As MTV reports, awards bodies, such as the Independent Spirit Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards, are busy trying to find the most suitable way to pay tribute. 'Also planning to acknowledge Ledger is the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Awards, a show that honors individuals and projects for their positive representations of the gay community. Along with co-star Jake Gyllenhaal, Ledger was lauded for his portrayal of a homosexual ranch hand in Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain." "GLAAD intends on acknowledging Heath Ledger's death at the 19th annual GLAAD Media Awards," publicist Nick Adams told MTV News. "We are still in the early stage of production, and do not know at this time what form that will take." Representatives for the Academy Awards could not be reached by press time.'
The Australian Foreign Minister has announced that, following a private service that was held yesterday (Friday) in New York, there will be a public memorial service for Heath next week in Los Angeles. The funeral in Australia will be strictly private, as all would wish.
A huge thanks to Get Real and Sass who were able to leave tributes to Heath in all our names.
Jake's Karaoke
I know I found some comfort last night laughing with and at Jake as he mimed and jigged his way through sections of Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive for Ellen's 50th Birthday show. Judging by the outfit, this mut have been recorded when he was on Ellen's show back in October. Who some of the other stars were, I have no idea, but it was also good to see king of cool Jamie Foxx. I just about recognised Victoria Beckham. Thanks as ever to Stephanie at IHJ for getting this up so quickly for all of us to see.
Pictures from IHJ and Getty.
So heartwarming to see Heath's memory being honoured, although I wish so much it wasn't necessary:(
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Ellen link. I just don't feel up to watching it atm. I still love Jake as much as ever, and I will definitely watch it eventually, and I know I'll love it, but right now, it's all about Heath for me.
Can I just ask, would it be at all possible, Sass and Get Real, to see some pictures of the tributes you so kindly laid for Heath, if you have any? I've been looking at the pics posted over on EJ by the forum members who placed tributes from there yesterday (including, I'm proud and priveleged to say, a few words of my own) and it would be lovely to see some pics from both your tributes too. Thank youxx
TL, sorry I did not take any pictures when I went.
ReplyDeleteIt will be something to see all the tributes on the awards shows. I just can't believe Heath is part of those tributes...
Morning comments, continued. WDW I love you so much for what you have done and continue to do for us! It is aMAzing - that for me, you have just the right touch, giving us all room to grieve in our own way, and as always sorta having the right touch.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it is the job of survivors to - when we are ready - survive! -
the Ellen video is, for me, perfect.
Heath's death will affect the entire award season, for sure: and cinema history. Feels quite strange that he is gone. For me, it's important to separate Heath the man from the roles he has played. I love Ennis of the film as much as I love Ennis of Annie P's story. I found his performance in Candy gut wrenching and stunning. Heath the man I do not know (obviously I am riffing off Daniel Day Lewis) athough I admire him very much from interviews I have read and seen: I think I would love him very much if I did know him.
Dear WDW...thanks for continuing to post such informative pieces about this tragedy..they are a comfort to me. I too am curious as to how Hollywood will treat Heath's sudden death. I know when the oscars air...his face will most probably appear during the segment of those stars who have passed..but it will be so freakin' hard to watch...I wonder what scene they will pick...sigh..I have to stop...too depressing..sorry..
ReplyDeleteAs for Jakey in the "I Will Survive " karaoke...that brightened my spirits a bit...
Hugs..Michele
Hi everyone, I'm at Ruby's now, perfect.
ReplyDeleteTL, I think you will find comfort from the Ellen show clip but when you're ready. It really did me good that's for sure. That's wonderful about the EJ pictures.
Thanks Pia, it's not easy I must say trying to pitch things for everyone, I can only pitch them for me and hope that's OK for some. I most certainly agree about the importance of separating Heath from his roles - I saw INT such a short time ago and it's still in my head. I also saw Knight's Tale such a short time ago. All of these elements of Heath the actor I will miss.
Hi Michele, it will be hard to see that at the Oscars that's for sure, but it will be good to see something there. I'm glad the posts here are helping.
Hi Get Real, hope you're OK.
The other stars in that vid with Jake were Jamie Foxx, Victoria Beckham, Paris Hilton, Heidi Klum, Celene Dion, Queen Latifah and David Spade and there was one guy I didn't know.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if Heath's body will be in LA or they are flying it back to Australia and there will just be a memorial service.
