1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. The stories about 2 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: Heath Ledger are insane. He was taught how to shoot 3 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:23,439 Speaker 1: up by an aging Australian junkie with a stolen prosthetic arm. 4 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: In fake Blood, he was baited with cocaine by two 5 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 1: paparazzi intent on getting revenge. He fell so deep into 6 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:34,440 Speaker 1: the dark psychology of his on screen characters that he 7 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: got Batman to kick his ass for real. He was 8 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 1: so good at disappearing into movie roles that he eventually 9 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: disappeared beyond the point of no return, which is a 10 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: shame because Heath Ledger was a great actor who made 11 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: great movies. Unlike that loop I played few at the 12 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: top of the show that wasn't from a great movie. 13 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: That was a preset loop from my melotron called Tuno 14 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:05,399 Speaker 1: Madness Mk. Two. I played with that luke because I 15 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 1: can't afford the rights to Crack a Bottle by Eminem 16 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 1: Doctor dre and fifty cent. Why would I play you 17 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:15,800 Speaker 1: that specific slice of let your Body Wattle Cheese? Could 18 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:19,960 Speaker 1: I afford it? Because that was the number one song 19 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,480 Speaker 1: in America on February twenty second, two thousand and nine, 20 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:26,840 Speaker 1: and That was the day that Heath Ledger beat such 21 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 1: luminaries as Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robert Downey Junior to 22 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:35,399 Speaker 1: win a posthumous Academy Award for his iconic portrayal of 23 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 1: the Joker on this episode Stolen prosthetic Arms, vengeful paparazzi, 24 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: a dark Knight, ass kicking body, wattle cheese, Posthumous Oscars, 25 00:01:48,560 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: and Heath Ledger, I'm Jake Brennan and this is Disgraceland. 26 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 1: Heath Leedger got to Prague early, more like an over 27 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:29,239 Speaker 1: anxious kid on his first date than Hollywood's next leading man. 28 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 1: Columbia Pictures wanted him to take horseback lessons, and it 29 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:36,280 Speaker 1: wasn't until he got to Prague that Heath revealed that 30 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:39,360 Speaker 1: he grew up on a farm outside of Perth. It 31 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:44,080 Speaker 1: was half bullshit, half swagger. Heath was a prep school brat, 32 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 1: grew up playing hockey, performing Shakespeare. But Americans didn't know 33 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: the first thing about Australia. They were dazzled by anything 34 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: he said in his lifting up speak that turned every 35 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:58,639 Speaker 1: sentence into a potential question. He pulled out a fucking 36 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 1: digeridoo at his audition and the director looked at him 37 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: like he was some Aboriginal shaman. Heath told his friends 38 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:07,399 Speaker 1: back home it was the ditch that got him to roll. 39 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 1: It was the summer of the year two thousand. Prague 40 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:16,640 Speaker 1: had only opened its doors to capitalism ten years before. 41 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:20,520 Speaker 1: Half a million protesters brought a peaceful end to four 42 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,400 Speaker 1: decades of one party rule. So peaceful they called it 43 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:29,240 Speaker 1: the Velvet Revolution. The new president was a dissident poet. 44 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: Everyone in Prague was a poet, or an artist or 45 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:34,760 Speaker 1: a musician, and the whole city was drunk on cheap 46 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 1: freedom and cheap beer too, twelve cents American for a 47 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: stein the size of a bucket. It was a dream 48 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: city for a twenty one year old kid, and Heath 49 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:46,960 Speaker 1: had it all to himself. It was a shame that 50 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: he had arrived before his co stars. He wanted to 51 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:53,200 Speaker 1: share the experience with them, So Heath Ledger did what 52 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: he always did when he was alone. He called up 53 00:03:56,160 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 1: his mates back in La a massive apartment that served 54 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:04,680 Speaker 1: as a landing pad and flophouse for any ossi that 55 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 1: came to California looking to hit big. People came and 56 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: went crashed on couches overnight or for months, on end. 57 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:15,600 Speaker 1: When new Ossi actors showed up at Hollywood auditions, casting 58 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: directors asked, so are you one of the ones staying 59 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 1: at Heath's place. It was the kind of stardom he thought. 60 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 1: He wanted something he could share. He grinned through parties 61 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:29,440 Speaker 1: of friends and strangers, but often retreated to take his 62 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:33,279 Speaker 1: spot behind the turntables. He played Nick Drake Covers on 63 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 1: guitar while other Ossi actors paced the hallways running lines 64 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 1: from Prague. He phoned the flophouse in la He told 65 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 1: his friends to come over like he was at the 66 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:45,800 Speaker 1: bar down the block, and not halfway across the world. 67 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: Come now, it's cheap, everything's practically free. He phoned Columbia 68 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: Pictures and got phone numbers for his co stars on 69 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 1: A Night's Tale, the movie he was in Prague to shoot, 70 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 1: most of whom he hadn't met yet. He called them 71 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:01,440 Speaker 1: up to He's about a group of friends, he said, 72 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 1: let's get together, get to know each other. Easy for 73 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:07,120 Speaker 1: him to say. The other actors were all scraping by, 74 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 1: and none of them was getting the kind of money 75 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:12,279 Speaker 1: Heath was for this job. It's cheap, he said, everything's 76 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 1: practically free. If their definition of practically free was different 77 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 1: from his, so be it. He would buy them all 78 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:22,600 Speaker 1: plane tickets, and that's exactly what he did. Refusing to 79 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:27,239 Speaker 1: take no for an answer, the entourage landed in Prague. 