Noo The Joker is dead =(

I just heard, and was just about to post.

And he was one of the modern generation of actors I actually liked... ability and range as well as nice to look at.

I want to find out what the results of the post mortem'll be - as far as I know, he was no Brad Renfro - he was supposed to be clean now...

It's supposed to looks like an accidental overdose rather than suicide, according to the police (but that may just be through lack of any evidence) - but still so tragic that he couldn't see far enough outside of his depression when he had so much going for him in his life right now...

Already? The Dark Knight hasn't even hit yet!

Jeez...

How will this affect the movie? If the Joker dies in it people might see it as bad taste towards the man. If the Joker lives and sets up possible cameos in future movies, that would either never be used, done with not as fluid offscreen cues to his still existance, or get a different guy to play the famous clown, which can be a bad thing for continuity as people in a series don't like replacements or retcons.

If people say he is a horrible Joker they will be looked down upon for hating a dead man's pretty much last performance. Or will people thinking about his death overlook any possible faults in his performance to the point of blindness?

Then again, he could do a great job regardless.

Man, I just found out about this on Fox, and I was completely shocked! I've never saw any of his movies but of course, I've heard of him,and he looks like an awesome Joker, too. God bless his family and friends like Shadic said, and I hope that he'll be able to rest in peace.

Jeez. I just saw this on the news. =( Only 28 and gone to that brokeback mountain in the sky. Think there'll be a little "In Memory of" message in the credits of TDK?

Aww man, he's too young to be dead. My condolences go out to his family.

RIP.

I heard this yesterday. It really, really sucks--he was a phenomenal actor, and, from what I can gather, a really good person. It's a shame he had to go at this young age and at the highlight of his career.

I hope that The Dark Knight is still released. He looked like an awesome Joker--probably the best since Jack Nicholson so many years ago.

It's really sad, and I think plying the Joker killed him. He said in interviews that playing him was a scary experience and it caused him to lose sleep - which was why he was taking the pills to begin with.

It's extremely unfortunate that he died....and horribly ironic that the Joker really killed someone (albeit, not literally).

Does anyone see a resemblance between Heath Ledger and Brandon Lee? Both died at 28, both made a movie where they play a sadistic clown....
... and apart from that - a lot of young celebrities seem to die at that age (Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janix Joplin...).

Is it already out yet what he died of? Last I've heard everything had been pointing to a sleeping pill overdose and people hadn't been sure if it was an accident or not.

Anyone who's interested in reasons is waiting for the toxicology report.

No reports yet, I guess.

Nothing apart from unofficial rumours.

I was just browsing around on the net for some news and found this:
Anti-Gay Church to Protest Ledger Funeral
www.abcnews.go.com/Entert...&page=1%22

Honestly!! How can these people even dare to call themselves Christians?!! It was only a part in a movie he played!
*shakes head and then runs against a wall because she can't take the stupidity of it all*

I found that the day after he died, and've been keeping an eye on the story since.

The plan to take him home and bury him in Perth may scupper WBC's little plans. Australian immigration control apparently has a clause attached that you're not going to do anything to defame, denigrate or generally lower the tone of Australia or any individual Australian citizen - so unless they've already got people over there, they may well get turned back at the border if they try to follow.

The main discussion point I've heard from several Americans is how to change their own immigration rules whilst any WBC people're out of the country and prevent the swines from getting back in, too.

I know that it doesn't always get a mention when the Westboro Baptist Church picket the funerals of thousands of men who died for their country doing things that these bigoted cowards wouldn't dream of, and celebrity status and publicity don't change the fact that Heath Ledger was just another human.

But this still boggles my mind in not very pleasant ways, and makes me feel very sorry for those millions of Christians whose religion has to be lumped in with them, as well as the families of anyone harassed by them.

There're some offshoots of Christianity that only make me more convinced of Sartre's old adage that "Hell is other people".

Thank goodness there are certain regulations in Australia.

And it would be really funny, if they got stuck between the two countries (even though it's not very likely to happen).

Oh, and I suppose it was people like this and probably also the war that made Sartre the existentialist he was and renounce God and Christianity as a whole. I don't blame him.

The verdict.

@Diana: It's Westboro and Fred PHELPS. Nuff' said.