Heath Ledger

Hamptons residents who paid up to $2,500 a plate to hang out with Gwyneth Paltrow at a benefit for the Amaryllis Farm Equine Rescue Organization at Steven Klein's Bridgehampton farm (read Daily Transom's account!) were upset when the actress refused to come out of the host's house for most of the evening. [NYDN]

Maybe she was just saving her energy? Ms. Paltrow later attended at party at Def Jam Chairman L.A. Reid's house celebrating Mariah Carey's recent marriage to Nick Cannon. Mary J. Blige, Kelly Ripa, Samuel L. Jackson and Star Jones were also there. [P6]  read more »

Mary-Kate Olsen won't have to talk to the police about Heath Ledger's death after all. [NYDN]

Graydon Carter bought the lease on the Monkey Bar on East 54th Street. One of his partners told the Post, "It's just going to be a little bar in Midtown." Just like the Waverly Inn is a little bar in the West Village! [P6]  read more »

Scarlett Johansson is still talking about being friends with Barack Obama on the Internet. [Newsday]

Well, that didn't take long. When the New York Post reported today that Mary-Kate Olsen was refusing to speak with investigators about Heath Ledger's death unless she was promised immunity, the unsubtle implication was that Ms. Olsen knew something about Ledger's death that she wasn't telling. Maybe, some speculated, she had even supplied Ledger with drugs! Or at least, knew where he got them. This afternoon, though, her lawyer put the kibosh on those assumptions, telling Us magazine's website that Ms. Olsen "had nothing whatsoever to do with the drugs found in Heath Ledger's home or his body, and she does not know where he obtained them.  read more »

Heath Ledger was reportedly a silent investor in Five Leaves, a Greenpoint bar designed by John McCormick, who also designed Smith & Mills and Beatrice Inn. While the project was at first put on hold after the actor's death, his father has agreed to fund the project to its completion. [P6]

Christian Bale's assault on his mother was possibly not an assault at all; sources say he never touched her, but merely raised his voice when she made negative remarks about his wife. Apparently, the British consider yelling a verbal assault and therefore a crime. [NY Daily News]

As part of an investigation into Raffaello Follieri's affairs, the F.  read more »

Two things were noticeable about the line of people awaiting the 12:01 a.m. Lincoln Square cinema premiere of the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight.

First, the affinity most of the waiting masses appeared to feel with the Caped One; second, the bizarre impression many of the waiting seemed to have that they had seen the movie already.

Brandeis University student Andrew Litwin called The Dark Knight "probably one of the most amazing movies I've ever seen."

"I'm not, like, at all obsessed," he said. "I mean I haven't read all the comics and all that … because I haven't had enough money to buy all the comics.  read more »

There’s a moment in the new Batman movie The Dark Knight when the action—which relentlessly pounds, soars, twists and turns for a full two and a half hours—slows down for one brief and strangely beautiful instant. The Joker—certainly one of the more villainous, terrifying and electric characters to come our way in some time—speeds through Gotham’s sleek, gray streets, his head hanging out of a cop car window, eyes softly shut, mutilated face turned skyward, stringy and matted green hair flattened by wind. Chaos is under way, hope is dimming, the future looks grim … and the Joker is just enjoying the breeze.  read more »

THE DARK KNIGHT
RUNNING TIME 152 minutes
WRITTEN BY Christopher and Jonathan Nolan
DIRECTED BY Christopher Nolan
STARRING Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhaal

Some folks take metaphysical pleasure from the New Batman Philosophy According to Christopher Nolan: that good and evil lurk side by side in everyone, including Batman. But in my opinion, every Batman movie is about only one thing: action hero (the caped crusader with wings) vs. bad guys (everyone else). Writer-director Nolan’s Batman Begins, with its surreal and mystical mumbo jumbo about playboy Bruce Wayne’s beginnings, remains the worst Batman movie I’ve ever seen, although the comic-book addicts disagree.  read more »

THE DARK KNIGHT
RUNNING TIME 152 minutes
WRITTEN BY Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan
DIRECTED BY Christopher Nolan
STARRING Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman

Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, from a screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, based on a story by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer, is, of course, ultimately from a series of comic books published by DC Comics, with the creation of the Batman character attributed to Bob Kane. In the world of comic-book superheroes, the Batman franchise has specialized in the most eccentrically colorful villains. I still remember Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne/Batman character looking out of the corner of his eye at Jack Nicholson’s clownish antics as the Joker in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman, the second such cinematic transfer after Laslia Martinson’s 1966 Batman, with Adam West reprising in a campy fashion his hit television role.  read more »

Bittersweet Symphony? Ashlee Simpson may not be welcomed back to Saturday Night Live after her 2004 appearance exposed her lip-synching talents. Also, Page Six hears that the young Mr. Simpson was not exactly a hit with the show's producers. [P6]  read more »

Even the gossipy bit—Who's That Girl?!?—that all of the tabs were after all day yesterday (us too, in fact) is broken first by The Times: Spitzer's prostitute "Kristen" is in fact known as Ashley Alexandra Dupré, though she was born 22 years ago as Ashley Youmans, in New Jersey. [The New York Times]  read more »

Did George Clooney pop the question? [Marie Claire UK]

All this while he avows that he is "gay, gay" (and not "gay, gay, gay"): "That third 'gay' was pushing it."[People]

Matt Damon's rep confirms he and his wife Luciana are expecting. [People]  read more »

It seems like the rumors may have been confirmed: Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell will each fill in for Heath Ledger in Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Cinematical reports via Ain’t It Cool News, the insidery movie and comics blog that broke the scoop early this morning. The film was still in production when Mr. Ledger died on Jan. 22 of what has been ruled an accidental overdose of prescription drugs, leaving questions as to how filming would be completed.  read more »

This morning, the New York medical examiner’s office confirmed that Heath Ledger’s death was caused by an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

“Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine," Ellen Borakave, a spokesperson for the Office of Chief Medical Examiner said in a statement. Actress Michelle Williams, the late actor’s ex-fiancee, and their daughter, Matilda, reportedly arrived in Perth, Australia earlier today to attend Mr. Ledger’s funeral.  read more »

A biography of Heath Ledger which will be published as a paperback in England in April, will be available in the U.S. in June, according to a spokesperson for Trafalgar Square Publishing, the company that will import and distribute the book here.

The book, titled Heath Ledger: His Beautiful Life and Mysterious Death, is being written by journalist John McShane and published by John Blake Publishing. No word yet on how many copies of the book Trafalgar will be bringing over; we'll let you know when we find out.

A video—in what is sure to be a long chain of posthumous "leaks" portending doom for Heath Ledger—has recently “surfaced.” The video, which allegedly shows “a guilt-ridden” Mr. Ledger at a party in L.A.’s Chateau Marmont on Jan. 29, 2006, will likely air tonight on Australia’s Channel 9, according to the Daily News. This broadcast plan from down under flies in the face of what the paper billed “an uproar from the Hollywood community.”  read more »

Heath Ledger was in the middle of shooting The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus when he died last week. Since then, director Terry Gilliam has been scrambling to find a way to finish the movie. Despite earlier reports that the director, who has helmed 1975's Monty Python & the Holy Grail, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Brothers Grimm, might shelve the $30 million production, Mr. Ledger's co-star Christopher Plummer told People Magazine that "because the film deals with magic, there is a way, perhaps, of turning Heath into other people and then, using stills and I think they call it CGI…"  read more »

TheBookseller.com is reporting that British publishing house John Blake Ltd. is planning to publish a biography of Heath Ledger, who died last week in a Soho apartment at the age of 28. The book, being written by journalist John McShane, will come out in the UK on April 7th as a paperback titled Heath Ledger: His Beautiful Life and Mysterious Death.

A representative of Independent Publishing Group, the company that distributes John Blake books in the United States, said the publishing house is currently trying to figure out if and when the book will appear stateside. A message has been left with a publicist at John Blake; expect an update with more details.  read more »

The City Room's post authored by Sewell Chan on the death of Heath Ledger has reached 1.78 million page views, a spokeswoman said. The Times can't confirm if it's an all-time record for an nytimes.com blog post, but it's probably awfully close.  read more »

The death of Heath Ledger is so ubiquitous that apparently it's news when some journalists opt out of the gossip cycle.

