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You are here: Home / TV & Movies / Movies / RIP Heath Ledger

RIP Heath Ledger

by Michael D.|  January 22, 20085:34 pm| 45 Comments

This post is in: Movies, Popular Culture

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Wow. This is wierd.

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45Comments

  1. 1.

    Grand Moff Texan

    January 22, 2008 at 5:45 pm

    The new Batman movie is going to be this decade’s “The Crow.”

    Oh, wait. We already had “Queen of the Damned.”
    .

  2. 2.

    brendancalling

    January 22, 2008 at 5:49 pm

    No, it’s “weird”. Wierd isn’t a word.

  3. 3.

    Keith

    January 22, 2008 at 5:51 pm

    With all the hoopla Congressional steroid investigations are getting, it’s a real shame they aren’t putting the same kind of energy/publicity into the pharmaceutical/medical industry’s pushing of lifetime opiate prescriptions. For every Chris Benoit, there are dozens (errrr…thousands) of cases of acute intoxication deaths involving combinations of pills, and I’d be willing to be the vast majority had doctors’ notes.

  4. 4.

    Keith

    January 22, 2008 at 5:53 pm

    Which isn’t to say that he did die of an accidental hydrocodone overdose…could have been suicide by something else, but the problems these seemingly “OK” pills are much, much more dangerous than steroids, IMO

  5. 5.

    Zifnab

    January 22, 2008 at 5:54 pm

    :'(

    Everyone was saying how his Joker was going to be something epic. This sucks.

  6. 6.

    Charity

    January 22, 2008 at 5:57 pm

    Shocking. He leaves behind a 2-year-old daughter. Very sad.

  7. 7.

    Nikki

    January 22, 2008 at 5:59 pm

    I guess we now know why Michelle Williams left him.

  8. 8.

    MikeL

    January 22, 2008 at 6:00 pm

    What’s so weird? Jack Nicholson wanted the upcoming role as “The Joker”. Heath Ledger had it. Now he doesn’t.

    Admittedly, watching “The Shining” on TV at the age of 12 while all alone in the house may have had some influence on this point of view. But I doubt it. Jack Nicholson is Evil!

    p.s. Wierd is not a word. Michael, I believe we’ve discussed you’re your spelling before.

  9. 9.

    peach flavored shampoo

    January 22, 2008 at 6:00 pm

    Oh man of candy bar and notepad moniker, you have forsaken us by thouest worstest of sins. Overtaken by the lure of fresh Indoor Condo Snow and bladed metal. Perhaps you will weep up there in the heavens, looking down at whatever new man decides to now plow your old girlfriend/wife and sell off your bitchin’ crib.

    Ah…the curse of damned celebrity.

  10. 10.

    Caidence (fmr. Chris)

    January 22, 2008 at 6:07 pm

    Yes, yes. Shocking…

    Can we get back to Bush taking the Constitution out of the National Archives so he can shred it with the rest of the evidence of his treason?

  11. 11.

    Carrie

    January 22, 2008 at 6:12 pm

    You know, I was just having a conversation with my husband about Ledger the other day, after reading about how he locked himself in a hotel room for a month and wrote about his thoughts on insanity in order to prepare himself for the Joker role. I said, here’s a guy who won’t make it to 40 (although I seriously though Britney would be the next major celebrity death). Now I feel creepy.

    Is it just me, or do method actors seem to have a higher rate of less-than-natural death?

  12. 12.

    LiberalTarian

    January 22, 2008 at 6:24 pm

    OH CRAP. I loved that guy. Gawddamn it.

  13. 13.

    The Other Steve

    January 22, 2008 at 6:26 pm

    I was very disappointed to hear this.

    I am looking forward to the new batman movie, and it’s too bad that Ledger won’t be around to see it.

  14. 14.

    Jake

    January 22, 2008 at 6:27 pm

    Yes, yes. Shocking…

    Can we get back to Bush taking the Constitution out of the National Archives so he can shred it with the rest of the evidence of his treason?

    Nope, nope, nope. People are tired of Brittney, Paris sobered up and the only blondes available raise uncomfortable questions about this administration or the military.

    Get ready for Ledgerdemainia!

  15. 15.

    Xanthippas

    January 22, 2008 at 6:29 pm

    He seemed like an interesting and thoughtful fellow. Sucks.

  16. 16.

    The Other Steve

    January 22, 2008 at 6:29 pm

    Is it just me, or do method actors seem to have a higher rate of less-than-natural death?

    Actors, musicians, authors, poets.

    Something about the creative mind causes people to be prone to insanity. Or perhaps it is insanity which causes the mind to be creative.

