There has been a lot of speculation in Heath Ledger’s death, with some saying that he must have overdosed because there were pills laying around. The police held a press conference yesterday to clear up a lot of the rumors about his sudden and tragic passing, and said that contrary to previous reports the pills weren’t strewn around his apartment and he just had bottled prescription medications, one of which was a sleep aid that is thought to be Ambien. Page Six says the pills were Ambien and antidepressants. A lot of people take those medications in combination with each other, including friends of mine, and there’s nothing inherently dangerous in those two commonly prescribed drugs. The NY Times clarifies the drugs that were found at the scene and says there were “sleeping pills — both prescription medication and nonprescription — on a night table.” [via US Weekly]

At this early stage we don’t know what drugs were there, we don’t know what drugs he took if any, and we don’t know if drugs even played a role in his death. That’s the job of the coroner’s office and the police department and isn’t the responsibility of the media, although it’s very tempting to try and understand how this senseless tragedy could have happened. Maybe he was depressed, but a lot of people go through bouts of depression. Who knows if these quotes from people who supposedly knew him are even accurate or if they’re just responding to the news of his death.

TMZ says that Ledger had pneumonia, but they give no source for that news. It could explain how he passed, but again we don’t know how they got that information so we can’t even begin to judge if it’s accurate. TMZ also claims to have spoken to a rep for Heath’s family, who says his death was accidental and that it is hurtful to hear speculation about suicide.

The autopsy should be completed today, but it will be some time before the tests come back and results are announced.

Best Week Ever urges the media to show restraint and not pick apart Heath’s life. TMZ streamed live video from outside his apartment when his body was taken out on a stretcher. The Huffington Post has some overheard conversations from people on the scene, and it kind of makes your heart lurch to hear the things that people were saying, including yelling “body body” when he was taken out on a stretcher.

This is a big story and it’s going to get near-constant coverage. My friend’s brother died at the age of 24 in a terrible car accident a couple of years ago. He left behind a wife and two young daughters. It’s like the world stops when someone you know has died unexpectedly. We saw so many of Heath’s movies and we gossiped about him, which did him no favors. He was a real person and more than just a celebrity, but to us he was someone we felt like we knew, and he will be missed.

I don’t know how I’m going to be able to cover any other stories today, but I will try. Let me know how you feel and if you want some other news. It just doesn’t seem that important now.

Update: The coroner has confirmed that Ledger’s autopsy revealed he had pneumonia at the time of his death, but says it’s not the definitive cause of his death, which remains undetermined.

Header image from ONTD.

The most important people in Heath Ledger’s life have come out to speak about him - his family in Western Australia. I assume that they are heading to the US to be with their son, whether he will be buried in the US or Australia, and hopefully they will be able to move around with minimum harassment from media.

Here is their statement, delivered from outside of Heath’s mother’s house.

Ledger’s father Kim Ledger, mother Sally Ledger-Bell and sister Katie Ledger appeared outside Ledger’s mother’s house in Applecross at 10.50am, when Mr Ledger read a short statement to the media.

“We, Heath’s family, confirm the very tragic, untimely and accidental passing of our dearly loved son, brother and doting father of Matilda, who was found in a peaceful sleep in his New York apartment by his housekeeper at 3.30pm (New York Time),” he said.

“We would like to thank our friends and everyone around the world for their kind wishes at this time.

“Heath has touched so many people on so many different levels during his short life, but few had the pleasure to truly know him.

“He was a down-to-earth, generous, kind-hearted, life-loving and unselfish individual who was an extreme inspiration to many.

“Please now respect our family’s need to grieve and come to terms with our loss privately.”

News.com.au

Heath also has two half sisters, Olivia and Ashleigh. he and his sister Kate are named after the characters from Wuthering Heights.

Another person to come out and express sadness at Heath’s death is the Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd.

“It was with great sadness that I have learned of the passing of Heath Ledger,” he said.

“It is tragic that we have lost one of our nation’s finest actors in the prime of his life. Heath Ledger’s diverse and challenging roles will be remembered as some of the great performances by an Australian actor.”

Mr Rudd said the nation’s thoughts were with Ledger’s family and close friends, especially his two-year-old daughter Matilda.

news.com.au

Being from Australia originally, my phone and emails have been flooding in all day with people from home asking me if it’s true, like I’m the New York Police Department or something. Right up until his family and the Prime Minister made their statements about his death I had been wondering if it was a prank pulled to promote a film. Which admittedly would be a pretty cruel prank.

