Over 15 years after his death, new details are still emerging about Heath Ledger.
Last week, director Stephen Gaghan stopped by author Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast and revealed some shocking details about the state Heath was found in. The Dark Knight actor’s father Kim and a close friend were the ones to find him in his NYC apartment, but Stephen claimed on the podcast that they called HIM after making the tragic discovery.
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Apparently, the late actor was in the early stages of working with Stephen on a film adaptation of Malcolm’s 2005 book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, and when he was found in bed, the script was right there with him. Stephen told Malcolm:
“I got a phone call, they were on speakerphone and it was Heath Ledger’s father, who I’d never met … and a guy who was really close to him. They were there with the body, and our script was in bed with him, and your book was on the bedside table.”
So horrific… As we know, Heath sadly died of an accidental drug overdose in January 2008.
Stephen continued:
“I think my number was on the script — like written. These guys are in, as you can imagine, they are in shock. And they dialed that number, and I don’t know why.”
As for how he reacted to hearing the news, the Dolittle director shared:
“I literally just collapsed. It’s never happened to me before or since. My feet went out from under me. I just literally sat down because I was like, ‘What? What?’ The emotion, what they were going through, I should not have been a party to in any way, really, and yet as a human and somebody who just cares, I just was there and I was listening. My wife was looking at me. I remember her face and I was just speechless. I just listened and listened and listened. It was just really, really sad. And it’s still sad.”
How traumatic.
Stephen claimed that he’d become “very close” with Heath during the development of the film, and decided to “put a pin in it” after the tragic news.
Every detail we hear of Heath’s tragic case just makes things all the more sad… He was truly taken far too soon.
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[Image via Conan O’Brien/YouTube]