Gossip Web site justjared.com posted an item that says a couple TV personalities refuse to cover each and every Ledger development.  read more »

Not only did Heath Ledger's masseuse call Mary-Kate Olsen before calling 911, she spent a full nine minutes dialing the actress multiple times. From Ledger's cell phone. [NYT]

Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger had a falling out over Ledger's role in Brokeback Mountain—“The role apparently ran counter to Gibson's morality,” sources say. [Rush & Molloy]  read more »

Heath Ledger’s funeral arrangements have been finalized. George Amado, who manages the Frank E. Campbell funeral home on Madison Ave. and 81st St., refused to disclose any details about the forthcoming memorial. “The family doesn't want us to give out any information,” he said. Mr. Ledger’s family is expected to arrive in New York from Australia tomorrow.

Yesterday, the 28-year-old actor’s body was taken to the uptown establishment, the same day an autopsy yielded inconclusive results. According to the medical examiner’s office spokesperson, Ellen Borakove, additional test results aren’t expected for a couple days. According to the AP, fans of Mr. Ledger are today hosting a memorial of their own outside the actor’s Soho building, where there are now “more than 100 bouquets including tulips, daisies, carnations and tropical flowers, along with candles, signs, notes and other memorials.”  read more »

Downtown's swanky Bowery Hotel is looking for "an A-list actor, studio executive, oil sheik or titan of industry" to rent out its two-bedroom penthouses -- just $30,000 a month, according to an e-mail sent to The Observer.

That's only $6,000 more than late actor Heath Ledger's $24,000-a-month, three-bedroom SoHo loft.  read more »

Because the gossip weeklies closed their issues this week before Heath Ledger’s death (except for People, which features the late actor on their latest cover), they apparently had to find new ways to keep the rapt public’s attention focused in their direction. Star thought of one particularly unique way of doing this, WWD reports today. The whisper magazine’s editorial director, Bonnie Fuller, guest-blogged about the death over at the Huffington Post, where she would then link back to Star’s Web site for, as she put it, “more coverage of Heath’s life and tragic death.”

But she didn’t stop there. She also turned up the heat by speculating that Mr. Ledger had taken his own life, before an autopsy had even begun. Wrote Mr. Fuller of the actor: “None of his gifts, neither talent nor family, appears to have been enough to combat the demons that apparently led Heath to take the pills that could have ended his young life.”

The autopsy yesterday was inconclusive, so authorities refuse to conclusively confirm or deny that theory. Asked about her suicide conclusion, Ms. Fuller told WWD: “The way I wrote it, I didn't mean to say definitively that it was suicide at all. I felt like I left it open.”  read more »

Since Heath Ledger's death Tuesday afternoon, Warners' marketing executives have been scrambling to rejigger their marketing scheme for Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight. Principle photography wrapped in the fall but their posters and trailers have highlighted Mr. Ledger's ghoulish Joker character.

Production on Terry Gilliam's indie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus has also temporarily shut down. According to Variety, Mr. Gilliam has three options: "Replace Ledger in the role, shoot around him or shut down the production entirely. The insurance company will likely determine which option the producers take."

Mr. Ledger's death also cancels what would have been his feature directing debut, an adaptation of the Walter Tevis novel The Queen's Gambit. The leading role of a young female chess prodigy had been offered to Oscar nominee Ellen Page (Juno). Mr. Ledger, a skilled chess player, was due to play a supporting role.

When Heath Ledger's masseuse found the actor unconscious Tuesday, she called Mary-Kate Olsen for advice before dialing 911. The NYPD spokesman said, "I'm not going to speculate on why 911 was not called first." [City Room]

Also, multiple types of anti-anxiety meds and sedatives, all prescribed to Ledger, were found in his apartment. [TMZ]

Paris Hilton updated her MySpace blog – she's "never been happier"! [Just Jared]

A who's who of city restaurants, like Michael Romano of Union Square Café and The Modern's Gabriel Kreuther, flocked to the preview of Alain Ducasse's new wine-themed restaurant Adour. Their critical palates were not disappointed. [Page Six]  read more »

Actors who died in their 20s, just like Heath Ledger.

