FF:QLD HEATH LEDGER = DEAD

So were they finished on the new batman movie? cos I was kinda looking forward to seeing him in that, even if i did think he was a bit of a wanker.

overdose

I thought that it was some sort of stupid prank when I saw it on news.com. That sucks so much, such a waste of talent and ability.

Kithera

Woah. That was... sudden. I'm not really sure what to say. He was just starting to get interesting as an actor, I thought. Real career-cut-short sort of territory. I thought this was a joke at first too. Crazy.

Oh my God. I can't really sum up my thoughts in a way that does them any justice. My brain doesn't want to process this data.

What... just, what? It doesn't sound right does it?

No it doesn't seem right at all! I thought it had to be a joke! Just watching channel 7 now, and it's not on the news at all! Seems like no-one here knows about it!!

*tears* It's just not fair! He just got the biggest break of his life!

Here's an actor who was finally starting to get the respect and recognition he deserved. For years now it's been obvious his best roles were ahead of him. Maybe that's why I'm having trouble processing this at all. His future was so certain that it's difficult to believe he's been robbed of it.

As BBN said, this is sudden! I guess death usually is but still, you don't expect a 28yo who's got talent and a steady stream of work in movies to kick that final bucket.

AICN reports that he was entirely finished with his role in The Dark Knight and so, just like Brandon Lee with The Crow, Heath Ledger will have his final send off to the world through film... and I'm guessing, just like Brandon Lee, this will be his finest performance too.

Not the news you want to hear when your radio alarm wakes you up. I did that whole sleep deprived "Huh? Issajoke" thing but between the SMSes (Batman Fans) and news wire services...

Sadness regarding career aside, the tragedy here is that we've got another little girl who'll grow up not knowing her father. His daughter Matilda is two years old.

A bizarre addendum to this, Terry Gilliam had cast Heath Ledger for his next project, which apparently has started production. Naturally, this is gonna stall things. Terry Gilliam is officially the unluckiest film director in the world right now.

Be seeing you,

Magnus Darcrider

Dang.

5.8 Australians on average take thier life every day. 2100 or so a year.
Hope his passing can be used for the greater good by the anti-suicide / beyond blue groups.

What I'll feel the most about this is how much I'm going to be sick of seeing Entertainment Tonight, New Idea etc (even Sunrise *shudder*) run with this and make it a media storm.

So it was suicide, then? Where did you hear that? The most recent news I caught on the subject was specifically denying that it was. Apparently he'd struggled for years with drug abuse.

We may never know, which must be awful for the family.

This is just odd... There seem to have been plenty of healthy people dying lately... Or maybe you just notice it more as you get older.

Wasn't really a fan of his, but he was far from a bad actor.

It has to be suicide... all these actors are ***ked in the head and are never happy with what they've accomplished! It's pretty selfish when you consider he's left his daughter to grow up without her father.

I don't think it is suicide. Ledger had said in interviews that since he started preparing for The Joker, he had trouble sleeping. He said that he couldn't stop thinking about the role and he got that into that he could only get an hours worth of sleep. So he was prescribed sleeping pills. He had pneumonia at the time, which he was also on medication for. If you mix prescription sleeping pills with medication and alcohol (I presume), you've got a recipe for chemical overdose.

For whatever reason it happened, it is still terrible. Especially for his young daughter who'll never get to know her father. He had an incredible talent and he had his best work ahead of him. Now it's going to be incredibly creepy to watch TDK. (Has anybody looked at the "Why So Serious" poster since? It's really really really creepy)