Heath’s family are also adamant that he has not committed suicide, and that they had been advised by police that his death was accidental.

I can think of nothing worse than having all of Australia’s entertainment reporters on your front door step - and they’ll ALL be there, there’s not much else to focus on in a small country -while you are trying to cope with a time difference and a foreign legal system. I hope that they have lots of support.

Other prominent Australians who have spoken out about the death include Nicole Kidman, Mel Gibson and Cate Blanchett. Unfortunately for Blanchett she was celebrating her Academy Award nominations for I’m Not There, the Bob Dylan biopic that Heath Ledger also plays Bob in, when she heard the news.

Note by Celebitchy: Here’s the video of Heath’s family’s public statement. In accordance with their wishes, and with common decency, we will post no photos of any of Heath friends and family grieving nor will we publish pictures of the scene or funeral. We may put up photos of average people paying tribute to Heath with flowers and notes.

And here are two photo tributes to Heath, thanks to Darule16:

And libertyangel:

Here are photos of Ledger’s well-documented life in chronological order from newest to oldest. RIP Heath, we hardly knew you.

From 2007

From 2006

From 2005 and earlier

When I first read this story via e-mail I thought it was a joke, like one of those fake press releases that says some child actor you haven’t heard of in years has died in an accident. I was like “Oh yeah, the masseuse found him,” and I e-mailed Vera at I’m Not Obsessed that the article she sent had to be fake, because I just wouldn’t believe it. Except in this case it wasn’t someone unknown, it was Heath and the story was all too real.

We haven’t covered Ledger favorably in the past because he was a guy who shunned photographers, generally looked grumpy and was portrayed as a bit of a cad after his split with Michelle Williams. He seemed like he was a hipster Hollywood star who perfected the disheveled look and chased skirts. Maybe Ledger died of an accidental overdose of whatever medication he was taking to help him sleep, or maybe this was something else and we’ll soon hear about it. His family denies that he committed suicide and initial impressions point to an accident. TMZ reports that he had pneumonia at the time of his death, and we’ll have to wait to see if there are more details.

However Ledger died, there was undoubtedly much more to this guy than we saw. He wasn’t just a grumpy star who wasn’t into appearances, he was a person with interests and fears and a father who wanted to protect his daughter. There may have been a deep shyness behind his reluctance to accept the scrutiny that comes with being famous.

There was an incident at the Sydney premiere of Brokeback Mountain in which paparazzi squirted Heath and Michelle with water pistols. It was thought at first that Heath wasn’t too bothered by it, but his father later revealed that Heath was distraught and cried about it that night. He also asked his father to sell his home and decided to move out of his native Australia as a direct result. We blasted Heath for being a “crybaby,” but a fan really schooled us on how Heath was the victim of incredible harassment by those same paparazzi, who would camp outside his house and taunt him night and day. She also said that despite his persona Heath had a reputation in the industry of just being shy and fearful of public events:

Do you know that the Sydney paparazzi slept in his bushes and behind his bar-b-que to try to sneak pictures into his house? Every night! Do you know that they parked at the end of his driveway and waited for him to leave his home and followed him & Michelle everywhere they went? One even interruped a scene on the set of Candy, and then menacingly whispered, “See you at home, Heath.”

How would you feel? Do you really think that in order to be an actor a person has to be subjected to this? Where’s the line?

How much would it take for you to flip off someone who harrassed you daily?

At some point the stress builds up and you have to let it out. He cried. I don’t think that’s anything to be ashamed of. It doesn’t make him a “girl”. It makes him human.

Heath’s father didn’t tell anything Heath hadn’t admitted already. He had said in an earlier interview that he broke down when he got home. Extreme stress, built up over time can do that to a person. Not just being squirted by a water gun, but the constant harrassment and viciousness. That was just the final straw, and he had to let it out.

None of us can understand how much pressure and stress they had been putting on him and how long it had been going on. How many lies had been printed and how long he had kept quiet and not defended himself? He’s only now beginning to speak out.

Heath is a very gentle and private person. He doesn’t have an ego. Industry friends who know him tell me that he’s extremely shy. Sometimes people think he’s being aloof; premieres are a nightmare for him, and he’s uncomfortable being approached by strangers, but he doesn’t have an ego. He’s not ashamed to admit he cried. I think it’s admirable.

