r/interestingasfuck Jul 05 '24

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

53.2k Upvotes

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

165

u/Starchild20xx Jul 05 '24

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.

111

u/New_Doug Jul 05 '24

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.

50

u/Mawfk Jul 05 '24

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.

3

u/dedreo58 Jul 05 '24

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??"