New details surrounding Heath Ledger’s death have emerged after Hollywood director Stephen Gaghan revealed the details of a phone call he had with him after the fact.
Ledger’s body was discovered by his housekeeper on January 22, 2008. The “10 Things I Hate About You” star’s death was ruled accidental and caused by a cocktail of prescription drugs including OxyContin, Vicodin, Valium, Xanax, Unisom, and Restoril.
At the time of Ledger’s death, Gagan was working with the 28-year-old Ledger on an adaptation of Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.
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Director Stephen Gaghan revealed that he received a call from Heath Ledger’s father after his body was discovered. (Getty Images)
Gaghan recalled the phone call he received from Ledger’s father after arriving at the scene.
“They were there with the body, our script was in the bed with him, your book was on the bedside table,” he told Gladwell’s “Historical Revisionism” podcast series “Development “Hell” he said. “I think my phone number was scripted. As you can imagine, they were shocked and dialed the number, but I don’t know why.”
“I’m at the airport with my wife. [Minnie Mortimer] “Never before or since have I literally fallen down just by going from one place to another,” the coach added. I literally sat down because I was like, “What?” Their emotions, what they were going through, I should never have been a party to it, but as a human being or someone who just cares, I was just there listening and my wife was looking at me She remembers her face, but I was speechless. I just listened and listened and listened. It was really, really sad. And it’s still sad. In my case, all I had to do was insert the pin. ”
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Heath Ledger was found unresponsive by his housekeeper on January 22, 2008. (Getty Images)
Gladwell’s podcast series revisits projects that never materialized, including an adaptation of “Blink.” The film arrived at the studio in his 2005 year, as Leonardo DiCaprio also joined the project. However, it never got off the ground.
“We pick a studio, we get together with our agents, we pick a winner, and the check gets cashed,” Gladwell said. “A great producer is assigned to our case and off we go. But that never happens. A year goes by, two years go by, three years go by, and this… , which is why we’re doing a whole series called “Development Hell.” The script never happens. This is always the most devastating part of the story, the plot twist that happens off the page. ”
Heath Ledger died of an accidental overdose. (Getty Images)
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Eventually, “Blink” landed at Universal Studios, where Gaghan spent more time developing the script. After refining DiCaprio’s character, the director realized that he had written the role for leisure.
“I became very, very close to him right away,” Gaghan recalled. “I had a real connection with him, which was kind of unusual for me and really special. I was really excited and started to see him as a main character. Once I realized that Once I started seeing it, I couldn’t ignore it, and obviously it was.”
Gaghan abandoned the revived project after Ledger’s death.
Heath Ledger was 28 years old when he died. (Getty Images)
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