80 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,320 Speaker 1: Heath booked the whole floor of a hotel for next 81 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: to nothing. They ran through the streets by night until 82 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,080 Speaker 1: the bars kicked them out at closing. American coins rattled 83 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:39,280 Speaker 1: in their pockets. They could have been kids on a 84 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: gap year fuck about in Eastern Europe with all the 85 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 1: time in the world, but Heath had a sense of 86 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: urgency when he left Perth at age nineteen to break 87 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:52,599 Speaker 1: big in Hollywood. He told his dad it had to 88 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:54,880 Speaker 1: be now because he wasn't going to be here long. 89 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:58,240 Speaker 1: Wasn't sure how he knew, but he did know that 90 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: this movie, A Night's Tale would be huge, and it 91 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: wouldn't just make him the star. His co stars they 92 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:08,479 Speaker 1: were going to be big too. Saturday night, before the 93 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 1: rest of the crew arrived, Heath and company had dinner 94 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:14,560 Speaker 1: at a family pizza place off in Rootova Street. A 95 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:17,640 Speaker 1: rosy cheeked check girl not two years younger than Heath, 96 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: brought them bread and endless bottles of Hungarian wine. Sugary, 97 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,839 Speaker 1: sweet stuff Heath knew he'd feel in the morning. The 98 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:29,840 Speaker 1: girl's mustachioed father grinned toothly from the kitchen, drenched in 99 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:32,839 Speaker 1: sweat from the one hundred year old brick oven. Other 100 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:35,679 Speaker 1: patrons paid their bills and left, some out the front 101 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:38,360 Speaker 1: door and some down a dark staircase in the corner 102 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 1: of the restaurant. The Hollywood entourage called for more wine, 103 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:44,839 Speaker 1: and the chipmunk cheek girl brought it as she wished 104 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:47,160 Speaker 1: she could sit down with them, follow them out into 105 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:50,200 Speaker 1: the night, into all that cheap freedom. She kept hearing 106 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 1: about her mother, a woman built to survive harsh winters, 107 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: grunted at her from the corner. As the restaurant emptied, 108 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: He kept watching that staircase in the corner, where one 109 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:05,479 Speaker 1: of his friends caught him looking. There's a burlesque club 110 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:07,920 Speaker 1: in the basement, she told him, straight up kitch, like 111 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:12,480 Speaker 1: the Weimar Republic, like stepping into caparet. They all looked 112 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:15,240 Speaker 1: to Heath, even the waitress standing ready with another bottle. 113 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:17,880 Speaker 1: Heath was the youngest, but he was also the one 114 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:20,160 Speaker 1: who put this gang together, and the one who held 115 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:23,920 Speaker 1: them together. His hotel room was a miniature or the flophouse. 116 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:26,680 Speaker 1: People came and went, slept on the floor, fucked in 117 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 1: the bathroom, did lines off the coffee tables. They came 118 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:32,280 Speaker 1: by just to be around Heath, and people told him 119 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 1: he was an old soul, and he smiled cryptically. If 120 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:37,520 Speaker 1: he had it on him, he would have pulled out 121 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: his Dijerido like a fucking mystic and make it drone 122 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:44,600 Speaker 1: in its weird song. Americans ate up that assy bullshit. 123 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:48,320 Speaker 1: Let's go, then, he said, and they're out down the 124 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:53,120 Speaker 1: stairs for group bonding. Pg. Thirteen Times strip teases and 125 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:57,120 Speaker 1: upa bands. Except that the burlesque show was on weeknights, 126 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:02,040 Speaker 1: Saturdays were a different show. It wasn't some straight out 127 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 1: of cabaret nudge nudge wink. This was a full on 128 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:08,320 Speaker 1: sex show, the kind of thing that made Michael Corleoni 129 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:12,920 Speaker 1: squirm in the Godfather part too. It was this even legal? 130 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:16,760 Speaker 1: Did the poet president allow this on his watch? Everyone 131 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:20,480 Speaker 1: looked at Heath, but Heath was inscrutable, a zen monk 132 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 1: with a beatific grin. It was cool by him. He 133 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 1: and his friends were exactly where they were supposed to 134 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:28,520 Speaker 1: be as long as they were in it together. And 135 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:31,800 Speaker 1: the next morning the first day of shooting, the actors 136 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:36,000 Speaker 1: showed up on set exhausted, hungover. The crew of Hollywood 137 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: vetts side eyed them. What do these nobody kids think 138 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:41,560 Speaker 1: they were the fucking brat pack. Heath would have said, No, 139 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:45,800 Speaker 1: we're something new. We're going to be huge, all of us. 140 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:50,240 Speaker 1: They stayed tight after the shoot back in La. Heath 141 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:53,240 Speaker 1: stayed friends with everyone, even exes, of which there were 142 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 1: already several. He couldn't be mad at him, even when 143 00:08:56,160 --> 00:08:58,360 Speaker 1: he fucked up and had too much or went too far. 144 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:03,240 Speaker 1: Publicity nights Tale ramped up and posters and billboards appeared 145 00:09:03,320 --> 00:09:06,360 Speaker 1: all over La. Instead of using photos, they took together 146 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:09,440 Speaker 1: as a group of prague. The billboards had only Heath's face, 147 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:13,840 Speaker 1: twenty feet high, stern and Hollywood handsome. He will rock you, 148 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:18,319 Speaker 1: the tagline read. Heath was horrified. This wasn't the movie 149 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:20,920 Speaker 1: they made, This wasn't who he wanted to be. He 150 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:23,960 Speaker 1: called his friends to apologize, but none of them were pissed. 151 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 1: They were proud of him. They knew what their roles 152 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:29,000 Speaker 1: had been in the movie. They were merely support for 153 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:32,080 Speaker 1: the so called White Knight so he could make it big. 154 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 1: And he was about to, and before long, his face 155 00:09:36,080 --> 00:10:01,040 Speaker 1: would be everywhere. The couple was happy, and the paparazzi 156 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:07,400 Speaker 1: were sick of it. Storybookshit didn't sell papers, and Heath 157 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:11,200 Speaker 1: Ledger and Michelle Williams were in a fairy tale. They 158 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:13,480 Speaker 1: had met on the set of Broke Back Mountain in 159 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:17,360 Speaker 1: the Canadian Rockies, a meet cute captured on film, and 160 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:20,319 Speaker 1: now they were taking their very public victory. Love gushingly 161 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:23,240 Speaker 1: in love in that way that made other couples uncomfortable. 