Heath Ledger - News Accounts

[Mikaela]

Yeah, but if you were going to do this, you might rather do it in an anonymous hotel, not your home.

And OTOH,  if you were to manufacture a tale about being picked up by a late celeb, and didn't know where he stayed in London since you'd never met him and that info wasn't very easy to google, your tale would likely be about a tryst in a hotel - one where you'd been before so you could give sufficient (false) story details if required.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I don't know what to make of the comments William Macy and wife Felicity Huffman said of Ledger. It's flattering at first, but then Felicity mentions the dark side...

"If he had done nothing but 'Brokeback Mountain,' he would be remembered for a long time," marveled Macy, who wrote and starred in "The Deal," which premiered yesterday at Sundance. "It was the most stunning performance I'd seen in a long time. My wife [actress Felicity Huffman] is from the West, and she couldn't believe his performance. It's shocking, it's sad. Felicity said it best: 'Sometimes, with talent like that, it comes with a dark side.' And I guess it got the best of him."

The comment about the dark side notwithstanding, it's nice to read such an appreciation for the performance from two such respected actors as Macy and Huffman.

[louisev]

Eric Roberts worked with Heath on the Dark Knight and gave his personal view of the "drugs question" as a recovering drug addict and alcoholic, and said he had no impression that there was anything wrong with Heath:

http://heathledgermemorialblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/beautiful-memorial-of-heath-by-eric.html

[chefjudy]

   that was so nice and articulate, thanks so much, Eric

[Verona]

I saw someone he worked with on "Candy" (I THINK the director...) on TV saying Heath worked very hard trying to learn how to act/think like a drug addict, and that the questions he asked about the character he was playing were not the questions of someone who had personal experience with drug addiction.

There's not many of us who by the age of 28 had not done drugs or gotten drunk to excess, even on a semi-regular basis. But that's very different from being an addict.

[Mikaela]

OK.... Now I'm just horribly depressed. This is so shitty. Some TV program called Entertainment Tonight or The Insider are actually battling with Perez Hilton concerning the legal rights to who will be first to show a video said to be showing Heath doing drugs and saying stupid things back in -06.

Just how low is it possible to sink? Selling that tape to the press... Bringing this forward and fighting over it, legal rights in hand - when he hasn''t even been buried yet and there's a family grieving.  I'm pretty sure Dante wrote of a special circle in hell for these people to enjoy themselves warmly with the Phelps family. 

I don't think I'll venture outside of this Board at all.

(No I didn't go to any of their web sites to find out this - it's spreading even into places dedicated to honouring Heath.  )

[serious crayons]

That's awful. And a sobering reminder of what our culture has become.

If I'd been a movie star in my 20s, and if everybody'd had video phones back then, I shudder to think of what would be out there.

[opinionista]

OK.... Now I'm just horribly depressed. This is so shitty. Some TV program called Entertainment Tonight or The Insider are actually battling with Perez Hilton concerning the legal rights to who will be first to show a video said to be showing Heath doing drugs and saying stupid things back in -06.

I don't think I'll venture outside of this Board at all.

And the saddest thing about this silly fight over the video is that whether Heath did drugs doesn't really matter anymore. He's gone and nothing will change that. What matters are the good things he left behind.

[Meryl]

Entertainment Tonight showed a teaser of that video tonight, promising more tomorrow.  Some Australian TV station, Channel 9, appears to have scored the exclusive on it.  ET had some doctor "expert" saying he'd seen it and it was "heartbreaking" and if even one life was saved by watching it, it was worth it.    The worst part?  They showed Heath saying something about how his girlfriend would kill him if she knew.  Then he must have been asked about his daughter, because he said "Matilda.  Matilda Rose."    They wound up the piece by saying how that was all 2 years ago, and now he was (cue the shot of the body bag being wheeled out) DEAD. 

[Brown Eyes]

Entertainment Tonight showed a teaser of that video tonight, promising more tomorrow.  Some Australian TV station, Channel 9, appears to have scored the exclusive on it.  ET had some doctor "expert" saying he'd seen it and it was "heartbreaking" and if even one life was saved by watching it, it was worth it.    The worst part?  They showed Heath saying something about how his girlfriend would kill him if she knew.  Then he must have been asked about his daughter, because he said "Matilda.  Matilda Rose."    They wound up the piece by saying how that was all 2 years ago, and now he was (cue the shot of the body bag being wheeled out) DEAD. 

Geez, that reporting sounds just dreadful. 

I have a horrible feeling we're going to have to endure some ramped-up tabloid-style sensationalized reporting for at least a little while to come.... If People and Us really run with the awful-sounding stories that they apparently have set to come out.
 

It's almost like the tabloid/entertainment media has sort of moved out of a "respectful" mourning phase and are sort of giving each other a green light to start running with sensationalized/ scandal stories.  The whole culture of this type of entertainment reporting makes my stomach turn at the moment.

Poor Heath.