Thank you for posting more info about Heath. I hope that Jake is okay and that the press and paps leave him alone to grieve the loss of his friend
Trekfan
Hi Trekfan - thanks for that list, I had no idea about a couple of them. I don't know that about the memorial service either. I hope you're OK.
ReplyDeleteRuby and Anouska say hello to you all and we all send you our love xx
Hi WDW,Ruby and Anouska, it must be so wonderful to be actually together in the same room with friends who really "get" how we feel right now,but as we can't all be together,thank God for this place!
ReplyDeleteThe Awards Season - oh Lord,is it really two years since that glorious Bafta night when Jake won and Heath was just so proud and pleased for him he looked about to burst! I've always found that Bafta ceremony litany of stars who've passed on in the previous twelve months really hard to watch - that Heath will be one of those pictured and paid tribute to this year is bloody unbearable!
And we were all so disappointed that Heath didn't get a matching Bafta Mask and utterly outraged that both boys AND the film missed out at the Oscars. The Academy just better have a lavish and fitting tribute planned for him,they owe him that and more. I know a posthumous tribute is far too late,but at least it might be a suitable memorial from the industry and of some comfort to Heath's family and friends.
I'm so glad,TL, that you got real comfort from watching "Brokeback" again,at least as far as the Motel scene. If I can lock myself away from the world on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, I'm going to try to watch it because I feel that I need to,although just your mention ,TL, of the opening scenes,picturing the truck zig-zagging throught the morning mist,hearing those first plaintive guitar notes in my head,my eyes are brimming already. Ah well,so what if bawl like a baby, having to keep putting on a brave face when I'm not splashing tears on my computer keyboard here, I think a damn good sob might be some kind of catharsis.
I wanted to try to end this post on an up note, because I don't want to drag anyone else down into the slump in which I find myself. Sorry. no can do. I think seeing that desolate plain box containing such a precious cargo was too poignant for words.
Oh and (((Jake))), still praying for you li'l darlin'.
Love to ((everybody)), Nadine xx
I think that I will be trying to watch BBM in the next few days. I couldn't think of a better tribute. It will be extremely hard and I might have to turn it off and walk away for a while but I think that it is something I must do.
ReplyDeleteHi WDW, Ruby and Anouska.... Academy Awards always shows a short film to pay tribute to all the actors/directors/writers/cinematographer who passed away in the last year... i don't know how I would react to see Heath there... when he should be in the audience... but I suppose life is not fair.
ReplyDeleteit's good to hear that the funeral will be a strictly private affair. i hope people will continue to let them grieve in private and peace, including Jake.
have a nice evening and see you tommorrw.
Hi Bird Girl - I found watching BBM a really wonderful experience, it hurt in places but I'm glad I watched it. I wish you good luck with it.
ReplyDeleteHey Winterbird - we're looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. I do think that everyone should be left alone in privacy to deal with this.
Gotta get back to watching Highway!
Blogger Wet Dark and Wild said...
ReplyDeleteHi Trekfan - thanks for that list, I had no idea about a couple of them. I don't know that about the memorial service either. I hope you're OK.
Ruby and Anouska say hello to you all and we all send you our love xx
hello guys. Thank you WDW, Ruby and Anouska for your support. It is getting a little better but my heart is still heavy. I think I might watch the oprah interview Heath and Jake did. I think they were both so cute in it
Trekfan
Hey Nadine - thanks so much for that wonderful comment. Two years ago indeed and tonight I'm in the same place - at Ruby's - as I was the night before the Baftas. I wish Heath had got a Bafta to match Jake's too. I hope you feel better soon, love xxx
ReplyDeleteI hope Larry McMurtry and Annie Proulx and Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal can all make it to Heath's memorial service in L.A.
ReplyDeleteThey were all like a family while they were working on "Brokeback Mountain." Families look after one after, in happiness and in sorrow.
When you think about it, Heath made quite a few movies, doing romantic comedy, drama, biopic, historical drama, fantasy, and superhero films. He gave a lot to Hollywood. They owe him big.
Nadine, WDW would like to apologise for mixing up her BAFTA years. Ruby has made some blue drinks which we are about to try - wish you were all here. *
ReplyDeletehah hah! should I pour my scotch back in the bottle and get out the blue shit? maybe!