He wants to act. He likes the work. It’s the acting part he loves. And why should he have to give that up, just because some photographers lack common decency and manners.

[Comment from Phyllis of the now-down HeathHeathens.com]

Heath personally wrote a letter to the NY Post after they published a blurb in the Page Six section in November, 2005 revealing the exact location of his new brownstone with Michelle and daughter Matilda. He denied the story that they were rude to any neighbors and admonished the paper in a measured tone, saying that “Page Six’s revealing our whereabouts could possibly put our child in danger.”

Ledger had plenty of reason to be annoyed with the paparazzi and media based on his experience. It seems he couldn’t even escape them in death. There are already plenty of photos and video of his covered body being taken out to a waiting ambulance.

Actor Heath Ledger was found dead in his SoHo apartment at 3:26 this afternoon. Heath was 28. His housekeeper let a masseuse into the apartment for an appointment. When Heath didn’t answer a knock at the door, both women entered and found his body. They tried to wake him, then called 911. A bottle of pills was found near his body. Police say no foul play was involved. There is some speculation that the overdose was intentional.

Heath Ledger was found dead at his Manhattan residence, a police spokesman confirms to the Associated Press. He was 28. Police say the death may be drug-related. The NYPD spokesman tells AP that Ledger had a massage appointment at his Soho apartment. When the housekeeper went to alert Ledger the masseuse was there, she found him at around 3:26 p.m.

He did not respond when they shook him, and the housekeeper called 911, The New York Times reports. He was pronounced dead at 3:45 p.m. Authorities later said they did not suspect foul play but that pills were found near the body.

[From People]

An NYPD rep has said that the apartment Heath was renting is actually owned by Mary-Kate Olsen, and that Heath was subletting it from her. However Mary-Kate’s rep has said that the apartment isn’t hers, and she’s never lived in the building. It’s certainly not the most important detail of the story, but it is an unconfirmed point.

Heath broke up with actress Michelle Williams in September. They have a 2-year-old daughter named Matilda. Heath and Michelle were very private, and managed to keep a pretty low profile living in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn. Heath had several run-ins with the Australian paparazzi, which really upset him, and reportedly contributed to his decision to move to the U.S. Because he and Michelle were notoriously media shy, no one really knew why the pair broke up. But it appears that Heath has had a history of addiction, and was really struggling in his battle against it. One of Heath’s friends has noted that things had been really tough with his sobriety over the last year, enough so that many of his friends feared he would die.

News of Heath Ledger’s death has shaken friends of the actor. “This is terrible and I’m in shock,” a close friend of Ledger’s tells Usmagazine.com. “But to tell you the truth… we saw it coming. Heath has gone though a rough road of trying to get sober,” the source tells Us.

“Things were very dark,” the source says. “His one joy was Matilda.” Matilda is his 2-year-old daughter with ex-wife Michelle Williams. They split in September. “Everything else was misery for him,” adds the source. “Unfortunately he was too late in getting help.”

[From Us Weekly]

The New York Times has a police source that says most signs point to a suicide. Police spokeswoman Barbara Chen said the medicine found near Ledger’s body appeared to be over-the-counter sleeping pills. Courtney Hazlett, who writes MSNBC’s “The Scoop, said, “In a lot of ways, this reminds me — we’ve almost had a dress rehearsal for this with Owen Wilson.” I hate to speculate, but given what’s been reported, it seems likely that Ledger killed himself. Though a lot of people assumed Anna Nicole Smith had killed herself, and it ended up being ruled accidental. Ledger’s autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow. We’ll update you as further information comes available.

Update: It’s now being reported that there were two bottles of medication found near Ledger’s body: one an over the counter sleeping aid, and the other a prescription. Due to HIPAA laws, no information has been released about the prescription or what Ledger may have been taking it for. A commentator on Headline News (whose name I didn’t catch) said that he’d interviewed Heath Ledger several times over the years, including “recently.” He said that while Heath had always been a bit of a “social misfit,” he seemed especially out of it the last time the two spoke. He also described Heath’s behavior as nervous and jumpy. He said that he believed it’s possible that Heath accidentally overdosed. He noted that Heath had been very “honest with the press” recently in discussing his battle with insomnia, and that he’d taken Ambien and other sleep aids. The commentator pointed out that - considering one of the pills was an OTC sleep aid – it is possible that Heath accidentally overdosed. He also said that, as an actor, he would have at least expected Heath to “stage” his death, instead of being found naked with pills everywhere. This is just one person’s speculation, but he does make a valid point.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Heath Ledger sporting a beard, on the set of his new film ‘The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus’ in London on Friday. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Australian actor Heath Ledger has died in his New York Apartment, following a suspected heart attack brought on by drug overdose. He was 28.

