings and going through the tubes to see what’s happening and I’ve been reading a lot of the coverage on Heath Ledger’s passing.
I just cannot believe the callousness on some movie sites regarding this news. Obviously some sites have reported on what this could mean for The Dark Knight, and while that might seem a little soon at the same time I can understand. For a lot of people, who didn’t know Heath Ledger personally, they think about this kind of news in terms of how it affects them and their concerns so they will appreciate knowing what the status of his last completed movie is. When I first heard the news it wasn’t the first thing that I thought of but I did wonder for a few brief moments how it would affect The Dark Knight but then I decided that that really didn’t matter at the moment and moved more into thinking about how the news of his death made me feel.
No, I didn’t know Heath Ledger personally. I’m not that kind of movie site runner. I do what I do out of a passion for movies (a passion which my wife sometimes finds hard to understand but always supports) and am not in the area of some sites where I get invited to interview stars or visit sets so I have never met any of the people that I watch in the movies. Saying that, the news of Heath Ledger’s passing did upset me, but not because of how it affected a movie that I am really looking forward to. No, it upset me because I was the same age as Heath Ledger was when he died when my oldest daughter was 2 years old, which is the age of his daughter, and how much I would have missed out on in the last two years if something had happened to me. Thinking of it in those terms upset me, and I feel terrible for his family and friends, but especially the daughter who will never really know her daddy. That’s what makes this tragic, but it is no more tragic than the senseless and untimely death of anyone else who dies at a young age. What makes this different, making this news that affects a lot of people, is the fact that Heath Ledger was an actor and not just a “Joe Bloggs” who no one apart from friends and family “knew”.
But if you visit some sites and look through the comments left, you might be amazed at how people have reacted. The amount of hate, vitriol and bile that has been spewing from some people on the internet to do with this news is utterly amazing and I just cannot believe that other members of the online movie website community, be they readers or writers, have reacted the way that they have.
Just imagine for a minute, in a couple of years time, a little girl who wants to know more about her daddy does an internet search on his death and comes across some of these idiotic comments posted on news of his passing. Unlike the passing of “normal” people this is something that she will be able to do and I just hope that either the articles have gone or she doesn’t come across them.
It also amazes me how the “official” press sites have dealt with this. To begin with it was reported that his room was “scattered with pills” leading lots of people to surmise that he had committed suicide or taken a drugs overdose but as more and more news is revealed it looks like he may just have been having trouble sleeping and not meant to end his life at all.
Either way, his family are left with a huge hole in their lives and now have to pick up the pieces. This is no different to any other family that suffers such a tragic loss but the fact that they can log onto the internet and find, in a very short space of time, sites actively stating that he killed himself when not all the facts are known or comments regarding him and his death in fairly nasty terms from people who didn’t know him will just make the grieving process that much harder.
I’m sure that we will find out one way or the other regarding Heath Ledger’s work on The Dark Knight at some point in the near future. At the moment it seems that all of his post-production work was completed so he could move onto The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus so, when the movie is released (and if it’s delayed then so be it), it will be a fitting tribute to an actor who was well on his way to superstardom and who left the world too soon.
In the mean time, the world carries on and his family have to deal with their loss. Let’s not make it harder for them.
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9 Responses to “A Comment On The Passing Of Heath Ledger”
WELL SAID. I was horrified, reading all of these horrible comments in certain talkbacks, especially one site that has become more renowed for their asshole talkbackers than their reporting of news. Downright disgusting, and I just wish that those assholes could meet this man’s little girl. Let’s see what nasty words they say then. It’s really easy to type some shit when you don’t have to see the person you’re typing about.
Not to change the subject, but Terry Gilliam really is the worlds unluckiest director.
I shook hands with the guy! I know this sounds full of shit but it is very much true! I was out in Australia, doing a benefit gig and he was there supporting his friends band (this is circa 2000) and was introduced by said band to all the other performing acts that night. He was ****ing off his face drunk but very friendly and complimentary.
I didn’t even release until 18 months ago that it was him I’d met, when an Australian friend was retelling the anecdote and then said “and then Heath Ledger comes over” and I was like “That was Heath Ledger? ****in’ Mel Gibson’s son in The Patriot Heath Ledger?”
This is the world’s worst obiturary-soaked anecdote huh? Sorry!
I cannot get my head around this. I honestly cannot. Poison like Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty pollute our daily lives and a talent like this gets taken, and then we have to have all this horrible tabloid speculation besmirching his name?
I am genuinely shocked beyond comprehension that a guy the same age as me with his whole life in the palm of his hand, would be taken from us.
PS
On an unimportant side-note, Ledger had completed shooting on THE DARK KNIGHT but did little to no ADR work and was required for two days of reshoots involving FX and stunt work, from what reports are saying!
PPS
Alternatively AICN are reporting that his work was “complete”.
I’m going off of a report on Sky News this very morning so take from it what you will.
It’s not that significant on the grand scheme of things though!
no this all is very good
keep it u p:)
Hmm never saw this piece before. Was shocked and sad to hear about his passing – a terrible waste.
Having said that, Some people have no problem saying unbelievably unjustified things about the living, soon as something tragic happens there’s all this righteous indignation. Bit hypocritical if you ask me.
No, I agree Nomis, some people don’t have any trouble in bad mouthing the living, so why should the dead be any different. I was just amazed at the way everyone was reacting to the news of Ledger’s passing. It was like vultures circling a corpse in the middle of the desert! That was what I was indignant about. And apart from anything else, the living can defend themselves, the dead less so. Unless a psychic is involved of course……
The whole situation was damn repulsive. I just thought about how I’d feel if I was in Heath’s place and my parents had to deal with innuendos and media in their face as they try to grieve the loss of their CHILD. NO parent should have to bury their child.
favorited this one, man
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