Heath Ledger, 1979-2008
January 23, 2008

As more information on the death of Heath Ledger continues to surface, armchair psychologists are beginning to form their opinions and present their cases on the late actor and what could possibly have driven him to his sad end. I wouldn’t attempt to move in that direction in this column, because I really don’t think I would be saying much of anything. Rather, we should keep in mind the varied and impressive body of work that Ledger has left behind.

A brief look at his filmography confirms that in a tragically short career that last barely a decade, Ledger worked with a group of highly respected directors, including Todd Haynes (I’m Not There), Lasse Hallstrom (Casanova), Shekhar Kapur (Four Feathers), Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball) and, of course, Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain). But even more notable is that Ledger has collaborated with a handful of other filmmakers on more than one occasion. Such is the case in films directed by Brian Helgeland (A Knight’s Tale, The Order), fellow Aussie Gregor Jordan (Two Hands, Ned Kelly) and Terry Gilliam (The Brothers Grimm and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which Ledger was in the midst of filming when he passed away).

The general word circulating about is that Ledger was suffering from a bout of depression and had a drug addiction problem, which may very well be the sad, true case. But I think its quite telling that he worked with a trio of filmmakers more than once, and that of the half-dozen films he made with them, more than half of them were comedic in nature. Ledger may have had his demons, but it appears to me that he liked to lighten up with certain collaborators whom he enjoyed so much that he worked with them twice.

And that’s saying something.

Posted by Laurence Lerman on January 23, 2008 | Comments (1)