ReplyDeleteit's been my experience that after a death the spirit hangs out for a few days, taking care of business, saying so long, doing stuff. I had the VERY ODD experience of AUSSE household helper saying I looked troubled on Friday (she knows nothing of my life! and has never heard of Heath) and assuring me that a boyfriend would appear very soon. this morning a guy whose wife is vacationing in AUSTRALIA called to say he wanted to make me a gourmet meal tomorrow.
WHUT?
I guess I'll join you in a drink.
(and I swear I cant take my eyes off "I Will Survive" Jake - I think this is hotter than the Santa dance.)
WDW I TOLE you Jake delivers!
love to all
Hi again everyone,
ReplyDeleteI didn't take pictures at his apt. I just lay the flowers down and stood there. While I was standing there, I was yanked by a reporter with a mike and camera, who asked me about Heath, why I came down, where I lived.
I told him about my reasons for coming down, my two favorite blogs...Wet Dark and Wild and Gyllenbabble... and how much we all loved and will miss Heath. I think I interested him primarily because I am a boomer and was so obviously over wrought.
I was shell shocked is the only reason I didn't run and hide... plus I have horrid teeth...well, what the hey...talking about Heath is a privilege and a joy.
I still can't believe we won't see him walking with his daughter on Broadway or Lafayette or Spring or Bleeker or Broome anymore. I often go to the Angelica Theater...one of our art house theaters...near SOho and then window shop in Soho. I went to see Heath in Candy at the Angelica Theater, hoping it would last long enough to be considered for an Oscar and because well..Heath was starring.
My heart is broken.
Thanks Kate for the Ellen tape. That tape and Ellen's Heath tape make me feel much better. Jake is such a cute silly man...love his butt wiggle.
Jake's pain must be almost insurmountable. I can't breath or talk sometimes thinking about what's happened and I never met Heath or worked with him or loved and cared about him as much as Jake Michelle and his family did. And poor Matilda Rose...
off now to see Michael Clayton, which is showing at the AMC Times Square since the Oscar nods.
love you all,
sass
Hey Pia - our advice is stick with the scotch and leave the blue stuff in the bottle! It's disgusting - and we've moved onto champagne. But I did take a picture to post tomorrow. Jake definitely delivers. We toasted Heath tonight, and us and Jake.
ReplyDeleteSass, that's amazing and I'm so moved by your experience. Thanks for telling the reporter about how you were there for all of us. Heath has fans everywhere and it means a lot for us who are so far away. I hope you enjoy the film and I feel for you. What an experience for you. Much love xxx
Hey WDW - Like all of you, still reeling over Heath's death along with the entire world it seems!
ReplyDeleteBelow is a link to an article giving some details about some of the arrangements and such and that Heath's funeral will be this week in Australia. Most noticely, in this article it mentions that its believed that Jake has said that he's vowed to honour his duty as Godfather to Matilda, to keep her fathers memory alive.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23113941-952,00.html
If this has already been mentioned, my apologies....Both official The Dark Knight sites (TDK and WhySoSerious) have Heath tributes as well, which many online movie sites have commented how unique that is for a studio to do. So glad that Warner Brothers did that.
Perhaps some may not have known that Heath was in the process of working on what would have been his directorial debut film, about an orphan girl who becomes a chess prodigy called "The Queen's Gambit". Heath himself was supposedly a whiz at playing chess, and was planning on getting his grandmaster level in chess before he was to direct the film. Heath was also due to play a supporting role in the film as well, and the female lead was offered to Juno actress, Ellen Page.
Morning everyone - I hope you all had a good night.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jantoinette. Good to hear from you. I had no idea about the directorial debut. Such intensity. That would have been good to see.
Good morning everybody from a bright and sunny central England. I'm relieved to say that my spirits are a bit brighter today too,in large part due to an article I read last night,but as I was so low yesterday I have forgotten exactly where at the moment-I'll have to dig for it.
ReplyDeleteAnyway,the article quoted a letter which Heath had written to sections of the Australian press a short time before he died,thanking them for having the grace to leave him in peace when he returned to Australia for the recent festive season,thus enabling him to have a really great Christmas at home with people he loved and who loved him,just an ordinary bloke having a lovely ordinary family Christmas.
I'm sure at some time he will have had his Christmas with Matilda,even it didn't fall on the actual day, and the thought that he had such a happy,peaceful and relaxed time with his family for what we now know to be his last Christmas and New Year here with us is a great comfort to me. I hope that knowledge will lighten all your hearts too.
