criterionforum.org

I'm in complete denial. I had just rewatched Brokeback to even greater personal and private impact this last Sunday and now this...

This news just doesn't sound real.

Dreadful news. Very difficult to take in.

He leaves behind a young family and my heart goes out to them.

If Ledger's passing couldn't get any more surprising and bizarre, I read this in the The Age online this morning:

It also emerged yesterday that Ledger had recently shot and edited a music video for a decades-old song by Nick Drake, the English singer-songwriter who died in 1974 at 26.

The video, never seen in public, was reported by MTV to be a stark black-and-white composition, consisting mainly of the director turning the camera on himself.

At the end of the video, Ledger drowns himself in a bathtub. The song Black Eyed Dog was the last recording Drake made before overdosing on pills.

Very tragic. Ironic because earlier yesterday I read an article in Orlando Sentinel saying how various newspapers throughout the country have already composed the obituary for Britney Spears - just to be more prepared if Britney should die esp. with all the stormy mess she's been in for a while. With Ledgers, it was totally unexpected - with his very promising career. He was a talented actor who never failed to leave a magnificent impression every time he made a film. A wonderful young man who refused to let challenges intimidate him. He was so fresh that the loss is really unbearable.

colinr0380 wrote:BBC

tavernier wrote:Priorities from a poster on the NY Times site:

I hope he was able to finish the The Dark Knight movie.

— Posted by L.Wolf

While it is wrong to focus completely on such things has this scuppered another Terry Gilliam film?

Yeah, I was thinking about that as well. I know they started shooting the Gilliam film in mid-December but supposedly there was more filming to go this month at some point. Damn.

I recall that the first film I saw with Ledger in it was 10 Things I Hate About You and remarking how good he was in a fluffy kind of film. I sorta feel like I've been watching him as his career's developed over the years. He's certainly had his share of interesting roles and worked with some great directors. What a damn shame.

Autopsy results are inconclusive, just flashed across my TV screen, so I guess it'll take a few more days, a week, whatever until we find out.

Fletch F. Fletch wrote:

colinr0380 wrote:BBC

tavernier wrote:Priorities from a poster on the NY Times site:

While it is wrong to focus completely on such things has this scuppered another Terry Gilliam film?

Yeah, I was thinking about that as well. I know they started shooting the Gilliam film in mid-December but supposedly there was more filming to go this month at some point. Damn.

Word is they have only half a film without Ledger.

That's right. I rang a friend of mine who's working on it. who said that, although London is wrapped, from a production point of view without Ledger they do not have a film .

I suppose creatively they could get out of it a number of ways.
The character could get hideously disfigured and have to wear a mask or morph into Christian Bale.... whatever.

Hell for my money they could get Tom Waits to sit down at the piano and crank out a few numbers for half an hour or so.

Macintosh wrote:OH HELL NO!

As tasteless as this Best Buy.

They could do a "Lost Highway" and replace Heath with Balthazar Getty (if he's still alive).

dx23 wrote:As tasteless as this Best Buy.

The first thing about this tragedy that's made me laugh, what an amazing promotion

dx23 wrote:

Macintosh wrote:OH HELL NO!

As tasteless as this Best Buy.

Sadly, this is just smart business. Just take a look at the Amazon bestsellers for today and a Knights Tale and 10 Things I Hate About You are in the top 25.

When celebs die, for many people, their first impulse is to buy something.

A.O. Scott appreciation.

Antoine Doinel wrote:When celebs die, for many people, their first impulse is to buy something.

Couldn't they at least have bought The Four Feathers though?

GreenCine Daily has got a nice collection of links to articles, interviews, appreciations, etc.

Antoine Doinel wrote:When celebs die, for many people, their first impulse is to buy something.

Well Elvis proved that death is a great career move.

Antoine Doinel wrote:

dx23 wrote:

Macintosh wrote:OH HELL NO!

As tasteless as this Best Buy.

Sadly, this is just smart business. Just take a look at the Amazon bestsellers for today and a Knights Tale and 10 Things I Hate About You are in the top 25.

When celebs die, for many people, their first impulse is to buy something.

Still, tasteless. When WWE wrestler Chris Benoit killed his family and the himself, Amazon.com had a sign at the top of the page everytime you were searching for a wrestling DVD saying "Chris Benoit has died. Click this link to see whcih DVDs he was featured in" or something like that. It may have produce some kind of money, but it was tasteless nonetheless.

Antoine Doinel wrote:

dx23 wrote:

Macintosh wrote:OH HELL NO!

As tasteless as this Best Buy.

Sadly, this is just smart business. Just take a look at the Amazon bestsellers for today and a Knights Tale and 10 Things I Hate About You are in the top 25.

When celebs die, for many people, their first impulse is to buy something.

Yeah, I just bought the Brokeback 2-disc, like when Bergman and Antonioni died I splurged on their films.
That ad reminds me of his fantastic performance in 'Lords of Dogtown', while not a great film by any means that was when I first thought to myself 'Hey, he's pretty good.'

Antoine Doinel wrote:When celebs die, for many people, their first impulse is to buy something.

I eBayed a sextet of crappy French Russ Meyer DVDs on the day that he died, and sold them for a ridiculous amount considering they were still available from amazon.fr for about a third of what this guy ended up paying.

He must have been particularly gutted when vastly superior editions were released in Britain only a few months later, but that wasn't my problem! (My conscience is entirely clear as I set the starting price at 99p, as ever)

dx23, I don't think it's tasteless to want to celebrate the man's career as a way of mourning his death. I know you're saying that it's tasteless for the retailer but if people want to buy it and the consumer's intentions are positive, why complain?

Domino is right. I used to work as a buyer for an e-retailer and let me tell you, when Ray Charles, Richard Pryor and Johnny Cash died, we couldn't get our hands on anything they recorded or were in fast enough. The demand was insane.

And that was without posting any tribute pages or the like.

domino harvey wrote:dx23, I don't think it's tasteless to want to celebrate the man's career as a way of mourning his death. I know you're saying that it's tasteless for the retailer but if people want to buy it and the consumer's intentions are positive, why complain?

The coverage of Bergman's death reminded me:

(a) of the existence of Tartan's 30-DVD blowout edition;
(b) that it was a limited edition that had been out for some time.

And for some reason, the price on Amazon plunged a couple of days after his death to less than half the RRP, so I needed no second bidding.

the Olsen Connection explained

If you still find yourself grieving, may I suggest eBay