January 22, 2008

Heath, we hardly knew ye... First Owen Wilson tried, now Heath Ledger succeeded. He was found dead in his NYC apartment today surrounded by pills.
posted by es el Queso 16 years ago
  • My apologies, a correction: He was found in Mary Kate Olsen's apartment.
  • Aah, jeez. He was actually good. Mary-Kate Olsen? Colin Farrell was trying to snog her at Sundance a couple days ago. What's her story? Actually, none of this is our business -- I know that. But still. Sorry to see you go, Heath. Rest easy.
  • Also, imdb shows a 1979 birthdate. Not sure what's right, queso.
  • Well, this is really gonna fuck up the new batman franchise.
  • imdb is. i saw that he was 28 and i guessed wrong.
  • Ms Bashi-Queen, could you pls. fix when you have a moment?
  • He was a fine actor. And I selfishly am concerned about Batman. I imagine they are going to stick the Joker into Arkham at the end of the Dark Knight so they can re-visit him later. It won't be a problem, but it will prevent some future storylines. It is so fascinating how happines is relative. Poor people look at their immediate problems and know that money would solve most of them. It is difficult for them to imagine that there could be too many problems left if they had the money to make their current ones go away. Ah, but happiness is not so easy. Once we get money, we tend to change the rules on ourselves. We redefine happiness. I like to think that money would solve my problems. The lives of others would seem to suggest that might not be the case.
  • The fact that he didn't cancel the massage appointment makes me wonder if there's more to the story. We'll probably never know. Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement looked at him: He was a gentleman from sole to crown, Clean favored, and imperially slim. And he was always quietly arrayed, And he was always human when he talked; But still he fluttered pulses when he said, "Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked. And he was rich—yes, richer than a king, And admirably schooled in every grace: In fine, we thought that he was everything To make us wish that we were in his place. So on we worked, and waited for the light, And went without the meat, and cursed the bread; And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, Went home and put a bullet through his head. --Edwin Arlington Robinson
  • Well, we don't know if it was intentional yet or not. And what's up with printing the exact address? No-one needs people going there to gawk... Nice part of town, though.
  • This is unspeakably awful. A loss to the profession, and to anyone who cares about good acting.
  • Slightly more info -- naked in his bed, no mention of Mary-Kate's place.
  • Now they just changed it back -- an apartment, a bed...
  • Tragic. A really good actor. And he had a two-year-old daughter. Such an awful shame. . definitely not in Mary-Kate's place, it turns out
  • Apparently sick with pneumonia. Unsubstantiated word 'from the family' is that it was accidental, and that he wasn't the kind of person to take his own life (as though one can know). He was in London last weekend, filming on Terry Gilliam's latest, so -- who knows? Sick, jet-lagged, takes some sleeping pills...
  • filming on Terry Gilliam's latest Jesus, Gilliam really is cursed.
  • The movie look(s/ed) brilliant, given the talent involved. Pic of Heath from the set, in Canio costume (!).
  • Sorry. Let's try that again.
  • Oh, Jesus, yeah, the Tom Waits thing. That did look brilliant.
  • "Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s deputy commissioner for public information, initially said that the apartment was owned by the actress Mary-Kate Olsen, but later reversed himself and said that was not the case."
  • Who the hell is Heath Ledger? Seriously.
  • Brokeback Mountain.
  • A Knight's Tale, Ten Things I Hate About You, and a great movie about Ned Kelly, the name of which I'm too lazy to look up.
  • Yeah, this had better not futz up the Dark Knight.
  • > a great movie about Ned Kelly, the name of which I'm too lazy to look up. I think that was called "Ned Kelly". A sad loss.
  • LOLTributes
  • Family says death accidental. And a I-told-you-so article from the Star. Uh huh. Sure.
  • And because you're a big ol' snoop, all sorts of prying stuff from the NY Post.
  • I read that all of his parts of the Dark Knight had been filmed, so at least this movie is ok. (I'm a terrible person who thought, "That's so sad.... what about Batman?" Bad, bad, bad.)
  • Oh God, Fred Phelps and his minions are going to picket the funeral.
  • "That's so sad.... what about Batman? I'm sure his family is thinking the same thing.
  • From tracicle's link: sordid, tacky bucket of slime seasoned with vomit known as "Brokeback Mountain" They do have a way with metaphors, though, don't they?
