Heath Ledger‘s friend has shared new details regarding the circumstances surrounding the late actor’s death.
Ledger, who is perhaps best known for his role as the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, died in January 2008 after overdosing on prescription drugs. He was 28 years old.
Now Ledger’s friend Stephen Gaghan, a director and writer, has said Ledger’s father Kim had told him that Ledger’s body was found with a script for his film.
The Oscar-winning director had been working towards making an adaptation of Malcolm Gladwell’s 2005 novel Blink and was hoping to cast Ledger in the lead role. A copy of the book was found on the bedside table when Ledger was found dead.
Speaking on Gladwell’s Development Hell podcast, Gaghan told Gladwell: “They were there with the body and our script was in bed with him, and your book was on the bedside table. I think my number was on the script, like written.
“These guys, as you can imagine, they are in shock and they dialled that number and I don’t know why.”
He continued: “I’m in an airport with my wife, just going from one place to another, and I literally just collapse, never happened to me before or since. My feet went out from under me. I just literally sat down because I was like, what, what?”
“I remember her face and I was just like, I was speechless. I just listened and listened and listened. It was just really, really sad. And it’s still sad,” Gaghan added.
Gaghan stopped development of the film after Ledger’s death.
Nolan spoke about Ledger at the 2024 Golden Globes while accepting the award, recalling that the last time he had been on that stage was in 2009, to accept an award on his behalf. The Dark Knight, which was the last film Ledger finished shooting prior to his death, was released six months later.
“The only time I’ve ever been on this stage before accepting one of these on behalf of our dear friend Heath Ledger and that was complicated and challenging for me,” he said.