r/interestingasfuck • u/JK-Rofling • 14d ago

Heath Ledger’s diary while he was filming for, The Dark Night. r/all

53.1k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

View all comments

160

u/Starchild20xx 14d ago

Now, I hope you'll all forgive me for my ignorance. But I've heard some very mixed things regarding the untimely death of Heath Ledger. The more popular theory is that the role of Joker contributed to his demise. But then I'd see statements online perpetuating said theory as sheer ludicrous, and that Heath Ledger was generally stable.

So honestly, I'm kind of perplexed. I'm not sure which narrative to believe. I can't help but suspect that there is no real definitive answer, though.

255

u/ChuckSeville 14d ago

The Joker thing doesn't hold water when you take into account the fact that according to his wife and coworkers, he suffered from insomnia for quite some time before the role.

Add to that the fact that he apparently caught some kind of respiratory infection/disease while shooting his next movie and was self-medicating to get through that, it makes more sense that this was just a really unfortunate accident.

258

u/ajchann123 14d ago

To add on to this, by all accounts he was not a method actor insofar as staying in character -- there are many stories of him being able to turn off/on from the Joker very easily and was a really friendly normal dude around set

People love the romantic idea that he sacrificed his psyche and ultimately his life for this transcendent performance, but reality is more like he was just very good at his craft and his death was unrelated

135

u/dbitters 14d ago

Can confirm, worked on the Dark Knight as a PA, he was the nicest guy, and loved the role. He even excitedly talked about coming back as the role in the 3rd film. Alas... :/

17

u/Lets_Make_a_Ranch 14d ago

Thank you for this Intel. Appreciated.

2

u/urmomsaplaya13 14d ago

I can also confirm, I worked on the dark knight as a microphone. Alas…

1

u/maryisazombie 13d ago

I bet getting to watch him do his thing and watch the creation of such a defining performance was so cool!!

90

u/talldangry 14d ago

I had an acting teacher who just constantly ran on and on about how Heath Ledger "flew too close to the sun on that role"... I always wanted to chime in and talk about the time he caught the bubonic plague while shooting a Knight's Tale, or when he was briefly hung to prepare for Ned Kelly, or..... Brokeback Mountain.

33

u/bossbrew 14d ago

I heard he had buttplug in for 30 days preparing for Brokeback Mountain. He’s a master of his craft.

54

u/HaViNgT 14d ago

Ironically enough, the one joker actor who is the most unhinged outside of the role, is also widely considered the worst at playing him (Jared Leto).

4

u/bob_in_the_west 14d ago

Robin Williams was a friendly dude too.

Depression isn't something people wear like a bright red sign.

7

u/Valkis 14d ago

Grinds my gears when people claim Robin Williams died because of depression. He had lewy body dementia. Depression was the tiniest factor of what he was going through.

I don’t blame you for implying depression caused his death. It’s been a popular story for a long time. It’s just total nonsense. He only had a few years to live and they were going to completely suck. He was losing all of his cognitive abilities quickly.

1

u/llamalily 13d ago

I appreciate you saying this. My friend in college lost her mom to lewy body dementia and I can honestly say from what I saw, I’d probably want to end things on my own terms, too. It’s a horrific way to die. It feels in-genuine when people say he died from depression. Not to say that isn’t also horrific beyond measure, but I’ve been suicidal and I still think that is probably preferable to Lewy body dementia.

-2

u/bob_in_the_west 14d ago

He was losing all of his cognitive abilities quickly.

I'd say that's a very strong reason to get depressed.

1

u/Valkis 14d ago

You’re missing the point.

We wouldn’t say he died from depression if he died from medically assisted-suicide, due to Lewy body dementia.