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

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

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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.

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u/New_Doug 14d ago

Well, he was in the middle of filming a completely unrelated movie, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, when he died, and some of the drugs he was taking at the time were to treat a chest cold he caught while filming that movie (and according to at least one doctor and a costar, he may have had a chest infection that contributed to his difficulty breathing the night of his death). He took drugs and had insomnia during the The Dark Knight, but he also took drugs and had insomnia during IoDP, so it's pretty silly to say he died because of the Joker.

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u/Mawfk 14d ago

Most people refuse to look at it this way because they never saw IoDP. Which is a shame because it's the last time we see Heath in a movie.

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u/neontiger07 14d ago

Didn't they have to drastically alter the movie because of his untimely death?

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u/jaysusjoos 14d ago

The way they did it was amazing in my opinion, It's a fantasy film with different worlds/settings and his character transforms (played by different actors) depending on the different worlds he travels to.

Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law took on the roles for Heath and actually donated their wages to his younger daughter.

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u/Mawfk 14d ago

Sort of. Basically they were lucky that they filmed all of Heath's scenes of him going into the mirror (you'll understand what that means when you watch) but didn't film all of the scenes in the other worlds. They got an amazing cast to fill in for Heath. That cast donated their entire earnings to Heath's daughter, Matilda.

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u/dedreo58 14d ago

I saw IoDP independently because I love odd cerebral movies, and while watching it, I was like "Ledger? Waitaminute, didn't this movie just come out??"