162 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:28,120 Speaker 1: Broke Back Mountain was a revolutionary Hollywood movie, a love 163 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:32,160 Speaker 1: story about two gay cowboys. Gus van Zant was attached 164 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:35,880 Speaker 1: to direct, but couldn't cast the tense job repressed lead role, 165 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:40,160 Speaker 1: and Brad Pitt passed, and Dido for Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, 166 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:44,120 Speaker 1: Mark Wahlberg, and Joaquin Phoenix. They passed too, so van 167 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:47,040 Speaker 1: zandt dropped out and the project fell to Ag Lee, 168 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:50,440 Speaker 1: whose red hot success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had 169 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 1: cooled off considerably after his follow up flop with The Hulk. 170 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:57,320 Speaker 1: The Gay Cowboys script found its way to Heath, who 171 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:00,400 Speaker 1: loved it. He'd been playing small parts, weird part since 172 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:03,880 Speaker 1: A Knight's Tale. Anxious to avoid being typecast as nothing 173 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:07,400 Speaker 1: more than a pretty face. Heath saw an opportunity to 174 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:10,640 Speaker 1: make a bold move like River Phoenix, playing a narcoleptic, 175 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:14,240 Speaker 1: gay hustler in Van Zandtz My own Private, Idaho, shedding 176 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:18,120 Speaker 1: his pretty boy persona and establishing himself as a real actor. 177 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:22,160 Speaker 1: After they made the movie, Heath and Michelle moved in 178 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:25,959 Speaker 1: together in Brooklyn, of all places, not the hipster loft 179 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:29,360 Speaker 1: scene in Williamsburg, the quiet row houses of Borham Hill. 180 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:31,920 Speaker 1: No one in boram Hill gave a shit if you 181 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:35,840 Speaker 1: were famous. Brooklyn was in La. Brooklyn left you alone. 182 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 1: Keith and Michelle got married at City Hall in secret, 183 00:11:39,679 --> 00:11:41,800 Speaker 1: and they never referenced the rings on their fingers at 184 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,880 Speaker 1: Premiers or at Galas than that October, three months earlier. 185 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:49,960 Speaker 1: They had a baby, little Matilda. Heath was over the moon. 186 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:52,840 Speaker 1: He said Broke Back changed his life, and he wasn't 187 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:56,800 Speaker 1: talking about his breakthrough performance or the award nominations the 188 00:11:56,840 --> 00:12:00,120 Speaker 1: movie brought him. Michelle gave him his baby daughter. That's 189 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: the best thing that ever happened to him. But at 190 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:06,439 Speaker 1: that moment, Heath and Michelle weren't in Brooklyn. They were 191 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:09,320 Speaker 1: in La at the Shrine Auditorium for the Screen Actors 192 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:13,600 Speaker 1: Guild Awards, facing off against paparazzi who had no time 193 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:18,280 Speaker 1: for that bridge and tunnel shit. Heath and Michelle were 194 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:21,760 Speaker 1: far from home and there were scores to settle. Australian 195 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:25,640 Speaker 1: tabloids had infamously dubbed the couple surly and surly. Heath 196 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:28,440 Speaker 1: regularly threw eggs at the photographers who camped outside his 197 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:32,360 Speaker 1: house back in Australia. Just one year prior, in Sydney, 198 00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:35,440 Speaker 1: a photographer shouted flashed as he snapped a picture during 199 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:38,000 Speaker 1: a take on the set of Candy, the first film 200 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:41,520 Speaker 1: Heath had shot in Australia in four years. The photographer 201 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:43,560 Speaker 1: didn't give a fuck that he just ruined the scene. 202 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:46,520 Speaker 1: Got you a Ledger, he screamed, I'll see you at home. 203 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:50,480 Speaker 1: Heath broke character and took off after the photographer all 204 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:52,920 Speaker 1: the way down the street, so far down the street 205 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:54,560 Speaker 1: that the two of them were the only witnesses to 206 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:57,680 Speaker 1: what happened next. The photographer ended up with a scraped 207 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:00,760 Speaker 1: knee and busted elbow. He went to the police, said 208 00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:04,079 Speaker 1: Heath Ledger tackled him for no reason. According to Heath, 209 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:06,600 Speaker 1: the poor bastard fell in the chase with no one 210 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:08,839 Speaker 1: else there to see it, and the cops didn't press 211 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:12,160 Speaker 1: charges Candy. The film Heath had been shooting when the 212 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 1: photographer made his move was about two heroin addicts. The 213 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:18,760 Speaker 1: Aussie rags made sure they portrayed Heath as an actor 214 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:21,040 Speaker 1: who did a little too much research for his role. 215 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:24,559 Speaker 1: The stories Heath told were strange enough. He and co 216 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:27,600 Speaker 1: star Abbe Cornish met an old junkie at a Sydney 217 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:30,560 Speaker 1: narcotics anonymous meeting who took them back to his apartment 218 00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:33,959 Speaker 1: and the attic took out a rifle case. Inside was 219 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:36,920 Speaker 1: a prosthetic arm with a bag of fake blood attached 220 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:41,679 Speaker 1: at the shoulder. The blood bag ran into two tubes 221 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:44,440 Speaker 1: that ran into two fully functional veins that ran the 222 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:47,400 Speaker 1: length of the arm. It was an educational prop for 223 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:50,800 Speaker 1: nurses to learn to draw blood. The junkie had lifted 224 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:53,520 Speaker 1: it from a hospital and used it to show newbies 225 00:13:53,559 --> 00:13:56,040 Speaker 1: how to shoot up safely, how to shoot up right. 226 00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:58,760 Speaker 1: He slided the needle up the vein, and don't go 227 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:03,239 Speaker 1: poking yourself like a fuck amateur, he showed Heath salivating 228 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:06,680 Speaker 1: and Pavloonian response. When Heath sunk the needle into the 229 00:14:06,679 --> 00:14:10,760 Speaker 1: prosthetics arms vein fake blood shooting up the dropper's neck. 230 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:14,280 Speaker 1: Heath got so good at it that he figured he'd 231 00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:17,120 Speaker 1: be able to do it for real, maybe even without flinching, 232 00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:20,160 Speaker 1: not that he actually would. It was one thing to 233 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:23,440 Speaker 1: disappear into a roll and another thing to disappear completely. 