Thanks for that info Jantoinette. I'm not sure whether Jake's"vow" to help look after Matilda and give her the sweet life her Daddy planned for her is as the result of a genuine leaked quote or,as I think more likely, journalists making up for the lack of any real quotes with supposition. However,I think we can already feel it in our bones that Jake is going to take his promises to Heath and his devotion to the treasured daughter of a beloved friend very seriously.
Such a shame that we won't see the fruits of Heath's planned directorial debut - he would have been a wonderful director,I think we're all sure of that. I often mused hopefully about either Heath or Jake making a film one of them directing the other. But I'm trying not to think of what might have been right now,and attempting to concentrate on all the wonderful things Heath gave to us and to those he loved. God rest you,hon.
Thanks for that wonderful job you did on the Heath tribute. It was exactly right.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it strange how Hollywood is now wrestling with the dilemma of how to honour him. A pity they didn't have the courage to do it via the Oscars while he was around to appreciate it. However hard they try to put right that ridiculous miscarriage of justice it won't work.
Sorry if this sounds cynical but I bet his Joker wins him that posthumous award. For what it's worth!
J.
Hey everyone! Hope you're enjoying and finding comfort being with fellow Brokies and Gyllenhaalics today, WDW. I wish I could be there too, I could do with being with "family" right now. I watched 10 Things... and Casanova last night and laughed my head off, Heath is so funny and charming and sexy and full of life in them both and it felt so good to be in that happy little bubble with him.But this morning I just felt so angry at myself that I'd not discovered those movies, and all of Heath's others that I've not seen, sooner. I've been staying away from all the media reports for the last few days and I'd all but convinced myself that he's not actually gone, or at least taken heart from the fact that I'll always have those DVDs to bring him back whenever I want. But I had to buy the Mirror today for TL Jr cos it was giving away a HSM poster and I know it's my own fault and I should have just chucked the paper, but no, I had to flick through it and see articles in it speculating about what happened and now I just feel sick all over again. Yes, we've got the DVDs, but to paraphrase Jack Twist, that's all we've got, f***ing all, and we should have had so much more, as should Heath's family and friends.
ReplyDeleteI read that article Nadine mentioned(like you I can't remember where either) and I have mixed feelings about it. Of course I'm glad that he was able to enjoy a happy and peaceful Christmas with his loved ones, but to think that privacy was such a scarce commodity for him that he actually felt grateful for it, and that he would take time out to thank the media for allowing him something that he was entitled to anyway...makes me so sad and angry. I do believe a certain amount of media intrusion is just part of the job for an actor, and like the saying goes, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. But I do think the level of media attention should be proportionate to the level of attention you seek, and Heath (and Jake for that matter) never sought it to the extent to which he was hounded. There are so many two bit celebrities who happily parade evry last detail of their lives in the media, why can't the media concentrate on them and leave those like Heath to just get on with their lives? Let them show up now and again, when they have new work to tell us about,(like the "Jake weeks" we enjoy so much probably and precisely because they don't come around that often) let's see the ocassional pic of them walking around drinking coffee and chatting on the phone, but for goodness sake,when someone like Heath is made to be thankful for being able to celebrate Christmas with his family, there's something very wrong with the world, and with the cult of celebrity that goes on these days. I wish the media would make a distinction between "celebrities" and people who are famous as a by-product of their talent.
Sorry to rant...I guess I just need someone or something to blame right now. Thanks for this platform, WDW. I don't know what I do without you all.
Hi everybody - what a beautiful sunny day in England today. Thanks to Ruby for her hospitality and to both her and Anouska for their wonderful company last night. It was also so lovely to see Winterbird and others today. I'm very lucky.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for that comment, Nadine. I'm glad you're feeling a bit better today. I agree, best not to think too much of what might have been. Some of these newspaper reports are so difficult but I do find little bits of comfort in some of them.
J, thank you for commenting: 'Isn't it strange how Hollywood is now wrestling with the dilemma of how to honour him. A pity they didn't have the courage to do it via the Oscars while he was around to appreciate it. However hard they try to put right that ridiculous miscarriage of justice it won't work.' - I couldn't agree more.
TL, you are always welcome to rant away here, just as you wish. I hope it helps you. A real message I'm getting from all of this, is that Heath was private - he just happened to be a gifted actor.