Afterwards, Daniel's tribute to Heath continued: 'Asked backstage why he'd decided to dedicate the award to Ledger, he said, "I suppose that's all I've been thinking about for the last few days. I never met him. I thought he was beautiful. I just have a very strong feeling that I would have liked him very much as a man. ...I admired him very much."'
According to the MTV report, 'Ryan Gosling and his sister wore black ribbons, in honor of the dearly departed. Kristen Stewart had to fight back tears on the red carpet. Daniel Day-Lewis dedicated his Best Actor award to Heath Ledger, and when the show's "In Memoriam" segment closed with a shot of the actor in "Brokeback Mountain," one final moment of stunned silence swept over the near-funereal Shrine Auditorium... "I think it's an important topic to bring up, and I think he needs to be celebrated tonight with the rest of us," insisted "Hairspray" star Nikki Blonski. "I never got to meet him, but being here tonight at the SAG Awards, I feel like his presence is here."'
These SAG Awards are a reminder of the same event two years ago when, in a rehearsal for the Oscars, Brokeback Mountain failed to win anything despite its lavish nominations. Nevertheless, Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger on the stage, discussing their film, were a sight for sore eyes. This is, therefore, the perfect opportunity to repost some pictures from this event, including some of my favourite photographs of Jake in the spotlight.
Jake in Brentwood, 27 January
Following the pictures of Jake out for a walk in LA over the weekend, more photos have emerged of Jake out buying coffee in Brentwood yesterday (27 January).
Includes pictures from IHJ.
54 comments:
Good for DDL, that was beautiful and moving and so nice of him.
"Unique and perfect". He got that right.
Hey LJF - DDL has it spot on. It's so moving watching and listening to him. Daniel is a gentleman to the core.
I adore Jake and Heath at SAG2006. Makes me smile and that's a good thing, I think. The pics you chose to go with the post were lovely, you could tell the friendship they shared was a good and fun one.
Not sure I like seeing Jake being papped like that. But it's always been a conflict for me, even more so now, with Jake dealing with the loss of Heath.
As for DDL, I am in awe of his very sweet and genuine gesture to honour Heath that way. You could really hear the sorrow in his voice, trying to understand how a wonderful life can be cut short so tragically like that. His words were so moving. "I think I would have liked him." I think I would have too.
Thanks for your posts WDW, in these sad and tragic days. It's good to know there are places where I can share my heartache and know it's understood.
Does anyone know if Heath has arrived in Perth? Is there any news at all about arrangements? I am torn. Part of me really respects and appreciates the need for privacy. Another part of me needs the closure of seeing his life celebrated in his home, in Perth. I hate the way he seems to have just "vanished." I just hate it.
Hi Christie - just thinking of SAG 2006 makes me smile too - I remember the giggles on the stage. I'm glad you find some comfort here - many of us here feel the same. I feel really weary and quiet tonight.
Hi Anon - it really is difficult to deal with, I know. Reading around, it looks like Heath's being flown to Perth at the moment. But everything will be very private. I hope we get a report afterwards. But he's not vanished, he's being cared for by his family. I do find that comforting, that he's going home. I know it's very upsetting to think on it though. These up and down feelings are not easy.
That acceptance speech made me break down all over again. Very moving, and beautifully put.
Thanks so much for the link.
~elfie
I can't believe DDL got me in tears again... it is such a heartfelt dedication.
i still i can't believe it was only 2 years ago that we saw Jake and Heath on the same stage, having to suppress their laughters to that over-the-top script they had to read.
seems like a public memorial will go ahead in LA, there's news on imdb about it today.
*sighs*... this award season has a whole different meaning to us... i am sure there will be more dedication and tributes make to heath in them.
"I thought he was beautiful."
Yes, he was beautiful. Crying again.
Been thinking all day long about this tragic loss - thinking about death - and is there such a thing called "closure" (I wonder. . . think of all the fanfic written to keep love and lives of J and E alive and going . . . )
O man, Heath WAS/IS beautiful.
Speaking of one of Jake and Maggie's favorite words: irony. How effing ironic that we've had such a hard time accepting the fictive death of Jack Twist (oh shit I almost burst into tears again! - choked on my words!) and RL kicks in and says, "shut up. mind your own business. you don't know nothin' about it."