234 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:26,960 Speaker 1: But no matter how many rolls there were to disappear into, 235 00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:30,760 Speaker 1: the paparazzi didn't forget the Heath Ledger used to throw 236 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:34,200 Speaker 1: eggs at them from his porch that he allegedly tackled 237 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:37,920 Speaker 1: one of their own, and they certainly didn't forgive. When 238 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:41,320 Speaker 1: Heath Michelle went back to Sydney for the Broke Back premiere, 239 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:46,160 Speaker 1: paparazzi sprayed them with super soakers. They apologized to Michelle, 240 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:49,920 Speaker 1: but not to Heath. They claimed it was payback, but 241 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:56,480 Speaker 1: the biggest payback was about to come Los Angeles two 242 00:14:56,560 --> 00:15:00,280 Speaker 1: thousand and six. After the screen actors killed ceremony at 243 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:04,400 Speaker 1: the Shrine Auditorium, Heath Michelle went back to the Chateau MArmand, 244 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:07,720 Speaker 1: where they'd left their daughter with a sitter. Michelle went 245 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:09,480 Speaker 1: up to the room to see the baby and get 246 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:13,880 Speaker 1: some sleep. Heath mingled in the lobby. He was wound up, anxious, 247 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 1: not much for sleeping. The Chateau Marman on Sunset Boulevard 248 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:22,520 Speaker 1: was legendary. Harry Cohne, co founder of Columbia Pictures, told 249 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:25,440 Speaker 1: William Holden, if you must get into trouble, do it 250 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:28,840 Speaker 1: at the Chateau Marman. James Dean jumped out of Chateau 251 00:15:28,880 --> 00:15:32,520 Speaker 1: Marman window to quote unquote audition for Rebel without a Cause. 252 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:35,920 Speaker 1: John Belushi wrote a speedball injection out of this World 253 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:38,840 Speaker 1: in Bungalow three. And those were just the stories you 254 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 1: heard about. The chateau kept its secrets. If you must 255 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:47,640 Speaker 1: get into trouble, do it at the Chateau Marman. Darren 256 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:50,800 Speaker 1: Banks and Eric Mann were photographers for Splash News and 257 00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:55,520 Speaker 1: Picture Agency, a global network of paparazzi. They came to 258 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:58,720 Speaker 1: the Chateau Marman with cocaine, which they had bought with 259 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:01,840 Speaker 1: the news agency's money, and they were there with Banks, 260 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:05,480 Speaker 1: his girlfriend, a reporter for People magazine who'd be listed 261 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:08,320 Speaker 1: as Jane Doe, and the legal proceedings that came later, 262 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:12,520 Speaker 1: and they zeroed in on Heath wandering the crowd edgy 263 00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:16,640 Speaker 1: and listless alone without his storybook wife or his fairy 264 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:21,120 Speaker 1: tale baby, and they had revenge on their minds. Tough 265 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,600 Speaker 1: loss tonight, Banks said he was incognito. He didn't tell 266 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:27,120 Speaker 1: a Heath what he did for a living. Yeah, yeah, 267 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:30,480 Speaker 1: said he thanks. He'd forgotten about the award show. He 268 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:33,880 Speaker 1: didn't give a shit about awards. The whole process ground 269 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:36,160 Speaker 1: on him, made him wish he'd never taken the part. 270 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 1: He felt the gravity of his wife and his daughter 271 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:41,960 Speaker 1: pulling at him from upstairs, but something kept him down 272 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:44,760 Speaker 1: here in the muck of this party, a lead ghost 273 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:47,520 Speaker 1: of an old self that he couldn't shake. You want 274 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:49,560 Speaker 1: to get out of here at Banks house. My girlfriend's 275 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:52,280 Speaker 1: got a room. Heath did want to get out of there. 276 00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:54,640 Speaker 1: He needed to get back to his wife and daughter, 277 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:57,120 Speaker 1: back to Boorham Hill, where no one gave a fuck 278 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:00,360 Speaker 1: who he was. He was too visible in La even 279 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 1: though everyone pretended so hard not to see him. This 280 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:05,639 Speaker 1: town used to be fun, back when he had the 281 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 1: massive apartment that served as a landing pad for friends. 282 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:12,439 Speaker 1: That was five years ago. He looked around the party 283 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:16,640 Speaker 1: and all he saw were dead eyes, plastic smiles, all 284 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:19,840 Speaker 1: of them pretending to have fun, but underneath they were 285 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:27,040 Speaker 1: all so serious. Upstairs, Jane Doe watched as Banks and 286 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:29,919 Speaker 1: mun carved the coke into lines and presented it to 287 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 1: Heath like he had won an award. Fuck, he was 288 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,440 Speaker 1: going to get serious shit for Michelle. He shouldn't even 289 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:39,360 Speaker 1: be here in the one place where people famously went 290 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:43,400 Speaker 1: to get into trouble. The undercover paparazzi gave Heath nudge 291 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:46,880 Speaker 1: and showed off that quality coke purchased just for him. 292 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:49,960 Speaker 1: Heath dove into old habits, dove into those lines like 293 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:52,040 Speaker 1: he woke up from his fairy tale life and he 294 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:55,800 Speaker 1: had been in the Chateau Marman the whole time. Mound 295 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:59,600 Speaker 1: excused himself to unpowder his nose. He went around to 296 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:02,960 Speaker 1: the bellk he crouched down with a camera. Jane Doe 297 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 1: saw him do it. She hadn't signed on for this shit. 298 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:08,680 Speaker 1: Maybe she bought his good husband, good dad stick and 299 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:11,560 Speaker 1: maybe she got suckered by that smile, and she wouldn't 300 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:14,879 Speaker 1: be the first. Jane Doe knew the paparazzi wanted to 301 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:17,640 Speaker 1: revenge on Heath, she just didn't think it was right. 