Our BetterMost Community > Chez Tremblay
Heath Heath Heath
Penthesilea:
Good morning Heathens :)
I love the motion in this series of pics.
Penthesilea:
my favorite of the series
I think we haven't had this one on HHH yet
Ellemeno:
Heath Ledger
The actor, who died aged 28 on 22 January from an accidental overdose, remembered by the director who was working with him at the time
Terry Gilliam
The Observer, Sunday 14 December 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/dec/14/terry-gilliam-remembers-heath-ledger
Any time I try to describe Heath it becomes a series of clichés, because he was extraordinary and, unfortunately, most of those clichés have already been used up on lesser people.
I met him for the first time in LA around 2001, when we were working on The Brothers Grimm. He was a ball of energy, firing on all cylinders, and he had a magnetic quality. I liked him immediately and even though I hadn't actually seen Heath in anything at that point,
I said to him: 'You're on. Let's do it.'
He was one of those blessed human beings who have the facility to do so many things at the same time. When he wasn't acting, he was directing music videos and supporting young musicians. He was working on the script for a film he was preparing to direct. He had an incredibly artistic side, and he was practically a grand master at chess. That's why, when he died, it was as if half of the world had collapsed.
He died halfway through the film I'm currently making, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. We had finished shooting in London on Saturday night. On Sunday, I went to Vancouver to prepare for the next stage and Heath went to New York. He was supposed to be turning up in Vancouver on the Friday. On Tuesday he was dead.
None of us could deal with it. It was impossible - that was the problem. It was absolutely impossible that this could be a fact. But there it was. I was working in the art department when I heard the news, and we stayed there all afternoon. At sunset, thousands of ravens flew over the window and I thought: those are the ravens from The Brothers Grimm, and they are all going to salute Heath.
In terms of his acting, it still rankles with me that he's dead because he would have been streets ahead of anyone else in his generation. He just kept getting better and better. He was fearless. On Parnassus, he was improvising all the time and it was better than what we had written. I don't normally encourage that kind of improvisation, but in a sense I felt Heath was writing this film. He was an incredibly funny performer when he wanted to be - his comic timing was just extraordinary - and then he could break your heart the next minute.
Usually, with actors, it's all about themselves. But it was never like that with Heath. He was completely supportive of everything else around him. He got better performances out of other actors - he just drew it out of them. He was utterly generous and always aware of everyone else, and he behaved as if there was nothing special about him - he was just a guy.
His physicality was extraordinary, too. I remember Monica Bellucci turning up to make Grimms. She went into the make-up room and Heath's picture was on the wall. She hadn't met him and I don't think she knew exactly who he was, but immediately she went, whoosh, to that picture. That was the kind of attraction Heath had. Women adored him and men loved him.
We've all agreed to call Parnassus 'A film from Heath Ledger and friends' because I don't think it is a Terry Gilliam film. I think it's something that his life and death has created. When he died, I said it was over. We can't carry on. But everybody said, 'You've got to carry on' - for the film, for Heath's last performance. It wasn't possible for any one person to replace him so we made the quantum leap and got three people - Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law. The Holy Trinity. They came in and they pulled it off and I think it works brilliantly.
When he died, there were all these nonsensical stories coming out about Heath Ledger, James Dean and River Phoenix, all destroyed by the system - but that's bullshit. What happened was an absurd accident. I still don't understand it. I know he was exhausted - the last thing he said was that he was so tired and just wanted to sleep. You actually think at certain times angels come down to earth and Heath might have been one of them. And then he's gone and you think: this is all wrong, all the other people should be dead. He should be leading us all into a wonderful world of adventure.
Ellemeno:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24795626-5009160,00.html
N'Fa working on Ledger tribute
By Jonathon Moran
December 14, 2008 12:00am
HEATH Ledger's close friend and creative collaborator N'Fa Forster-Jones is trying to work out how to mark the anniversary of the actor's death.
Ledger, who died of an accidental prescription drug overdose on January 22, directed two video clips from N'Fa's solo album, Cause and Effect. The pair were long-time friends, meeting at age four while growing up in Perth.
``I don't know, sometimes I find things too much to write about so maybe something will happen,'' N'Fa told Insider at last weekend's Homebake festival when asked about the anniversary of Ledger's passing.
``We are trying to work out some sort of celebration. I am tyring to work out all of that, how to deal with it.''
Ledger and N'Fa were in the process of setting up a production company _ called Rocking Chair _ before hisuntimely death.
``Things have kind of changed since his passing,'' he said.
``A lot of things had to fold because it was sort of impossible. So all of us who have, I guess, been left in waiting are all just working out ways forward and trying to be positive and also keep his spirit alive because he was always filling us with energy and positivity.''
Prior to going solo, N'Fa fronted acclaimed hip hop outfit 1200 Techniques. He's spent much of this year travelling the world, working on no less than five albums, the first of which is a project titled Brain Wash.
Ellemeno:
The two videos of N'Fa that Heath directed. To me, Heath's love of chess shows in both of these videos.
N'Fa - Cause an Effect
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1BIpJLofBc[/youtube]
N'Fa - Seduction is Evil
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnuv5fCY8xI[/youtube]
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