  17. 17.

    rawshark

    January 22, 2008 at 6:32 pm

    Grand Moff Texan Says:

    The new Batman movie is going to be this decade’s “The Crow.”

    Oh, wait. We already had “Queen of the Damned.”

    Who died filming Queen of the Damned?

    Did you know pressing ESC erases everything you just wrote?

  18. 18.

    Dulcie

    January 22, 2008 at 6:56 pm

    Who died filming Queen of the Damned?

    Aaliyah – one of R. Kelly’s proteges.

    Looks like Ledger will be this generations’ James Dean, or maybe Kurt Cobain sans musical ability. He did sing in Ten Things I Hate About You, though.

  19. 19.

    jeff

    January 22, 2008 at 7:02 pm

    I’m not a follower of celbrity, but I deeply appreciated Ledger, and am extremely thankful for his portrayal of Ennis in Brokeback. He had developed great talent, and was thoughtful enough to recognize that his earlier roles were silly. RIP.

  20. 20.

    Jon H

    January 22, 2008 at 7:03 pm

    Dangit. I just saw Brothers Grimm, which was better than I’d been led to believe, and I rather liked Ledger in it.

  21. 21.

    Eural Joiner

    January 22, 2008 at 7:10 pm

    Gotta agree with Jon H – Brothers Grimm got a lot of hate thrown at it and I thought it was an entertaining romp with some fun ideas and execution. Not a masterpiece of cinema but not every film has to be!

  22. 22.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    January 22, 2008 at 7:11 pm

    Looks like Ledger will be this generations’ James Dean, or maybe Kurt Cobain sans musical ability.

    Or, maybe he’ll just be another dead actor.

    Did you know pressing ESC erases everything you just wrote?

    Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del will reverse that action.

  23. 23.

    srv

    January 22, 2008 at 7:11 pm

    RIP. I had to call a relative to warn him. Girls tell him all the time he looks just like Heath.

    I thought Batman had already been filmed.

  24. 24.

    Jay

    January 22, 2008 at 7:13 pm

    I heard he was upset because Billy Bob Thornton said he hated him.

  25. 25.

    Dulcie

    January 22, 2008 at 7:26 pm

    Or, maybe he’ll just be another dead actor.

    Yep, that’s possible too.

  26. 26.

    Jon H

    January 22, 2008 at 7:37 pm

    ” Not a masterpiece of cinema but not every film has to be!”

    Hell, it’s a Terry Gilliam movie with a happy ending. That’s a rare and wondrous thing.

  27. 27.

    RSA

    January 22, 2008 at 7:42 pm

    Brothers Grimm got a lot of hate thrown at it and I thought it was an entertaining romp with some fun ideas and execution.

    Terry Gilliam directs movies seldom enough that I’m happy with whatever I can get.

  28. 28.

    Jake

    January 22, 2008 at 7:55 pm

    Actors, musicians, authors, poets.

    Something about the creative mind causes people to be prone to insanity. Or perhaps it is insanity which causes the mind to be creative.

    Famous people get press when they die. When Joe Whateva dies of an overdose [crickets chirp].

    The creative = insane thing … Stop, I beg you. There are plenty of creative people who aren’t insane (and I wouldn’t have put Ledger in the insane category). But you never hear about the quiet ones because everyone’s paying attention to the flamboyant attention whore who keeps driving cars through restaurants while screaming “Lookit ME, I’m an ARTIST!”

    Gag.

  29. 29.

    Tom

    January 22, 2008 at 8:22 pm

    “I thought Batman had already been filmed.”

    It has. Have a friend who worked some on it. He said Ledger was unbelievable as The Joker. Sad news.

  30. 30.

    Dug Jay

    January 22, 2008 at 8:23 pm

    A sad tale of one more victim of drugs. While the final report won’t be out until next week, there have been numerous reports by various of his friends, including the mother of his two year old, that he had returned to his heroin habit. Such a waste of talent and life.

  31. 31.

    Sirkowski

    January 22, 2008 at 9:24 pm

    Why couldn’t this happened to Rush Limbaugh?

  32. 32.

    Jon H

    January 22, 2008 at 9:43 pm

    Since he was found at the apartment of one of the Olsen twins, I’m betting he accidentally inhaled near her, she got trapped in his windpipe, and he choked.

    OMG, she might still be in there.

  33. 33.

    Jake

    January 22, 2008 at 11:12 pm

    Um … y’all probably already know this, but everyone who even looks at this thread is going to hell.

    I call top bunk.

  34. 34.

    Jess

    January 23, 2008 at 12:18 am

    I was so shocked by this. I always liked him, even when he was doing fluff. He had so much more great work ahead of him–we’ve all been cheated by fate on this one.