302 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:20,560 Speaker 1: She demanded the Mon and Banks tell Heath exactly who 303 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:24,560 Speaker 1: they were. Banks approached Heath, hands up and palms out 304 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:27,560 Speaker 1: like he would a rabbit, an animal, because Heath no 305 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:30,520 Speaker 1: longer looked like the goofball new dad right now, he 306 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:32,719 Speaker 1: now looked like the guy who had chased down and 307 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:36,160 Speaker 1: tackled a photographer just last year in Sydney. It's cool, 308 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:39,080 Speaker 1: said Banks. I'm gonna go get us some more a 309 00:18:39,119 --> 00:18:43,480 Speaker 1: peace offering and no more pictures, a promise. He didn't 310 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:47,159 Speaker 1: mention that his partner had been shooting video. Heath calmed 311 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:49,840 Speaker 1: down a little. Banks made a call, scored them some 312 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:52,680 Speaker 1: more on the company's tab. Before too long, it was 313 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:56,040 Speaker 1: a party again. But every few lines Heath remembered the 314 00:18:56,119 --> 00:18:59,920 Speaker 1: setup and lost his shit all over again. Man attempted 315 00:18:59,920 --> 00:19:02,880 Speaker 1: to calm Heath down. He was going to destroy the photos, 316 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:05,600 Speaker 1: Swear to God they would never see the daylight. Mon 317 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:08,080 Speaker 1: went out to his car. He swapped the memory card 318 00:19:08,119 --> 00:19:10,639 Speaker 1: for one in his glove box, one containing red carpet 319 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:13,200 Speaker 1: shots and he had could take. He snapped the red 320 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:16,200 Speaker 1: carpet card in half, shut the glove compartment, and went 321 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:20,080 Speaker 1: back upstairs. See, he said, showing off the broken memory card. 322 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:26,160 Speaker 1: All gone. The video never did see daylight while Heath 323 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:29,640 Speaker 1: was alive. Anyways, Banks and Mon knew he'd come back 324 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:33,359 Speaker 1: at them, make them look like the assholes. Plus Heath 325 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:37,520 Speaker 1: Ledger wasn't news, not yet anyway, He retreated to Borham Hill. 326 00:19:37,760 --> 00:19:40,000 Speaker 1: People got cell phone shots of him with his daughter 327 00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:42,280 Speaker 1: on his shoulders, and the photos ended up in the 328 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:44,960 Speaker 1: back of People magazine and the celebrities who were just 329 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:48,320 Speaker 1: like a schlock filler, not the shit that sells magazines. 330 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:51,160 Speaker 1: Heath was a stay at home dad and he loved it. 331 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:53,639 Speaker 1: He passed up roles on the regular just so he 332 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:56,760 Speaker 1: could spend more time with his daughter. But one more 333 00:19:56,840 --> 00:19:59,800 Speaker 1: role was waiting, one that would take his Hollywood smile 334 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:02,960 Speaker 1: and twist it, and it would lead Heath Ledger to 335 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:10,480 Speaker 1: a dark place. We'll be right back after this word 336 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:19,399 Speaker 1: were where Christian Bell surveyed the wreckage. He had to 337 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:21,520 Speaker 1: pivot on the heel of his boot, and the neck 338 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:24,080 Speaker 1: wasn't as stiff as the one Michael Keaton wore, and 339 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:26,600 Speaker 1: the suit didn't have fucking nipples, thank god, but it 340 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:30,040 Speaker 1: was limiting enough. Bell couldn't keep his head on a swivel. 341 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:34,439 Speaker 1: He took a slow three sixty rotation. Broken glass, up 342 00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:39,480 Speaker 1: ended steel table, ceramic tiles, shattered. Shit, Bell thought, did 343 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:42,199 Speaker 1: I do this. If he was in a throwdown that 344 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:44,640 Speaker 1: did this much damage, he ought to know about it. 345 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:47,840 Speaker 1: He'd have his knuckles dusted, a coppery tang of blood 346 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:50,479 Speaker 1: in his mouth. Fuck a room up this bat. There 347 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:54,560 Speaker 1: should be scars, bruises, a memory of what happened. He 348 00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:57,200 Speaker 1: ran gloved fingers over the jagged edge of a broken 349 00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:00,440 Speaker 1: tile and maybe the director rigged a detonator or made 350 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:05,320 Speaker 1: the tile implode. Didn't make sense, didn't seem possible. Christopher 351 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:08,280 Speaker 1: Nolan was a master of physical effects. They leave the 352 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:12,040 Speaker 1: CGI to amateurs, let the hack directors fix shit and post. 353 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:16,600 Speaker 1: Nolan wanted it on camera. Bail had bruises and scrapes 354 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:19,520 Speaker 1: to prove it, and they hadn't talked to explosives and rehearsal. 355 00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:21,960 Speaker 1: And Nolan wasn't the kind of director who sprang shit 356 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:25,119 Speaker 1: on you to get some authentic reaction, not like Hitchcock 357 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:28,159 Speaker 1: turning the shower ice cold. So Janet Lee's shock was 358 00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:32,920 Speaker 1: authentic when the knife came down, down, down. Lee never 359 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:36,639 Speaker 1: forgave Hitchcock, but you can't argue with the results. The 360 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:40,680 Speaker 1: complex stunts and physical effects Nolan used required trust from 361 00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:45,320 Speaker 1: his actors. Pulling tricks wasn't his bag. A shard of 362 00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:48,280 Speaker 1: ceramic about the size of a baby tooth came loose 363 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:51,280 Speaker 1: and clattered on the concrete next to Bale's boot. We 364 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:55,040 Speaker 1: did this, he thought. The details came back to him fuzzy, 365 00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:57,600 Speaker 1: like waking up in a stranger's bed and piecing together 366 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:01,040 Speaker 1: the night before. He remembered going through the fight choreography 367 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:05,439 Speaker 1: in rehearsal, a careful, exacting dance of violence. He and 368 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:07,919 Speaker 1: Heath Ledger went over it again and again until they 369 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:11,280 Speaker 1: had the steps right. But in rehearsal, Heath didn't do 370 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:15,399 Speaker 1: the voice. He did a voice, of course, and like Bail, 371 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:18,919 Speaker 1: he's drowned his accent in store brand American ketchup. For 372 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:24,080 Speaker 1: most parts, He's landed on something midwestern, Chicago generic, and 373 00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:26,840 Speaker 1: he was good at it. His voice blended into any 374 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:29,760 Speaker 1: Friday night crowd at the Clark Street Bars in Wrigleyville. 375 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:35,040 Speaker 1: In rehearsal, his voice was average, aggressively normal. Bail growled 376 00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:38,880 Speaker 1: his lines a rasp that left his throat shredded, left 377 00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:42,800 Speaker 1: him sucking mouthfuls of lozenges after every take. Heath held 378 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:46,480 Speaker 1: something back until the cameras rolled. Then he came at 379 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:50,480 Speaker 1: Bail with that nasal fucking whine, that sound that crept 380 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:55,240 Speaker 1: under Bale's skin, that needled at him. Why so serious, Christian? 381 00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:59,119 Speaker 1: With that voice, that fucking voice itching away at his brain. 