Surely Annie P. is grieving the loss of the actor who was more like her Ennis than her own creation.
I, too, Anon, have been wanting to know: where is his body? Says something about the human condition, no? We are more attached to one another than we know.
Hugs to all.
DDL had me in tears there:( I felt that he spoke for all of us, as a fan who never met him but who would have liked to have done and who was full of admiration and gratitude for what he gave us with his talent. He expresed so beautifully what all of us here are feeling. I don't know much about DDL although I do remember thinking he was brilliant in My Left Foot but I've always had a bit of a fondness for him (it's probably the Irish accent) but he's earned my appreciation and respect forever now.
I watched the SAG awards thing with Jake and Heath the other night and just laughed so much. They had such amazing chemistry and made a fabulous double act. I would have loved to see them on screen together again...:(
I have to admit I just scrolled quickly past the pics of Jake. I never thought I'd find myself doing that, but after seeing yesterday's pics, I just don't want to see anymore right now. At first I was glad to see yesterday's pics cos I felt better knowing that Jake has people around him that he can turn to right now and also, after what's happened, it was good to be reminded that we still have him. But now I kinda wish I hadn't seen those pics cos I didn't need to see them to know he's upset,just like I didn't need to see that pic of Michelle, and I just want Jake to be left in peace to cope with this like we all are,in our own way and doing whatever feels right for us.
As for what's happening with Heath, I just hope no details are released until after the fact, so that the family and those close to him can have total privacy. Heath's family have been incredibly gracious and dignified with the media at this time, facing the cameras to make a statement and publishing tributes in their local paper,so I'm sure if they want to release any details they'll release a staement.
DDL, truly wonderful.
Hi everyone. I'm not feeling so good tonight so bear with me.
~elfie, thanks. Always good to hear from you. That speech certainly produced a real mix of emotion in me too.
Thanks for that information, Winterbird. I find it very confusing about whether there'll be a public memorial or not. Sometimes we hear there will eb and at other times it's denied. I would like Heath's funeral to be as private as it can be, but I would like to see Heath's life and career celebrated and marked in a public service somewhere.
Thanks for that, Pia. I'm not up to answering it though.
Hey TL - of course I'd forgotten that it's Jim Sheridan who's directing Jake now. Such a small world.
I know the pap pics of Jake divide people and I do think about it. But it's hard because I have always liked looking at them, rightly and possibly wrongly, and I will always post them, except when they're obviously intrusive when I haven't. I've also found comfort in seeing Jake and knowing he's there. But I know that some people won't like them and I can only ask for them to do, as you have done, and scroll past them. It's particularly difficult at this awful time to pitch posts for everyone - my solution has been to pitch them at myself.
I agree with everything you say about Heath's family. They've been wonderful and open and I think they may well inform us after the event.
Good to see you Anouska.
D-DLewis is, bimself, a beauty for those who do not know him. Name of the Father, Beautiful Laundrette - and, of course, later work.
yes, indeed, he has spoken for all of us.
p.s. D-DL takes risk, like Heath. took time off to go to Italy, apprentice as a cobbler. way to go, actors! Wm Shakespere would love these guys.
I find it very helpful to see pap picture of Jake BECAUSE it feels like H has disappeared, as the dead do, thanks ANON - and so I want to see Jake, although I dont really want to impose my own feelings upon him. I dont know how he feels. but I am glad to have pictures of him, whom I love so dearly.
sorry if Im getting into deep waters WDW - I got a tendency to do that. Im a mud runner by nature.
Hey Pia, DDL is a great actor. I loved him in My Beautiful laundrette of course but I was very fortunate enough to see him on stage as Hamlet when I was a student. I saw him in a couple of other plays too but I can't remember which, it's such a while ago. I studied English in London and I went to the National and Barbican theatres every week. Apprenticed as a cobbler, eh? Love that!
Pia - I need the pictures too.
OMG, Pia, thanks for the reminder - how on earth could I have forgotten My Beautiful Launderette. I always sort of forget that's DDL. But yeah, loved him in that:)
(((WDW))) please don't take offence at what I said. I know how much of a balancing act it can be at times, and one of the things I love the most about this place is that you always get it spot on. I don't have a problem AT ALL with you posting the pics, they're out there anyway, they were taken in a public place and this is a Jake site so they're totally relevant and it's right to have them. I appreciate that you bring us all the pics and news that you do, and leave us to make our own decisions about what we look at and what we don't. For me atm, it's easier not to look at those pics, but we all deal with things differently and I would never expect everyone else to feel the same.
