After more than ten years, director Stephen Gaghan remembers Heath Ledger’s passing.

The Dark Knight is an actor who continues to be a legendary antagonist in movie history. In Christopher Nolan’s film The Dark Knight, Ledger is well-known for portraying the Joker.

Regretfully, he overdosed on drugs and died a few months before the movie was released. Dolittle creator Stephen Gaghan revealed fresh information about Ledger’s death after more than ten years.

Heath Ledger is also known for his roles in 10 Things I Hate About You and Brokeback Mountain. After taking a fatal amount of prescription drugs, including OxyContin, Vicodin, Valium, Xanax, Unisom, and Restoril, he passed away in January 2008. His death was discovered by a housekeeper.

It was said that Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking was discovered on Heath’s nightstand. Gaghan and Ledger were working on a movie based on the novel. As a result, the Oscar winner’s script draft for the movie was on the bed next to him.

A call from Heath Ledger’s father

Revisionist History, a podcast hosted by author Malcolm Gladwell, debuted a short series titled “Development Hell.” In the episode, Stephen Gaghan talked about the day that Heath Ledger died and how, after getting to know Heath well, he decided not to continue with the Blink movie because of their genuine bond.

Stephen Gaghan revealed that he got a call from Heath Ledger’s father, Kim when he arrived inside the Manhattan apartment after being informed of the actor’s death.

Gaghan recalled, “They were there with the body, and our script was in bed with him, and your book was on the bedside table. I think my number was written on the script. These guys, as you can imagine, are in shock, and they dialled that number, and I don’t know why.”

“I was just there”

Gaghan continued, saying that when he received the call, he and his wife were travelling to the airport.

He revealed, “I just collapsed; it has never happened to me before or since. My feet went out from under me. I just literally sat down because I was like, what? The emotion, what they were going through, I should not have been a party to in any way really, and yet as a human or as somebody who just cares, I just was there, and I was listening, and my wife was looking at me.”

Stephen continued to say that he remembered the face of her wife. He was speechless. He just listened. It was said and still is to him.