James Dean, 24, died Sept., 30, 1955, after an automobile crash on the highway near Paso Robles, Calif.

Sharon Tate, 26, was murdered Aug. 9, 1969, by followers of Charles Manson in Los Angeles.

Freddie Prinze, 22, died Jan. 29, 1977, after shooting himself in Los Angeles.

Jon-Erik Hexum, 26, died Oct. 18, 1984, after accidentally shooting himself with a prop gun in Los Angeles.  read more »

Ang Lee, the Academy-Award winning director of 2005’s Brokeback Mountain, which starred Heath Ledger, has just released a statement concerning Mr. Ledger, who was found dead yesterday.

Mr. Lee said:

“Working with Heath was one of the purest joys of my life. He brought to the role of Ennis more than any of us could have imagined - a thirst for life, for love, and for truth, and a vulnerability that made everyone who knew him love him. His death is heartbreaking."

 read more »

The family of actor Heath Ledger, speaking from Applecross, Australia, released a statement regarding their son, who was found dead yesterday afternoon in a Soho loft.

From the Huffington Post:

“We, Heath's family, confirm the very tragic, untimely and accidental passing of our dearly loved son, brother and doting father of Matilda, who was found in a peaceful sleep in his New York apartment by his housekeeper at 3:30 p.m. (EST)," his father, Kim, read while accompanied by mother Sally and Ledger's sister, Katie.

We would like to thank our friends and everyone around the world for their kind wishes at this time.

Heath has touched so many people on so many different levels during his short life, but few had the pleasure to truly know him.

He was a down-to-earth, generous, kind-hearted, life-loving and unselfish individual who was an extreme inspiration to many.

Please now respect our family's need to grieve and come to terms with our loss privately."

Read our complete coverage here.  read more »

Editors' Note: This article has been corrected from an earlier version which misidentified the Brooklyn neighborhood where Ledger lived with Michelle Williams. We regret the error.

The actor Heath Ledger was found dead on the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan. 22, in a bed in a fourth-floor apartment at 421 Broome Street.

Months before, Ledger had broken up with his fiancee, Michelle Williams, with whom he had had a two-year-old daughter and a townhouse in the Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn.  read more »

Where’s Dylan in I’m Not There?  read more »

MTVNews sat down with a fidgety Heath Ledger recently to discuss his roles in I'm Not There, the Bob Dylan movie, and The Dark Knight.

MTV: There's this little film called "The Dark Knight" you're doing ...

Ledger: Done.  read more »

• 0 comments

We checked in today with celebrity life coach Patrick Wanis, Ph.D., in order to hear his expert opinions on what Hollywood people should be doing with themselves right now.

Again this week in the romance department, rumors and announcements surrounding novel couplings have proven their power to flabbergast outsiders. Last time we checked in with Mr. Wanis, he offered a bleak outlook on the prospect of Lance Armstrong and Ashley Olsen finding true love together. But this week, after hearing confirmation of singer Rihanna and actor Josh Hartnett’s relationship, Mr. Wanis was hopeful.  read more »

Jack Nicholson, a member of a dying breed of Geezer Roues according to the Observer's Spencer Morgan, might not even see the new Batman movie, Dark Knight, because he can't bear to watch pretty boy Heath Ledger play the Joker, which he made famous in the original Tim Burton-directed Batman.

MTV News sat down with him:  read more »

Nevermind, gay movies are totally making a comeback!

OK! Magazine reports:

Have you ever wondered what happened to Brokeback Mountain's closeted Ennis Del Mar after the heartbreaking loss of his lover Jack Twist? Wonder no more: A sequel is in the works!

Although we won't be seeing his pal Jake Gyllenhaal, 26, Heath Ledger, 28, is currently in negotiations to reprise his role as Ennis. "It will follow the nasty process of being openly gay in 1963 Wyoming, an insider tells OK!. "Ennis will finally come out of the closet."

We hope the Ennis realizes he's in the wrong profession: He could be the cowboy from the Village People. He's got the outfit already, hasn't he?

 read more »

Adam B. Vary of Entertainment Weekly asks why Hollywood hasn't put out a gay-themed film since the commercially and critically acclaimed "Brokeback Mountain."