  • Also, the Fred Phelps release has a phone number- 785-273-0325 Just, you know, FYI.
  • I hope the funeral will be in Australia. Not that Australia doesn't have its share of religious conservatives like any other country, but hopefully they're not as extremist and publicity-hungry as that ignorant self-righteous ass.
  • I am gradually moving toward the opinion that Westboro Baptist is one large, decades-long performance art project that the rest of us haven't been let in on yet. I started wondering about this when they began picketing soldiers' funerals, branching out from the usual "fags lol" infinite loop. Then I recalled a quote from (IIRC) President Kennedy, who claimed that there was one horribly racist Mississippi sheriff who had done as much for civil rights as Dr. King did, just because he couldn't shut his loony fucking mouth whenever anyone pointed a camera or microphone at it. His drivel was driving the do-nothing centrists over to the pro-civil rights side. That got me wondering about Westboro: loony inbred fucktards, or secret pro-gay geniuses? I readily recognize that there's only about a 0.00000025% chance that anyone could be that brilliant and keep the joke going for so long, but my father once kept an ongoing joke with my mom for 20 years before he let her in on the gag, so I suppose it is possible. I guess what I'm saying is that if they show up at Heath's funeral, not waving protest signs but shitting into top hats filled with cat semen and singing "Three Coins in a Fountain," I will not be terribly surprised.
  • Not at all on-topic, but I read this this morning on teh wiki about Javier Bardem: "Following the legalization of same-sex marriage in Spain in 2005, Bardem incited controversy when he stated that if he were gay, he would "get married tomorrow, just to fuck with the church" (mañana mismo, sólo para joder a la Iglesia)." Which I thought was rather funny. So, you know, if you need to picket, try the living guy instead of the dead one. And from what he showed in No Country, Javier can explain his views rather convincingly.
  • The Mary-Kate confusion explained.
  • Yeah, well, I got some Mary-Kate confusion of my own could do with some 'splainin'.
  • but my father once kept an ongoing joke with my mom for 20 years before he let her in on the gag, so I suppose it is possible. My mom did that to my dad, actually! But then the DNA tests came back on us kids and he shot himself in the head because his whole married life had been a shameful lie. It was pretty fucking funny, though, when you think about it.
  • Just for you, MCT - Phags for Phelps!
  • This makes me think of River Phoenix, and how gobsmacked everyone was when he died. I'd have bet on Amy Winehouse to kick the bucket this year, but never Heath Ledger. What a goddamn shame.
  • Work on the new Gilliam movie suspended citing force majeure, no final decision taken -- although being 20 days into filming, and financing largely dependent on Ledger, it looks like the curse shall continue.
  • What I found horrible, from this CNN link, and correct me if I'm misreading, but it looks like the masseuse found him at 3:00pm, and instead of calling 911, called Mary Kate Olsen (!), who was going to call a private security firm. It wasn't until 3:26 that 911 was called. So it was a full 26 minutes from when she found him that 911 was called. During that time, he might have gone from "unresponsive" to "dead", especially given that the housekeeper said she saw him snoring around 1pm. And the masseuse called Mary Kate Olsen back to get clearance to call 911 before she called! I mean, I get celebrities keeping their privacy, but that 26 minutes of privacy might have meant the difference between life and death.
  • I'm not quite sure about that, Larababy. From the Post: "Ledger was found by his maid and the masseuse with whom he had a scheduled 3 p.m. appointment at his $23,000-a-month, three-bedroom loft at 421 Broome St. When the two women entered his bedroom at about 3:20 p.m., Ledger was nude, lying face down and unresponsive, police sources said. "Pills were strewn around the bed, and there was a bottle next by the actor's body, police sources said. The maid and therapist called 911 at about 3:26 p.m. Emergency workers were unable to revive the star, and he was pronounced dead at 3:35 p.m. " So, they enter the room at 3:20, call Olsen or Olsen's bodyguard, call 9-1-1 at 3:26, they get there pretty damn fast if they can call it nine minutes later. The six minutes between discovery and the call -- that's not terribly unusual, I'd think, between disbelief, panic, and the call inbetween... Assuming that you're willing to rely on the New York Post, of course. Why do I care about this story at all? Sheesh...
  • In RTFA, I have no idea anymore.
  • Perhaps we can read something into the fact that they called it more or less upon arrival. EMS must have thought that he'd been dead for a while, already. From what I understand, EMS hates calling it on site, as it means a lot more paperwork than if they can schlepp him over to a hospital, and have a doctor do it there. They only call it if it's rather obvious, otherwise they go through the motions.
