Battles rage for Ledger's legacyBeyond the tangled web of Heath Ledger's estate, two final films and his Brokeback performance ensure that the money will keep flowing. Garry Maddox reports.AFTER the shock, the services and two months of sorrow, Heath Ledger's legacy is being debated on two fronts.
Overseas, work has continued on two movies the young star made before his sudden death in New York, with the film-makers pondering how to pay tribute to his memory while no doubt wondering privately how his death will affect their audience.
And, in Australia, a bitter dispute rages between members of the Ledger family over his will.
The first footage from The Dark Knight, the new Batman movie starring Ledger as The Joker, has screened at a Las Vegas cinema industry convention to an enthusiastic response. Already, the movie's trailer shows Ledger blasting weapons, firing off menacing lines and confronting Batman, played by Christian Bale, with an evil cackle.
In Vancouver, director Terry Gilliam has been reinventing Ledger's role in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, using Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law to play scenes scheduled for Ledger before his death from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.
Both teams of film-makers and their marketing advisers are working out how to pay tribute to the young star who would have turned 29 this week.
They will be pondering whether they need to change anything in their movies that might seem too
eerie, how they can market them without being disrespectful to his memory and whether his death will affect their audiences' response.
After all, a pall over the accidental death on set of a much less well-known actor, Brandon Lee, affected the release of The Crow in 1994.
At the same time, two of Ledger's uncles in Western Australia, Mike and Hayden, have gone public with their concerns about the actor's estate after the lodging of a will in a New York court.
Written three years ago, it leaves his estate to his parents and sisters, without mentioning his former partner, Michelle Williams, and their two-year-old daughter, Matilda.
The uncles claim Ledger's father, Kim, is not equipped to distribute a share to Williams and Matilda after mishandling the A$2 million estate of their grandfather, Sir Frank Ledger.
"He was the executor of our grandfather's estate and left it in total tatters," Mike Ledger said.
In Sydney, Larry Williams, Michelle's father, has called on Kim Ledger to be more open about his intentions.
In a messy scenario reminiscent of the wrangling after INXS singer Michael Hutchence's death, Williams, who has been fighting extradition to the United States, where he faces allegations of tax evasion, questions the size of the estate after documents filed in court reportedly listed Ledger's assets at just $145,000. He claims there has been insufficient clarity over the will.
"It would be very easy to just be open and say 'I'm doing this' and I'm doing that' and let the media know and let everyone in the family know," he says.
"It just needs transparency about what assets Heath had in the US and Australia."
Kim Ledger has refused requests to comment, other than saying through a spokeswoman that Matilda will be "taken care of and calling on his brothers to cease talking publicly.
"It is sad at this extremely difficult time in our lives, where we are grieving for our beloved son, that estranged family members choose to publicly discuss our private family matters which they never have been and are not privy to now," he said in a statement. We can only hope for Matilda's sake that these family members try to remain dignified."
While there is film industry speculation that the estate could be worth A$10 million to A$20 million based on Ledger's likely earnings, there is no doubt that he chose his roles for the challenge and out of his own passionate interest rather than for the money.
After a distressing experience being marketed as star of A Knight's Tale, earning a reported salary of US$3 million, he is believed to have turned down the chance to play Spider-Man in one of Hollywood's biggest franchises.
His later decision to play a gay ranch-hand in Brokeback Mountain was adventurous on every level, though it produced an exceptional performance that resulted in an Oscar nomination.
Ledger followed up with an equally adventurous role as a heroin addict in the Australian drama Candy. Instead of another big Hollywood pay packet, he is believed to have earned A$700,000 plus a share of gross revenue.
Whether Ledger was a big enough star to command what the industry calls "points" in the huge Batman franchise is unclear. But a Los Angeles agent suggests his salary for The Dark Knight was between US$5 million and US$10 million.
FOR EVERYONE who knew Ledger, especially his family in Perth and friends, the release of these two final movies will be another emotional experience.
One Australian distributor, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivities in the film industry, believes The Dark Knight is a certain commercial success after reuniting director Christopher Nolan with actor Bale.
Their previous instalment took a handsome US$352 million at the worldwide box office three years ago. But how the movie is marketed is a tricky subject.
"You wouldn't hide the fact that Heath Ledger is in it," the distributor says. "I'm sure the first thing you'll see on screen is 'In memory of ...' then they'll move on."
He also believes a morbid interest will attract audiences. But being a big comic book movie rather than a poignant, personal drama will help. "It will probably give a bit more edge for people to see it out of sheer curiosity."
A Los Angeles-based agent, who also asks not to be named, believes that, in cold-hearted marketing terms, the tragedy will not hurt the movie's box-office chances.
"The new Batman series is quite dark anyway. I think it adds a level of interest that might not otherwise be there.
"In a horrible, weird kind of way, it's a positive. People that are huge Batman fans are going to go regardless. It doesn't matter who's playing the Joker or what happened to them.
"But the fact that you've got somebody who was such a great actor and is no longer with us might actually add to the fan base."Sydney Morning Herald
- reprinted in the Dominion Post, Wellington NZ, March 31, 2008
[picture]
Lasting memorial: Heath Ledger in
Brokeback Mountain, left,
A Knight's Tale and
Ned Kelly.