382 00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:02,960 Speaker 1: All the choreograph violence, all the practiced dance steps of 383 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,640 Speaker 1: the fight, burned away in red rage. Bail had smacked 384 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:09,679 Speaker 1: his forehead onto the metal desk, banged it like a gong, 385 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:13,560 Speaker 1: and Heath laughed a WHEELI he he he hit me, 386 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:17,960 Speaker 1: he said, gone hit me. He kept talking in that voice, 387 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:20,960 Speaker 1: that fucking voice. Only he wasn't a Heath Ledger anymore. 388 00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:25,280 Speaker 1: He was a demon, an agent of pure chaos. Bail 389 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:27,760 Speaker 1: had to get answers, had to beat the answers out 390 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:29,960 Speaker 1: of him. He picked Heath up by the kelly green 391 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:32,880 Speaker 1: vest and slammed his back against the tile wall, hard 392 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,679 Speaker 1: enough to smash the tiles. He grabbed a fistful of 393 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:39,080 Speaker 1: that greasy, hot topic dyed hair and slammed he face 394 00:23:39,119 --> 00:23:42,600 Speaker 1: into the two way glass, leaving a spider web shattered pattern. 395 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:46,120 Speaker 1: The violence was real, and Heath laughed the whole fucking thing, 396 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:49,000 Speaker 1: never crying off, never calling cut as Bail flipped him 397 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:51,639 Speaker 1: onto the metal table tossed his body around like a 398 00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:55,000 Speaker 1: rag doll, and the whole time laughing that laugh that 399 00:23:55,080 --> 00:24:01,119 Speaker 1: made Bail want to hit him again harder. Belle looked 400 00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:04,080 Speaker 1: over at Heath, sitting in a corner smoking a cigarette. 401 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 1: Before the next take, Heath was buried in a book, 402 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:10,720 Speaker 1: the journal he had with him on set at all times, 403 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:13,520 Speaker 1: with the joker written on the front above a picture 404 00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:15,680 Speaker 1: of a woman in a sun hat feeding an elephant. 405 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:18,800 Speaker 1: It was a diary in a scrap book cut out 406 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:22,840 Speaker 1: comic book panels photos of Tim Curry as Pennywise, the 407 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:25,920 Speaker 1: demonic Clown and John Wayne Gacy, the all two real 408 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:30,119 Speaker 1: killer clown who performed at birthday parties in children's hospitals, 409 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,800 Speaker 1: but also who killed at least thirty three young men 410 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:38,760 Speaker 1: and boys. Paintings by Francis Bacon of medieval popes reduced 411 00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:43,000 Speaker 1: to screaming skeletons, dead birds, and rotting slabs of beef 412 00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:46,919 Speaker 1: old playing cards. In a photo of Malcolm McDowell leering, 413 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,240 Speaker 1: grinning in a bowler hat and eyeliner as a clockwork 414 00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:56,920 Speaker 1: oranges charismatic psychopath Alex Hyenas and handwritten dialogue. Bell could 415 00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:59,399 Speaker 1: go all in on a roll. He tanned himself like 416 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:03,200 Speaker 1: leathered of play Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. He survived 417 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:05,760 Speaker 1: on cigarettes, whiskey and black coffee to get into the 418 00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:08,679 Speaker 1: body of a strung out insomniac and the machinist one 419 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:11,520 Speaker 1: hundred and twenty pounds on his six foot frame. He 420 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:13,680 Speaker 1: put on one hundred pounds of muscle before we'd donned 421 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:19,439 Speaker 1: the batsuit. Like cgi, sculpted rubber pecks were for amateurs. Heath, 422 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,320 Speaker 1: on the other hand, locked himself away for a month 423 00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:25,560 Speaker 1: in a London hotel room, reading old Batman comics and 424 00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:29,240 Speaker 1: improvising leering grins and nails on a chalkboard voices until 425 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:33,359 Speaker 1: he got them right and that fucking voice. The month 426 00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:37,119 Speaker 1: of seclusion fucked with. Heath permanently messed up with Circadian 427 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:39,560 Speaker 1: rhythms until he was only sleeping two hours a night. 428 00:25:40,359 --> 00:25:43,840 Speaker 1: Christian Bale put all those lost pounds back on every 429 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:47,280 Speaker 1: ounce he starved off himself for one role, returned as 430 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:50,880 Speaker 1: muscle for this one. Heath Ledger. Didn't go into isolation 431 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:54,000 Speaker 1: to lose something. He went to find something, and he 432 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:57,800 Speaker 1: came back with that journal Bye bye, written ominously on 433 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:02,600 Speaker 1: the last page. Aware he was being watched, Heath looked up, 434 00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:06,760 Speaker 1: he smiled, his broad movie star smile framed by a 435 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:10,640 Speaker 1: horror show. A rictus of makeup and prosthetics. Heath helped 436 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:13,600 Speaker 1: design the look the scars. He's sure as shit didn't 437 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:16,120 Speaker 1: want to look like Caesar Romero, who wouldn't even shave 438 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:18,679 Speaker 1: his stash before they layered on the grease paint. And 439 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:21,520 Speaker 1: he didn't dare look like Jack Nicholson, who was already 440 00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:23,480 Speaker 1: complaining in the press that no one had even asked 441 00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:26,359 Speaker 1: him to reprise the role. And the scars were based 442 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:29,040 Speaker 1: on an old British mob movie called The Chelsea Grin. 443 00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:31,480 Speaker 1: He slid a guy's cheek from the corner of his 444 00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:34,760 Speaker 1: lips to the back of his molars. Shit, never heals right. 445 00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:40,560 Speaker 1: Ugly for life, Heath licked his lips. He did it 446 00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:43,720 Speaker 1: constantly to keep the prosthetic scars from coming on glued, 447 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:47,480 Speaker 1: the necessity becoming part of the performance. He gave Bail 448 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:50,280 Speaker 1: a cheery wave, twiddling his fingers in the air, and 449 00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:53,520 Speaker 1: went back to his journal and his smoke. And there 450 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,359 Speaker 1: are rumors Heath Ledgers stayed in character while shooting The 451 00:26:56,440 --> 00:27:00,000 Speaker 1: Dark Knight, that he was the joker all the time, 452 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,920 Speaker 1: that noise for Jared Leto. The truth was even scarier 453 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:08,040 Speaker 1: how easily Heath turned it on and off. Once the 454 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:11,720 Speaker 1: cameras rolled, he was no longer Heath Ledger. He became 455 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:15,840 Speaker 1: the joker. He spooked Maggie Gillenhall, who'd known him for years. 