Y'know, Ive been thinking of Heath as Hamlet, also as Cordelia - grin -,(I guess Id better report Im running out of scotch, I'll last the night, but do I dare ask Jonathan TO DELIVER tomorrow? dont want him to think Im a lush. . . :) -
lucky you WDW. toast to D-DL! (also Wm S.)
(((TL))) Please don't worry, I could never take offence at anything you say - you always make me stop and think about things as I should. I love My Beautiful Launderette too - I think I wore my old video of that out.
Pia - that's so funny! Go on, order it - get Jonathan round there. I've no whiskey either. Sticking with the wine and maybe a tequila before bed.
Thank you, pia. Cheers!
Hi Spirit! Cheers to you too, Bill. Off to find something to do that cheers with!
Hi everyone. Hi (((WDW))) Such a poignant and lovely post. I've always thought Daniel Day-Lewis was a wonderful man as well as a great actor (compare Johnny in "My Beautiful Laundrette" and Cecil Vyse in "A Room With A View" and it defies belief that it's the same man playing both parts!) - but he has won a special place in my heart for articulating all our feelings,giving such genuine and emotional tributes to Heath and using his acceptance speech to honour him rather than celebrate his own success. True generosity of spirit.
I am SO jealous that you saw DDL in "Hamlet" WDW - a play during which,of course,Daniel suffered a serious break-down,such was his immersion in the Prince of Denmark's troubled psyche. It's no wonder he identifies with Heath and is sure he would have liked him if he'd known him. And it is a very sweet man who can say of another "I thought he was beautiful". And,oh God,but he was!
Those SAG photos of Jake and Heath giggling together because they's been thrown in unrehearsed to recite an overblown speech brought back some great memories...but I couldn't help but draw the comparison betweem the joy and mischief in Jake's smile,two years ago,on stage with his great mate...and walking through Brentwood alone now,looking pale,tired and haunted by his loss.
I'm ambivalent about these pictures too. I'm grateful that they exist and thankful that you've posted them,WDW,because when Jake was hiding away from the world I was worried sick about him and how he was coping. The fact that he has dragged himself out and faced being papped is a comfort of sorts - but I'm sure we all wish we could take away the pain that's written all over him.
I agree wholeheartedly in admiring the dignity and courage of Heath's family. They deserve nothing more than total privacy as they lay their beloved "Roast" to rest...but I, too, hope they find it in them to release a statement about his homecoming - just so that we know that he's finally resting where no shadows fall.
(((Love to all of you)))
Hold on a moment here. WDW. You SAW Daniel Day Lewis as HAMLET???
You SAW him??? Live? On stage? As Hamlet??? DANIEL DAY LEWIS??? OK.
I'm fine. Huh. (First she's kissing Rupert Graves. Then she's watching Danile Day Lewis go through his paces as HAMLET?)
I once met Gerard Butler. I know.
It's not the same. (LOL!)
Fraid so, Bobbyanna... The advantages of being a student in London. Did I ever tell you about the time I got served in a pub by Jeremy Irons....
Gerard Butler's pretty fine, though, that's for sure.
Hey Nadine. I thought A Room With a View was just magnificent - I'd love to see Jake in a period film like that. Julian Sands and Rupert Graves were so good in that, too, and Simon Callow and Helena Bonham Carter. I saw that over and over at the time.
Cheers back atcha, Bill S! Hope you didnt snitch our beautiful boy because you've got casting problems. Look after him, huh?
Night all - time to try and sleep. See you all tomorrow.
"take care of our beautiful boy"
You bet.
Um, I once sat next to Jake Gyllenhaal, and all I could think of was that I wanted to tell him how great "Proof" was. That would have sounded idiotic, so I just sat there.....
So, opportunites pass by sometimes, unclaimed. That's life.
I once dreamed about Heath Ledger, but I never met him. I did worry about him, though, because I felt he should have gone for counseling after that water pistol episode. Worry and strees are not good for one's heart.