    Doesn’t it seem like the past 5 years or so have seen an unusually high body count of important people? Can we blame the Bush administration?

  35. 35.

    The Briscoe Kid

    January 23, 2008 at 12:22 am

    The first thing that popped into my head when I heard this was “It should’ve been Amy Winehouse.” I know I’m going to hell for thinking that, but I just a video of her smoking crack and admitting she just took six valium.

    It’s looking more like this was an accidental overdose caused by self-medication. He was trying to get over a case of pneumonia when he died.

  36. 36.

    F. Frederson

    January 23, 2008 at 12:42 am

    Wow. This is wierd.

    It’s not weird, and you don’t have a clue if you think it is. Even famous people can suffer from depression, and they almost always have access to far too many drugs – legal or illegal.

  37. 37.

    LiberalTarian

    January 23, 2008 at 1:11 am

    He had pneumonia and took sleeping pills. I’m thinking accident. The guy was something of an anti-celebrity. It’s just really sad. I hate see the vultures celebrating over his death like it’s some kind of feast. Godspeed HL.

    Horrible that his family had to learn on the news.

  38. 38.

    The Briscoe Kid

    January 23, 2008 at 1:43 am

    He had pneumonia and took sleeping pills. I’m thinking accident.

    Exactly!

    This sounds like the sort of accident that could happen to any one of the 47 million Americans who are currently living without health insurance and/or any American who can’t afford to take a day off and go to the doctor when they get sick.

  39. 39.

    YellowJournalism

    January 23, 2008 at 3:07 am

    Since he was found at the apartment of one of the Olsen twins, I’m betting he accidentally inhaled near her, she got trapped in his windpipe, and he choked.

    OMG, she might still be in there.

    That one is just a rumor. There’s a similar one going around that says she just lives in the building, but that’s not true, either. I would like to know if the rumor that his work as the Joker affected him so much that he had to take sleeping pills is true, though.

    I was shocked and saddened to hear about this. He was a very talented actor. I think I’ll go watch “Ten Things I Hate About You” sometime this week. Or maybe I’ll get around to watching “Brokeback Mountain”. (Could never get past the hype and the terrible jokes that tainted what looks like a really good story.)

  40. 40.

    Punchy

    January 23, 2008 at 9:25 am

    Since he was found at the apartment of one of the Olsen twins, I’m betting he accidentally inhaled near her, she got trapped in his windpipe, and he choked.

    I thought Lance Armstrong was tapping that?

  41. 41.

    SueinNM

    January 23, 2008 at 9:32 am

    Wow. Some of you people are just plain nasty.

    I was never a Ledger fan, but he won me over with BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. A very mature and risky decision on his part. A wonderful performance.

    To address a couple of remarks above: It is possible to be appalled at the destruction of the constitution and still be appalled at the needless death of a young man.

    As for artists being more prone to mental illness, this is not a fallacy. A very quick search turned up this article:

    http://tinyurl.com/2eabpl

    And there are many more. I’m a novelist and bipolar. That’s anecdotal, but the rates for bipolar, depression and other such illnesses are quite a bit higher for artists than in the general population (though I’m sure you could come up with studies that refute it, since such studies always exist.)

  42. 42.

    Catsy

    January 23, 2008 at 9:41 am

    I think I’ll go watch “Ten Things I Hate About You” sometime this week.

    That’s my plan too. An extremely underrated movie, and probably one of the best Shakespeare remakes out there.

  43. 43.

    Jon H

    January 23, 2008 at 12:40 pm

    “I thought Lance Armstrong was tapping that?”

    I heard it was one of them, not sure which one.

  44. 44.

    Mr Furious

    January 23, 2008 at 2:03 pm

    I’ve only seen about five minutes of footage, but Ledger’s Joker does indeed look tremendous. Oscar-worthy.

    Dark Knight has supposedly wrapped post-production shooting, so his role is intact. It will be strange (extra creepy) to watch the Joker with the ghost of Ledger hanging over it.

    Yellowjournalism, rent it. Powerful performance. He was really good in Monster’s Ball too.

  45. 45.

    The Disenfranchised Voter

    January 24, 2008 at 3:47 am

    Famous people get press when they die. When Joe Whateva dies of an overdose [crickets chirp].

    The creative = insane thing … Stop, I beg you. There are plenty of creative people who aren’t insane (and I wouldn’t have put Ledger in the insane category). But you never hear about the quiet ones because everyone’s paying attention to the flamboyant attention whore who keeps driving cars through restaurants while screaming “Lookit ME, I’m an ARTIST!”

    Gag.

    So did anyone else think that Jake’s post was extremely ironic?

    I certainly did.

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