The New York Times reports he was found by a masseuse who had an appointment with Heath this afternoon at 3:31pm.

At 3:31 p.m., a masseuse arrived at Apartment 5A in the building for an appointment with Mr. Ledger, the police said. The masseuse was let in to the home by a housekeeper, who then knocked on the door of Mr. Ledger’s bedroom. When no one answered, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Mr. Ledger unconscious. They shook him, but he did not respond. They immediately called the authorities. The police said they did not suspect foul play and said they found pills near body.

Heath Ledger was born in Perth, Australia, and became well known after appearing in the teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You. He appeared in a variety of films including The Patriot, A Knight’s Tale, and Ned Kelly before breaking seriously into Hollywood with Brokeback Mountain. For this role as a homosexual cowboy he was nominated for an Oscar.

During the filming of Brokeback Mountain he began a relationship with his on-screen wife Michelle Williams, and together they have a two year old daughter Matilda. They broke off their relationship in September 2007.

This is truly awful news, particularly since I am not aware of any history of addiction for Heath, but the holidays can be a very hard time of year for some people. TMZ reports that Heath did have a history of substance abuse, but had been clean for a year.

They also report the death was accidental. The autopsy will be tomorrow.

Heath can currently be seen portraying Bob Dylan in I’m Not There, and he is also playing the Joker in the latest Batman film The Dark Knight. No word on whether filming of his role was complete. Currently he is filming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

Our thoughts go out to Heath’s family and friends.

Some couples make sense together. Some don’t. And some just give you the creeps. The thought of Lindsay Lohan and Heath Ledger falls into the latter category. I can’t say why it sounds so bizarre and disgusting, but it does. To be fair, the thought of anyone with Lindsay Lohan is kind of gross. There’s something so crazy/unbalanced/daddy-issues about her that you just want to tuck her into a nice straightjacket and call it a day. Lindsay broke up with her rehab boyfriend Riley Giles right after Thanksgiving, and has supposedly been hooking up with Heath Ledger since then. Heath Ledger’s personal life doesn’t get a ton of press (at least compared to Lohan’s) and I’m sure he’s no saint, but he still seems way too normal to be with Lohan. Frankly, if the rumors are true, I respect him a lot less now.

She’s only been single a handful of days and already reports have emerged which claim Lindsay Lohan has jumped back on the dating wagon. According to Australia’s New Weekly magazine LiLo - who split from her snowboarder boyfriend Riley Giles last week – is dating actor Heath Ledger.

The publication clams that the Mean Girls star enjoyed a number of late-night sex sessions with the Australian actor after meeting him at New York’s Beatrice Inn over Thanksgiving weekend. “Lindsay and Heath hit it off straight away” claims a source “When she left the club she started texting him straight away and they hooked up a few times while she was still in New York. They were meeting late at night for sex. It was purely physical.”

Meanwhile Ledger – who split from his girlfriend Michelle Williams, with who he has a two-year-old daughter, Matilda – has been linked to a bevy of beauties which include supermodel Helena Christensen. The Brokeback Mountain star has also been spotted on the New York party circuit flirting and “making out” with a string of women.

[From Entertainmentwise]

Again, ew. That’s really all I can say, it’s just a knee-jerk reaction. To go from Michelle Williams to Lindsay Lohan is really letting the world know that you don’t have a “type.” Heath and Michelle seemed pretty down-to-earth, if a little cold and paparazzi hating. They lived in Brooklyn, frequented vegan bakeries, and spent a lot of time in Prospect Park with the other urban yuppies. Lindsay Lohan lives in L.A., frequents bakeries with special brownies, and spends a lot of time sleeping with guys in the park. If nothing else, we can all rest assured it is merely a fling. Has Lohan stayed with anyone more than a few about two months? No Wilmer Valderrama doesn’t count. I don’t know why. But he just doesn’t. Let’s hope Heath has the sense to keep his baby daughter away from Lindsay. I’m not sure if it’s medically possible, but if anyone could give someone Chlamydia just by looking at them, it’s Lindsay Lohan.