The latest pap pics of jake buying coffee. are different from earlier ones. Jake has a reflexive grin that shows in photos because he seems to smile whenever there's a camera pointed at him. However, he made no effort to do that in these recent pics. I'm interpreting that as a sign that he's sad....
I watched BBM again. The last scene in that movie together. It's still hard for me. Nothing seems to bring joy or peace yet. I suppose it will happen.
Thank you for another wonderful post WDW. I love DDL for the tributes he gave Heath. It made me cry so bad when I watched it, but it was beautiful.
I really hope the funeral is allowed to go very privately and quietly.
It was nice to see Heath and Jake together smiling too. Thank you for that.
My friend visited the memorial to Heath outside his place on Broome Street, tonight, at dusk: said it was surely tended, as flowers were fresh and candles lit and burning: notes, drawings, etc. a group of people stood about very quietly, spoke in whispers, Rob felt it a sacred space. Put a poem he had written and words from me in among the flowers. Said he was surprised by the depth of his emotions. (stopped in oyster bar and had 12 blue point oysters and glass of chardonay to "calm down" before trip home, back to East Hampton.)
going to sleep. g'night, lovelies.
I believe I have almost every movie and have been privileged to see almost all DDL's movies on the big screen...but to see him on stage would make my heart explode with happiness.
WDW, you are one lucky woman.
I've watched DDL's dedication to Heath speech again and again. I can't watch Heath movies right now, but I can look and laugh at some of his pictures and videos--thanks for posting my favs...the SAG pics:)--...maybe later for movies.
love and hugs and more
sassym
Jeff Simon, in The Buffalo News January 28th, writes under the headline: "SAG awards are a party not to be missed". From the long article I have to quote this:
Quote
In case you're one of those who find acting awards a lot of dreary, red carpet occupational self-congratulation, let me remind you of a few splendid previous actorly moments.
-- The late Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal making such stupid, uncomfortable jokes introducing their film "Brokeback Mountain" at a previous SAG Awards that they ruined all chances for an Oscar for themselves and, indeed, for the film that year. It was clear to every actor in Hollywood at that moment that without a script by Larry McMurtry and a director as good as Ang Lee to tell them what to do, they may not have even have understood a couple of the most moving roles they'll ever have.
Unquote
URL: http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/story/262531.html
As a journalist and as a social-liberal man with strong belief in the freedom of speech, I sometimes have had to report and write things for the sake of that truth has to come forward. In order to do that one has to be as unpartial as possible in reporting and reserve what you believe in yourself in separate chronicles or reviews. "To separate news and views."
Here on this blog it is quality that you just pour out both mixed irrespective of that "rule". That is the whole idea I believe.
But the above quotation was really hard to report. I have had the highest regard for Jake ever since I first met him together with my son in 2000 on the set of BB, after having met his parents and sister some day before.
He struck me as one of the most charismatic persons I had ever met, and I have in my job shaken hand with prime ministers and heads of state. He outshone them all! At the age of nineteen!
And from there he has close to never disappointed me, but gone from one artistic success to another. BBM was the best, but in *my* heart "The Good Girl" and "Jarhead" was hitting me harder. And as the most beautiful as a movie I still believe in "October Sky". Not only because it was the first one I saw.
Now I believe that we have to look forward, both in the USA and in the rest of the world. Because we are all dependant on what happens next week, "The Super-Tuesday"!
There I observe that tragically enough a family who is important to me and to millions of others is devided. The Kennedy family is not united, Ted, his son congressman Patrick and Carolyn, the presidents daughter are since yesterday supporting Derek Obama.
And so is Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal since much longer.
But Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, daughter of the also deceased Robert Kennedy is supporting Hilary Rodham Clinton.
And so is, according to some reports, Reese Witherspoon.
As far as I know nither Stephen nor Maggie have declared their affiliation. As the Clintos and the Gyllenhaals have been neighbours in Marthas Vineyard and Jake has been reported to have played with Chelsea since the were very young, it must be an awesome choice to chose between the young and promising and charismatic on one hand and an experienced and very apt friend and her husband on the other.
Jake is in my opinion of course excused if he will not do it because of his bereavement.
But he must feel the pain, added to the other.
I could not make the choice if I had to myself.
How much worse must it not be for him.
I do feel sympathy with him.
Give him a good thought!
