heath ledger (51 posts)

Albert L. Ortega/WireImage.com, Jim Spellman/WireImage.com

Maybe Michael Lohan should have been held more as a child. But whatever the reason behind his, um, unique brand of parenting, Daddy Dearest is at again, releasing the latest selection from his greatest-hits collection of phone tapes—and it's a doozy.

Today's leaked recording (with his side of the conversation is carefully edited out) features ex-wife Dina Lohan revealing that Lindsay Lohan was involved with Heath Ledger at the time of his drug-fueled death, and concerns their daughter might befall a similar fate.

"Right now by starting to drink vodka and s--t again, it's not the right direction," Dina says in the tapes obtained by Radar Online. "Because when she's drunk or takes an Adderall with it, she will do something like Heath Ledger did in a second without thinking.

"And she was dating Heath when he died. I don't know if you know that, but I know cause I would drop her off and they were friends. Very, very close, OK?"

Well, if anyone can speak on the validity of a secret relationship, it's a glorified taxi driver.

"So that f--ked her up. And right after that is when Samantha [Ronson] was around."

And make no mistake, Dina doesn't hold back on Lindsay's on-off paramour, either, saying the Ronson family "had some f--ked up s--t, too."

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Michael Jackson's not the only fallen star with a posthumous project out this week. (Just the only one competing against unrealistically high expectations.)

Just a few months after Modest Mouse released Heath Ledger's music video directorial debut, his directorial finale made its way online this week, courtesy of London rapper and Ledger childhood friend No Fixed Abode.

According to the rapper, the Oscar winner filmed the three-and-a-half minute opus in his garage in Sydney in the months before his death in January 2008. The video, which features some slightly Joker-esque makeup, was also included in a tribute to Ledger shown during the Rome Film Festival earlier this month.

"The idea was to keep it very artistic which is what we did," the rapper, who also goes by N'fa, said. "Heath directed really well…and I know that Heath was happy with the work.

"Everyday I count my blessings that I got to have him direct this piece of art. It was a song I was proud to have written but I never expected to have such an immense video made for it. I'd known Heath since we were very young and he was always a creative kind of guy and, in many ways, ahead of the curve. When he had the idea about doing this video I had no question about it.

"Thank you very much Heath for all your help, I wish you were here."

Meanwhile, Ledger's final film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, will open in limited release on Dec. 25.

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Heath Ledger as the Joker is an undeniably classic performance. And a tragic one.

The Dark Knight landed in theaters only months after the actor's death by accidental overdose and, thus, his role in the film became iconic in more ways than one.

But that wasn't his final gig.

Ledger died halfway through shooting his role in the whimsical Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, directed by Terry Gilliam. Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell stepped in to make sure his final work could be completed.

The movie hits theaters on Oct. 16.

Still, we can't help but feel a bit conflicted. We could name 10 things or more that we love about Ledger's role in the Batman movie. What if the memory doesn't hold up in this one?

________

Did you see the music video Heath directed for Modest Mouse? It's right here.

Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images

Heath Ledger's work is still living on. And rocking out.

The long-teased, Ledger-directed music video for Modest Mouse's "King Rat" was finally released online, more than two years after word broke that the collaboration made in indie heaven was in the works, and 19 months after the star passed away.

"This began with our friend, a great defender of life, and was completed in his spirit," the dedication at the video's end reads.

Clearly borrowing a page from his filmmaking friend Terry Gilliam, Ledger conceived the clip "down to the last detail" back in 2007, but the video was left unfinished when he died in January 2008.

Enter The Masses, a film and video company in which the late actor was a partner. With Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock's blessing, the company carried out Ledger's vision.

And what a vision it was: The animated video role-reverses the illegal commercial whale hunts which take place off the coast of Australia. Fittingly, all proceeds made during the video's first month of release will benefit the whale-preserving Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

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Cannes

Heath Ledger's final performance has screened for the first time at the Cannes Film Festival, and the filmmakers aren't shying away from calling out the importance of the project.

Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, screening out of competition at the fest, even ended with an on-screen dedication: "A film from Heath Ledger and friends."

Ledger, who died in January 2008, plays a snake-oil salesman type who is found hanging from a London bridge by two members of a traveling theater troupe. The group introduces Ledger to a magic portal that allows him to travel to different fantastical worlds that exist within people's imaginations.

"There was irony throughout this film and there was even more irony post Heath's death," Gilliam told reporters. "I hope he would be pleased with it. I think he would be."

Film critics may be another story...

