Heath Ledger's Sisters Weigh In On Rumors About THE DARK KNIGHT Contributing To His Death
Heath Ledger fully embraced the role of The Joker in The Dark Knight and reports of that being linked to his demise have been doing the rounds for years. Now, his sisters weigh in on those claims...
Heath Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for his performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight, but it's been widely reported and theorised that the way he threw himself into the role may have been a contributing factor in his death. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly to promote upcoming documentary, I Am Heath Ledger, his sisters Kate Ledger and Ashleigh Bell hit back at those claims.
Making it clear that playing The Joker didn't take a massive toll on him which led to a drug overdose, Kate said her brother "wasn't depressed about the Joker." In fact, she went so far as to say "it was the absolute opposite," adding that he "had an amazing sense of humour, and I guess maybe only his close family and friends really knew that, but he was having fun." It sounds like this documentary will clear the air about the actor's demise then and it will likely address The Dark Knight in a big way.
Still, we do know that Ledger went to some unusual lengths to get into character for the movie, so it will be interesting to see just how much I Am Heath Ledger ends up delving into that. The documentary will air on Spike TV on May 17th and is then set to be released on DVD and Blu-ray on May 23rd.