Herman
Morning everyone - last night was a night to get through. Thanks to all of you for propping me and each other up.
Paulh, your encounter was just incredible. I imagine if you had told Jake how much you admired Proof he would have remembered that as being a bit of a first (sorry, couldn't resist!). How would any of us know what to say when that close to Jake? I know, lost opportunities but future possibilities with Jake, that's the important thing.
CWG - it will.
Hi Rosie - good to hear from you. I love those memories from SAG 2006. Even though they didn't win anything, the mood was so light.
Pia, thanks so much for telling us about your friend's experience. How amazing to have of your own words there. Oysters sound good to me.
Thanks, Sass. I'm very lucky. I'm glad you're enjoying the pictures and videos, maybe it won't be long before you can watch the films.
I'll see you all later, I hope you have a good day.
Herman, we were posting at the same time!
Thanks so much for that fascinating comment - I read that article you mention. You did better than me, I couldn't get past the first paragraph! To me it showed how sometimes actors can be given ludicrous or crass things to say and sometimes there's just no way (or inclination) to make them sound anything other than bad - at least you share a funny moment. Jake and Heath made me laugh that night. It's intresting to consider how other people may have viewed it, so thanks for quoting that.
Thanks so much for telling us about your own time with Jake on the set of a film I love. That must have been great fun. I've only had the briefest of encounters with jake but each time I've been mesmerised by his charisma - there's noone else in the room when Jake's in it.
And thanks for all that about the political allegiances. I'm interested to know how Jake will settle, especially considering his friendships, but we may never know!
Sending good thoughts to Jake, thanks Herman.
Morning everyone.
Hope you're doing better today, WDW...
I have to disagree with the opinion on the buffalonews about Jake and Heath at SAG, they didn't ruin their Oscar chances, it was bigotry and homophobia that robbed this great film. oh well... let be, let be. I couldn't care less about the stupid Academy Award, except to cheer for DDL this year.
There is some news about Terry Gilliam might want to keep Heath in the film with CGI... I haven't given much thought to this yet...
I am dreading to face 9:45pm GMT today... 7 awful days. :'(
Marking the small anniversaries since a loss--a day, a week, a month since it happened--always hurts; but it brings a sort of peace with it too, somehow. Marking those days is a way of remembering, of keeping Heath's spirit alive in the world (as DD Lewis did), of keeping us connected to him, and each other.
I'll be remembering Heath too this afternoon, and doing something I've done all week when at home: lighting a lamp in remembrance. That little ritual has helped me somehow. It's kept me connected to him. And it's put his loss in the context of the bigger picture of all our connections to one another, and our contributions to the world.
Maybe ultimately no one is ever really "lost" from this world. Our presence here changes shape or form, but it gets lived out through the lives we've touched after we've "gone." In that sense, Heath's greatest impacts are yet to be achieved--and will be through Jake, through other actors, and finally, through all of us, as we receive them and pass them on.
He was the enactor of the message; but we can be the carriers. Maybe today can be a day of remembering that the message will live on.
So in I guess what I'm trying to say is that Heath hasn't been "lost" to us. In a way, maybe he's just been "found" by us all.
Just dropping in to give you all a virtual hug before I go out to lend a friend a flesh-and-blood shoulder to lean on. Too much sadness in the world sometimes...
...but what I've read here this morning has been lovely,thanks (((Pia))) for letting us know that the tributes to Heath are still being laid and lovingly tended,thank you (((Kim))) for some very thoughtful,uplifting words of hope and thank you (((Herman))) for your lovely account of Jake and his family,the perfect antidote to that poisonous piece of journalism from someone who had no idea of what Jake and Heath and "Brokeback" have come to mean to so many people,Oscar or no Oscar!
And (((big hugs))) to everyone who like me is still hurting and very up and down emotionally. When I hear the midnight news on the radio here in England tonight I shall remember that it is exactly one week since I was pole-axed by the dreadful news that Heath was gone. I shall then pray for him,at rest now,for Jake,for all his loved ones and for all of you...and together we'll find a way to make it better,one day at a time.
I don't think I saw the SAG awards show that Jake and Heath were in. Did the lame jokes come from them, or were they scripted? Or are they maybe not as good at impromptu humor as, say, Groucho Marx? But then again, Groucho at 25 might not have been as good as he was later in life.....