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Peter Sorel / Summit Entertainment; Warner Bros. Entertainment

Gone is the Superbad funny business of yesteryear. Teenage romance and men in masks are what the 2009 MTV Movie Award are all about.

That swoony, mushy love stuff—we're lookin' at you, Twilight, High School Musical 3: Senior Year and Slumdog Millionaire—and the studly superheroes—Iron Man, The Dark Knight—square off in the Best Movie category…and just about every other competition as well.

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Danny Martindale/Getty Images

•  Bi-golly, that Pink sexuality story was, as she calls it "So 1991" and "100% FABRICATION." "Cant WAIT for the day when people stop talking about sexual preference or that a woman is a CEO and actually start making the world LIVEABLE," she Twitters. (We Twitter too! Follow us @eonline!)

•  Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck keep their marriage in their pockets.

•  Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady may be the most gorgeous party guests, but, apparently, they're not the most gracious.

•  Helena Christensen is actually refuting a rumor that makes her look good! OK, so being the potential Sean Penn homewrecker is less than ideal, but having hooked up with Josh Hartnett and Heath Ledger? Why would you deny that?!

•  Lindsay Lohan takes a tumble...and a fashion fumble.

•  Dear Andy Roddick: Being a newlywed has suddenly made you pretty funny. Who can blame that poor sushi chef? You kinda do look like a cross between Seann William Scott and that tennis dude. Love, Rise 'n' Shine

Why, Victoria Beckham, it was so sweet of you to bring the limo around to Big Pic!

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INFdaily.com

Matilda Ledger already has an Oscar coming her way. Now she's got something even better—privacy.

A Los Angeles judge has agreed to keep sealed details of the settlement the 3-year-old's trust made last month with the life insurance company that finally paid out its policy on Heath Ledger.

"She is not a celebrity," Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Luis A. Lavin said of Ledger's daughter with Michelle Williams. "She is a minor child."

Lavin agreed to lawyers' requests that details of the settlement remain confidential, adding that Matilda had "a right to privacy."

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Danny Nicoletta, DreamWorks Pictures, Stephen Vaughan/Warner Bros. Entertainment

Best Supporting Actor is easily the most interesting race at the Oscars, right? You've got the deceased Heath Ledger way out in front for playing a twisted comic-book supervillain; and then Josh Brolin as a homicidal maybe-gay bigot; Robert Downey Jr. as a white guy playing a black guy; Philip Seymour Hoffman being great again; and that creepy Michael Shannon from Revolutionary Road.

So who gets it? Shouldn't they all? We'll find out Sunday. But for now, you make the call, then check out our interactive prediction poll to make other picks and print a handy scorecard.

Take the entire E! Online Oscar Prediction Poll!

Kristian Dowling/Getty Images; Warner Bros. Pictures

Holy bad news, Batfans. Looks like a Dark Knight sequel is at least two years away.

Director Christopher Nolan has inked a deal with Warner Bros. to helm Inception, based on his own screenplay. The sci-fi action film "set within the architecture of the mind" aims to begin shooting this summer and hit theaters in summer 2010, according to studio.

In case anyone's forgotten, Knight was a box-office monster, scoring the second-highest gross of all time. Additionally, deceased star Heath Ledger has scored a Best Supporting Actor prize in nearly every award show this season, with only the Oscars to go.

Batman lovers should be used to exercising patience though. Three years passed between the first Christian Bale-fronted venture, 2005's Batman Begins, and last year's The Dark Knight. During that span Nolan released the fantasy thriller The Prestige, starring Bale and Hugh Jackman as rival magicians.

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If there was ever anyone not in need of a home court advantage, it was Kate Winslet heading into tonight's Orange British Academy Film Awards.

Well, her and anyone who had anything to do with Slumdog Millionaire.

Like the SAGs and Golden Globes before them, the BAFTAs did their part to keep putting the "win" in Winslet, naming The Reader star the year's Leading Actress over, among other notable contenders, herself.

Winslet was nominated twice in the category, for both The Reader and Revolutionary Road, all but guaranteeing Angelina Jolie (who turned up with fellow ultimately snubbed nominee Brad Pitt), Kristin Scott Thomas and Meryl Streep yet another night in which to practice their "it's an honor just to be nominated" faces.

The cast of Slumdog Millionaire, meanwhile, practiced no such fixed smiles: The film continued its awards show dominance, racking up seven awards, including two one of the most coveted of the night, Best Film.

And the movie that actually managed to upset the juggernaut for the night's other main award...

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