456 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:19,080 Speaker 1: He spooked Michael Kane, which is no easy feat. This 457 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 1: is a guy who lived through the Nazi bombing of London, 458 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:24,399 Speaker 1: who went drink for drink with Peter O'Toole, who co 459 00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:27,879 Speaker 1: starred with Lawrence Olivier and Sean Connery, and who defined 460 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:31,200 Speaker 1: badass British coal in the nineteen sixties as Harry Palmer, 461 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,119 Speaker 1: a spy who made James Bond look like a fucking 462 00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:37,439 Speaker 1: door to door salesman. Michael Kine stammered and botched his 463 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:40,000 Speaker 1: lines when he had to stare into Heath Ledger's leering 464 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:44,199 Speaker 1: lipstick smeared muck, and the second Nolan called cut, he 465 00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:49,439 Speaker 1: was Heath again, sweet, funny kind. But the thing that 466 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:52,879 Speaker 1: he created in that hotel room was still inside him, 467 00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:55,600 Speaker 1: ready to be let out when they called action. It 468 00:27:55,760 --> 00:28:13,600 Speaker 1: lived inside him now and it wouldn't let him sleeper. 469 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:30,560 Speaker 1: Heath Ledger wasn't sleeping. It was barely dawn. He decided 470 00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:32,960 Speaker 1: to go for a chess game in Washington Square Park 471 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:36,000 Speaker 1: in the rain. He was thinking about a break from 472 00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:39,320 Speaker 1: acting for the first time in forever. Heath felt like 473 00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:41,840 Speaker 1: he had time to play the long game, if you 474 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:44,880 Speaker 1: could just get some fucking sleep. It was two thousand 475 00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:48,000 Speaker 1: and eight. The players in the park respected heat game 476 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:50,880 Speaker 1: as much as they did his movies. He played speed 477 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:55,080 Speaker 1: chess against the early morning regulars, a stalemate, two losses. 478 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:58,880 Speaker 1: He couldn't see the whole board, its future, its possibilities. 479 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:03,440 Speaker 1: His brain felt reinslick and jagged. Heath shook hands and 480 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:07,080 Speaker 1: went home. But Heath wasn't going back to the storybook 481 00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:11,680 Speaker 1: apartment in Boreham, Hell. He and Michelle had split months earlier. 482 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:15,200 Speaker 1: In the silence about the reasons for the breakup, the 483 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:19,400 Speaker 1: tabloids assumed Heath was back on drugs. Cocaine tape from 484 00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:23,200 Speaker 1: the Chateau MArmand hadn't gone public, but its existence was 485 00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:27,000 Speaker 1: a shared secret among paparazzi, and they never bought Heath's 486 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:30,160 Speaker 1: hole mister Mom routine to begin with, and they knew 487 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:33,400 Speaker 1: the real Heath. He was living on Broome Street in Soho, 488 00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:36,840 Speaker 1: like what the Aussie flophouse in La years ago. His 489 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:40,640 Speaker 1: mates were once again welcome and made regular visits, some 490 00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:44,640 Speaker 1: longer term than others. Unable to keep Heath away from drugs, 491 00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:48,480 Speaker 1: they kept drugs away from Heath, chastising people who brought 492 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:51,960 Speaker 1: coke to parties. Put that shit away. Heath can't see that, 493 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,320 Speaker 1: and they comforted him about the split about being away 494 00:29:55,360 --> 00:29:58,120 Speaker 1: from his daughter and fatherhood was the only thing Heath 495 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:00,040 Speaker 1: knew he was good at without an audience to t 496 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,120 Speaker 1: tell him. So he missed his daughter like a limb, 497 00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:07,640 Speaker 1: and the housekeeper let herself into heath soho pad around 498 00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:11,520 Speaker 1: noon that day. She knew to always expect guests, aussy 499 00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:14,600 Speaker 1: boys passed out on the couch, a supermodel making herself 500 00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:17,800 Speaker 1: tea in the kitchen, But on this day, heath door 501 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:23,120 Speaker 1: was closed. Maybe he's getting some rest, she thought. At 502 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:26,520 Speaker 1: two thirty in the afternoon, He's massage therapist came by, 503 00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:30,080 Speaker 1: and neither the therapist nor the housekeeper wanted to wake him, 504 00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:34,320 Speaker 1: but Heath needed the massage treatments. Back pain was constant. 505 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:36,920 Speaker 1: A good massage many could skip some of the pills. 506 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:41,600 Speaker 1: When Heath didn't respond and they worried. It took both 507 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:43,720 Speaker 1: of them to force the door open and they found 508 00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:47,520 Speaker 1: him naked on the floor, unresponsive, and the housekeeper told 509 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:50,120 Speaker 1: the massage therapist to call an ambulance, but they both 510 00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:52,800 Speaker 1: knew the things the papers wrote about Heath. If there 511 00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:56,680 Speaker 1: weren't paparazzi outside the apartment already, sirens would drive them 512 00:30:56,680 --> 00:30:59,160 Speaker 1: like flies to shit, and Heath would wake up as 513 00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:02,720 Speaker 1: the punchline of a tabloid scandal. And to spare him embarrassment, 514 00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:06,120 Speaker 1: his massage therapist called the first number on his speed dial. 515 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:10,960 Speaker 1: She got Mary Kate Olsen in the spotlight. Since she 516 00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:14,160 Speaker 1: was nine months old, Mary Kate Olsen was one half 517 00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:18,080 Speaker 1: of America's most notorious set of child star twins. She 518 00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:21,480 Speaker 1: claimed she and Heath were just friends, although anyone who's 519 00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:23,520 Speaker 1: had to pick nine, ride or dies to put on 520 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:27,080 Speaker 1: speed dial might suspect it was more significant. She was 521 00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:30,080 Speaker 1: in la when she got the call from Heath's massage therapist, 522 00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:32,520 Speaker 1: but rather than say hang up the phone and call 523 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:35,200 Speaker 1: a fucking ambulance, she told him she would send her 524 00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:37,640 Speaker 1: security guy in New York. He'd be there in no 525 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:40,600 Speaker 1: time and get everything taken care of, and Mary Kate 526 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:45,400 Speaker 1: hung up. The massage therapist called back and stressed that 527 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:49,320 Speaker 1: Heath was unconscious. Mary Kate assured her the guy is 528 00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:52,200 Speaker 1: on his way. The massage therapist started to think they 529 00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:55,480 Speaker 1: were beyond damage control. Heath Ledger didn't seem to be breathing. 530 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:58,760 Speaker 1: The massage therapist looked at the naked body on the floor. 