  • Your quotes also say that there were pills strewn about, which the police department has since said is not true. Old data, my friend.
  • *heartbreak* "Friend." Sniff.
  • Look's like Lara's ATM ain't recognizing your PIN, bro.
  • PIN number?
  • Masseuse made four calls to Olsen over nine minutes. Now, I fully realize that in moments of panic, we all do strange things, but to keep calling, asking what she should do? Call 9-1-1, dumbass. It's all moot as he was likely dead for a long time already, but still. Lady. What the hell.
  • *smacks roryk That was my point. Celebrity puts people so far out of touch with reality. Schnookums.
  • Sorry, is it ATM machine PIN number?
  • WTF Fuck?
  • IDK know
  • I will be BRB when you stop fooling around with those three-letter TLAs.
  • Here, have some MNM's
  • Thanks TUM Monster!
  • Smooches to all y'all, too!
  • Mmm, recursive acronyms... And yet another post goes off in a weird direction.
  • Have I mentioned how disgusting E! news is looking lately? I flipped by the other day to hear a cheery female announcer shouting "We have the latest on Heath's death!!" in the same smug, smiley voice as she usually says "Oh, that LiLo is at it again!" The only classy show on that network has turned out to be The Soup, which spent the last minute of this week's show telling journalists to stop being weasels and leave the man alone. Yes, I do watch E! from time to time. It's unintentional comedey most days. Sue me.
  • Or even comedy...
  • I have to say that I've found the vast majority of cable TV to be absolutely unworth the expense. I bailed on it about, oh, five or six years ago. I spent most of those years split between the smug satisfaction of not having paid to see the same shit endlessly (Fletch is on again) and mourning the loss of good quality reception -- that and no Jon Stewart or Food Network. That was until today, when I bought my first HDTV in a door-buster sale at Target. May I say? HOLY SHIT. I'm a believer in never saying never, but at least for now, I'm content with my antenna. My last, greatest reason for paying for TV is gone. Until I can get à la carte pricing for only the channels I want, Mediacom can right well go fuck themselves with a claw hammer. As can E!, MTV, VH1, cable news, Bravo, and any channel that doesn't deliver classic movies, home improvement/redecoration tips, or cooking shows.
  • oh, Lara yer pure comedey gold.
  • Ledger likely to be buried in Perth. Anybody see Day-Lewis' small breakdown for Ledger at the SAG awards last night?
  • Williams remembers Ledger: 'My heart is broken' "All that I can cling to is his presence inside her that reveals itself every day. His family and I watch Matilda as she whispers to trees, hugs animals and takes steps two at a time and we know that he is with us still. She will be brought up with the best memories of him." I'm not crying behind this newspaper.
  • Damn.
  • Literally just got back from seeing "Dark Knight" at IMAX, and if you have even just a tiny fondness for either comics or crime movies like "Heat" or even just good acting, go. Ledger is nothing short of wonderful in this role. I'm sure his death will account for some of the inevitable Oscar nomination, but goddamn that was fantastic acting on his part. This was the Joker I've been waiting almost twenty years to see. He did more with that character than nearly every comics artist and writer who ever attempted to take him on. Hoo boy. Sort of been a perfect day here. Bought a Wii, saw my son take his FIRST STEPS EVER (six of them, in point of fact), saw DK at IMAX. Also got to see the "Watchmen" trailer on that bigass screen. Now bed. But the day must not go unremarked.
  • Yay Jack! I'm organising a babysitter to go see Bats this Thursday. I don't think I've ever gone out of my way to see a movie on opening night before, but I'm looking forward to this.
  • Can we call him "Six-Step Swamptool" now? Re: TDK - Even I, who found Batman Begins to be the third-most tedious, yawn-inducing, "huh?"-provoking snoozefest of my moviegoing life, am blown away by what little I've seen of the new Joker in trailers and ads. I may just have to toddle down to the cinema one night this week.
  • I'm organising a babysitter You would not believe the large number of horrible-ass parents that brought tiny kids to the 10:15 show, kids tiny enough that they should have been in bed 2 hours before the movie started.
  • 9.7 on IMDB with around 50,000 votes - now that's got to be a good reason to see it.
  • Surely Matilda will get by on Heath's royalties?