A Hollywood director has shared the emotional phone call he received from Heath Ledger’s father at the scene of the actor’s tragic passing.
Stephen Gaghan, 58, discussed the heart-wrenching moment during the latest episode of author Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast Revisionist History. Gaghan revealed that Ledger’s father, Kim, and a close friend of the actor reached out to him after finding Ledger deceased in his New York apartment in January 2008.
At the time, Gaghan and Ledger were collaborating on a film adaptation of Gladwell’s book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, and the script for the movie was discovered beside Ledger.
Recalling the distressing call, Gaghan explained, “I got a phone call, they were on speakerphone, and it was Heath Ledger’s father, who I’d never met… and a guy who was really close to him. They were there with the body, and our script was in bed with him, and your book was on the bedside table.” He added, “I think my number was on the script — like written. These guys are in, as you can imagine, they are in shock. And they dialed that number, and I don’t know why.”
Gaghan, known for directing films like Syriana and Dolittle, described his profound reaction to the news, which he received while at an airport with his wife, Minnie Mortimer. “I literally just collapse. It’s never happened to me before or since,” he said. “My feet went out from under me. I just literally sat down because I was like, ‘What? 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 and somebody who just cares, I just was there and I was listening.”
Reflecting on Ledger’s untimely death at the age of 28 due to an accidental drug overdose, Gaghan shared that the shock of the loss led to the shelving of their planned film project, which was initially set to star Leonardo DiCaprio.
Despite the devastating circumstances, Gaghan expressed admiration for the script they had worked on together, suggesting a potential revival of the project. He admitted, “I got it out right before we got on. I was reading it… I was like, ‘I could be crazy, but I think this script is really good.”
In a separate interview in 2016, Ledger’s father, Kim, recounted the final conversation Heath had with his sister Kate before his passing, emphasizing the dangers of mixing medications, which ultimately led to the tragedy.