531 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,880 Speaker 1: She wasn't thinking about tabloid headlines. She was thinking what 532 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:04,000 Speaker 1: the cops would do if she let Heath Ledger die 533 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:06,720 Speaker 1: while she waited for Mary Kate Olson's guy to come over. 534 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:09,880 Speaker 1: As she finally called an ambulance and then called Mary 535 00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:12,560 Speaker 1: Kate back to let her know. And by the time 536 00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:15,800 Speaker 1: Mary Kate's guy got there, the paramedics had already called it. 537 00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:22,080 Speaker 1: Heath Ledger was dead. At twenty eight three hundred strangers 538 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:24,720 Speaker 1: stood on Broome Street, phones in the air as the 539 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:28,120 Speaker 1: body bag came out. Stories spun out in real time. 540 00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:32,520 Speaker 1: A suicide, an overdose. Darren Banks and Eric mong dug 541 00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:34,920 Speaker 1: up the video they'd taken at the Chateau MArmand and 542 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:37,400 Speaker 1: started shopping it to the highest bidder, and they got 543 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:40,240 Speaker 1: a million for it before Banks's axe Jane Doe, hit 544 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:43,880 Speaker 1: them with a lawsuit. Director Terry Gilliam saw the news 545 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,440 Speaker 1: on the BBC. He figured it was a delibered Hoak 546 00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:48,959 Speaker 1: stage by Warner Brothers in order to promote The Joker. 547 00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:52,280 Speaker 1: The studio had engaged in weird viral marketing for The 548 00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:56,200 Speaker 1: Dark Night since before Christmas. Christopher Nolan was still editing 549 00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,440 Speaker 1: the film, which earned Heath Ledger a posthumous oscar. A 550 00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:03,440 Speaker 1: year after his death at a restaurant in London. Somebody 551 00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:07,520 Speaker 1: told Jack Nicholson. I warned him, Jack said, he refused 552 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:12,840 Speaker 1: to elaborate. It took weeks, but the medical examiner labeled 553 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:17,760 Speaker 1: Heath Ledger's death an accidental overdose of prescription medication, classic 554 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:22,840 Speaker 1: death by misadventure, a cocktail of anti anxiety drugs, sleeping 555 00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:27,880 Speaker 1: pills and painkillers. Investigators tracked down heat stalktors and accounted 556 00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:30,640 Speaker 1: for most of the meds. But the oxy codone that 557 00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:33,960 Speaker 1: was in that cocktail of anti anxiety drugs shouldn't have 558 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:37,240 Speaker 1: been in the mix. Nobody should have ever prescribed Heath 559 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:40,480 Speaker 1: Ledger oxy codone, not with everything else he was taking 560 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:43,840 Speaker 1: just to keep a shit together. And the cops had questions, 561 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:46,960 Speaker 1: and so did the DEA. Where did the drugs come from? 562 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:49,440 Speaker 1: Given the party traffic in and out of his house, 563 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:52,320 Speaker 1: The suspect list would need to include most of Lower 564 00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:56,040 Speaker 1: Manhattan and Brooklyn. Why they wanted to know did Mary 565 00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:58,800 Speaker 1: kay Olsen's security guys show up on the scene at 566 00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:01,400 Speaker 1: the same time as the parents medics. Was he there 567 00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:03,640 Speaker 1: to help or was he there to clean up a mess? 568 00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:07,200 Speaker 1: They wanted to talk to the child star turned tabloid regular. 569 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:10,279 Speaker 1: Mary Kate's lawyers said she wasn't sitting down for a 570 00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:13,399 Speaker 1: chat without guaranteed immunity, and that shit might have sound 571 00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:16,280 Speaker 1: acute in her adorable full house days. But the DEA 572 00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:19,279 Speaker 1: wasn't charmed. They issued a subpoena that would force her 573 00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:21,719 Speaker 1: to testify in front of a grand jury where they 574 00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:25,200 Speaker 1: could ask her anything. Had she ever done illegal drugs? 575 00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:29,000 Speaker 1: Had she ever shared prescription medication with anyone? Mary Kate 576 00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:31,880 Speaker 1: was in the middle of a legal minefield. Asking for 577 00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:34,440 Speaker 1: immunity in advance was smart, even if it made her 578 00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:36,759 Speaker 1: look shady as fucked to folks who wanted someone to 579 00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:40,759 Speaker 1: blame for Heath's death. In the end, the US Attorney's 580 00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:43,520 Speaker 1: Office deemed there was no viable target, which is not 581 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:50,640 Speaker 1: the same as saying no one was guilty. A year 582 00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:54,360 Speaker 1: after his death, Keith's parents and his sister walked onto 583 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:57,160 Speaker 1: the stage of the Kodak Theater in Hollywood to accept 584 00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:00,680 Speaker 1: the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. On He Behalf 585 00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:04,800 Speaker 1: behind Them, an image of Heath Is the Joker stared 586 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:08,600 Speaker 1: out at the audience twenty feet high. The sloppy black 587 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:11,520 Speaker 1: paint around his eyes bleeding into the white paint on 588 00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:16,840 Speaker 1: his face, his lips, blood red, scraggly swamp green hair, 589 00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:21,840 Speaker 1: and that smile, the smile he'd created in a hotel room, 590 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:25,480 Speaker 1: the smile that lived inside him and never let him 591 00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:33,920 Speaker 1: sleep again. Truly a disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan, and this 592 00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:52,000 Speaker 1: is Disgraceland. Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is 593 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:55,680 Speaker 1: produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode 594 00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:58,480 Speaker 1: can be found on the show notes page at disgracelambpod 595 00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:02,360 Speaker 1: dot com. If you're listening is a Disgraceland All Access member, 596 00:36:02,560 --> 00:36:05,080 Speaker 1: thank you for supporting the show. We really appreciate it, 597 00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:07,640 Speaker 1: and if not, you can become a member right now 598 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:12,200 Speaker 1: by going to disgracelampod dot com slash Membership members can 599 00:36:12,239 --> 00:36:16,120 Speaker 1: listen to every episode of disgracelan ad free, plus you'll 600 00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:20,440 Speaker 1: get one brand new exclusive episode every month weekly unscripted 601 00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:24,440 Speaker 1: bonus episodes, special audio collections, and early access to merchandise 602 00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:29,440 Speaker 1: and events. Visit disgracelampod dot com slash membership for details, 603 00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:32,720 Speaker 1: Rate and review the show, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, 604 00:36:32,719 --> 00:36:36,680 Speaker 1: and Facebook at disgracelampod and on YouTube at YouTube dot 605 00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:44,320 Speaker 1: com slash at disgracelampod. Rock a Roller, He's a bad Mann.