Brokeback was more than a movie. It was a phenomenon that commanded the cultural conversation for months, from Jay Leno to YouTube to the cover of The New Yorker. More important, it proved that straight audiences would snap up tickets to a same-sex romance. Since then, a few gay-themed films have been released (e.g., Notes on a Scandal). But seemingly no studio — nor any studio art-house division — has greenlit a film with a gay lead character. ''I don't think any studio responded by saying, 'Quick, dust off whatever gay dramas we have!''' says one former studio head. As surprising as it seemed that Brokeback could lose the Oscar to Crash, the real shock is just now setting in: Brokeback may have changed nothing.

 read more »

Todd Haynes' new film I'm Not There will have New York audiences seeing double in more ways than one.  read more »

They fall in love, buy strollers, hire cooks—Heath, Michelle, Liv, Nicole join prissy new bourgeoisie!  read more »

There are many things I don’t understand about the movie business, but one of the most troubling i  read more »

There are many things I don’t understand about the movie business, but one of the most troubli  read more »

It was less than a year ago that Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams bought a $3.6 million townhouse in Boerum Hill, instantly becoming the neighborhood's "it" couple. And now, they've taken refuge in the Hollywood Hills.

Sadly, there will be no more subway sightings (They're Just Like Us!), or anti-Ratner rants. Remember when these two movie stars joined forces with other movies stars (and some literary types), in an effort to lobby on behalf of Brooklyn residents?

As the Daily News reported just two months ago:

"His vision will increase traffic, pollution and asthma," said Ledger's fiancee, actress Michelle Williams, another board member. The couple recently bought a Boerum Hill brownstone, where they live with their young daughter, Matilda.

"If Mr. Ratner lived here, he would understand what we love about it and why we want to preserve our open skies."

Hopefully, for the sake of our beleaguered West Coast transplants, Bruce Ratner won't now try to build an arena in the Hollywood Hills.

- Michael Calderone

UPDATE: NoLandGrab has scooped all the "professional snarks" out there, diving head first into what the they consider a "cauldron of celebrity gossip." (Cauldron, eh? Was that intentional)? Anyway, contrary to the reports in the July 21st Daily Telegraph that Mr. Ledger was abandoning Brooklyn--information seized upon by all those snarky blogs-- the couple might be staying in the borough after all, according to NoLandGrab. See, that Hollywood home might simply be a pied-a-terre. And Daniel Goldstein breathes a deep sigh of relief.  read more »

The current Rolling Stone offers an image of Heath Ledger, barefoot, floating Jesus-like on water--and a cover line touting "Famous Failures Back in the Real World." The magazine isn't referring to Ledger's Oscar loss for best actor or Brokeback Mountain's best-picture defeat, but to an inside piece on American Idol.

According to a Wenner Media source, the magazine was scheduled to put the American Idol piece on the cover, but boss Jann Wenner decided to switch to Ledger just before Friday's close. "He pulled it for Heath," the source said.

The Oscar voters many not have agreed with the last-minute decision. But Wenner--who knows his way around the movie's emotional terrain--has been a big fan of the cowboy-and-cowboy movie all along, according to Wenner Media sources. In a December 1 review, Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers gave the movie four stars. "Ledger's magnificent performance is an acting miracle," Travers wrote. "He seems to tear it from his insides."

A Wenner source said Jann has also tried to pressure Us Weekly to cover Brokeback stars Ledger and wife Michelle Williams in the magazine.

--Gabriel Sherman

• Frank Bruni, the stately food critic, is now ... blogging. We can't wait to read what his critic at The Bruni Digest says. (The New York Times)
• And the writer's take on Upper West Side's Telepan: "Its pinkness was thrust into relief by a bed of crushed blue potatoes, its lusciousness by nothing showier than a crust of breadcrumbs, lemon juice and lemon zest." (The New York Times)
• The window washers are back and life unravels at a Hell's Kitchen OTB. (The Village Voice)
• The Queens market reached a high this past January, with average home-sale prices at $500,000. (The Real Deal)