In a movie, an actor has to either deliver the lines that were written by somebody else, or come up with better ones. When you look at the end result on the big screen (or on your own TV screen), you won't know which was which. Plus, some roles call for fumbling or even downright stupidity. I can only hope to heaven that Jim Varney is more charismatic and lucid as himself than when he's playing Ernest. The late Frank Fontaine was certainly a class act when he was singing, but not when he was playing Crazy Guggenheimer.
It takes all kinds, I guess.
In any event, hardly anybody will care, 15 years down the road, what kind of impression Jake and heath made on a TV awards show, but their work in BBM will still hit people hard, of that I am sure!
Nadine, thank you for your way with words and for today's post: oh my tears still abound and "pole axed" has got it just right.
paul: two young guys, on a BBMT high, wondering WTF is this about? a delicious and historic moment in the history of mankind.
p.s. I mean, "humankind".
A friend of mine was once obsessed with DDL, she left from Italy and went to Ireland to meet him. She lived there for about two years and got to meet him in the end...
I always liked him BTW, his kindness, his vulnerability is oh so very HUMAN and I like it in an actor, it was the same thing I liked the most in Heath either...
And it's a small world really, because now I am obsessing (an obsession of a good kind, most of the time...) over an actor who's filming a movie with Jim Sheridan, director of the first DDL's film I've ever seen, My Left Foot, and now I find him giving a speech Heath who will be forever bound in my mind with Jake.
Jake & Heath at the SAG are priceless, they never miss to give me joy. :)
xenia, yes, "kind and vulnerable" with the attendant gifts of empathy towards the human condition, as artists. risk-takers, also.
paulh, Jake and Heath were reading from a script written for them at the SAG.
Yes pia, risk takers...brave men, both.
Thanks to (((everyone))) for all the hugs (literal and metaphorical). I've been up and down today, more up than down it has to be said (thanks WDW and Anouska) but I guess that's how it goes with something like this. It's only been a week and sometimes it feels as raw as if it was yesterday, but it also feels like a lifetime ago.
So in I guess what I'm trying to say is that Heath hasn't been "lost" to us. In a way, maybe he's just been "found" by us all
There's a lot of truth in that. I watched two of Heath's films at the weekend that I'd never got round to before and I'm discovering more about him all the time. Although I could kick myself for not having done it sooner, when he was still here :(
And although I've accepted now that he's gone, there's still a part of me that doesn't believe or doesn't feel like he's gone and maybe that's because like you say, Kim, he'll never be gone completely.
Phew, made it home from a day that was made a lot better than it could have been by a wonderful lunch with Twisted Logic and Anouska - thank you for toasting Heath with me and for toasting Jake and for being there. And thanks for the chocolate, TL, which soon went but not quite as fast as Anouska's...
Hi Winterbird - how are you doing?Tonight will be hard. I'm not sure what I think about a CGId Heath.
Good to see you Kim. Your light ritual is beautiful, as is the though that noone's lost. One this is absolutely sure, none of us will ever forget Heath and what he's done for us.
Hi Nadine. I'm very up and down too. I am so lucky to be able to talk it through with friends, not only here, but out there too.
Paul, you're right. Brokeback feels even more a part of a living history now and even more precious, hard as that is to fathom. It must feel extremely emotional to Jake now, to be a part of that. I think it must put a weight on his shoulders.
Pia, I love your delicious monument. I hope you're OK.
Hi Xenia. I constantly marvel at ho small the movie world is and how these things all come in full circle. I find the Jim Sheridan connection so odd at the moment.
TL, I wish I'd spent more time enjoying Heath's films too. I'm glad I was able to see and appreciate INT just before. Thanks for seeing me today xx
I've only seen three of heath's films. I look forward to gradually catching more of them.
You know me, WDW, I love sweet things. :)
And it was great to meet you today TL! First of many I hope.
I am sad and pensive tonight again about Heath. A week ... :(
Hi Paul, I've not seen many myself - BBM of course, The Knight's Tale (which I absolutely adore), I'm Not There, Candy and Grimm Brothers.
Hey Anouska! Thank you for letting me eat some of your lunch. I'm pensive too but I'm trying to hold Heath dear and I'm trying to send Jake some protective love too. I'm also thinking about us.
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