Kate Hudson was said to be spotted full-on making out with hair-challenged Heath Ledger. Heath has been said to be trying to get his mojo on all over NY after his split with Michelle Williams and now he seems to have scored briefly with petite Kate. All I could picture when I heard this story was his wispy, greasy hair and those terrible pointy Ray Bans he’s always wearing. (I don’t care how popular they are, they are unflattering on most people.) I hope Kate was drunk because he doesn’t seem attractive to me:

Hudson, having dumped funnyman Shephard, was linked to Dane Cook, but Thursday night she only had eyes for Heath Ledger. Spies at Beatrice Inn said they spent their evening at the trendy watering hole “kissing and making out.” A rep for Hudson said, “This is absolutely untrue. They ran into each other and chatted briefly, but that was the extent of it.” But our spy insists on the liplock.

[From The NYPost]

I guess Kate’s relationship with her ex husband, Chris Robinson, also had people scratching their heads, so I could see her going for Heath. Maybe she’s attracted to personality, not looks, although Ledger seems to be challenged in that department also.

Meanwhile OK! Magazine has a whole article about how Kate and Orlando Bloom were making out at Kate’s Halloween party. They were even said to be kissing in front of Kate’s ex, Dax Shepard, who was said not to mind:

Kate Hudson and Orlando Bloom had a very hot-and-heavy Halloween together, kissing and cuddling at a fun costume party, a source says. The cute Hollywood stars were spotted enjoying a hot makeout session at a spooky bash on Oct. 27, thrown by Kate in her Pacific Palisades home. Kate, who was wearing a sexy nurse costume, smooched the hot Brit, Orlando, and later told friends, “He’s a great kisser!”…

“Kate and Orlando were talking, drinking and laughing,” says one partygoer. “Then, they just started going at it! They made out for ages and looked like they were really enjoying themselves. They didn’t care who was watching. After that first makeout session, they walked around and talked to everyone as a couple. They were inseparable for the rest of the night.”

[From OK! Magazine, print edition, November 19, 2007]

The article goes on to quote a source who says “They’re not dating… [Kate’s] happy to be single. [She] said ‘I just want to have fun. I don’t want to be tied down.’”

It looks like Kate certainly is enjoying herself with hot young Hollywood guys. Let’s hope she picks Orlando and not Heath, or maybe she’ll continue her lip locking tour with a different single actor. She’s so cute with Matthew McConaughey on screen, and I know he’s engaged and all but the least they could do is makeout once for the sake of their careers as co-stars in stupid romantic comedies.

Kate Hudson is shown at a Premiere magazine party on 1/4/07. Heath Ledger is shown on 9/4/07 at the Venice Film Festival “I’m Not There” photocall. Orlando Bloom is seen on 11/2/07 at the “Antarctica: The Global Warning Exhibition” in Hollywood. Thanks to PRPhotos.

Heath Ledger is rumored to be in talks to reprise his character Ennis Del Mar in a second installment of Brokeback Mountain. The groundbreaking film chronicled the secret ongoing affair of two cowboys that spanned two decades starting in the repressed 1960s West. Ledger’s lover, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is killed toward the end of the film a few months after they had a falling out.

—spoilers if you have not seen the movie yet—

The film is said to take place after the last, with only Ledger returning since Gyllenhaal’s character is deceased. OK! says Brokeback 2 will chronicle Ennis coming out of the closet in 1963 Wyoming, but it seems like they’re mistaken about the timeline. The last Brokeback movie ended some 20 years after 1963, in the 1980s.

Have you ever wondered what happened to Brokeback Mountain’s closeted Ennis Del Mar after the heartbreaking loss of his lover Jack Twist? Wonder no more: A sequel is in the works!

Although we won’t be seeing his pal Jake Gyllenhaal, 26, Heath Ledger, 28, is currently in negotiations to reprise his role as Ennis. “It will follow the nasty process of being openly gay in 1963 Wyoming, an insider tells OK!. “Ennis will finally come out of the closet.”

[From OK! Magazine]

I’m not really sure they would make a sequel to this film, and it sounds like just a rumor for now. It’s the kind of film that seems to have too much integrity for a sequel, and just following the guy as he struggles to come to terms with his sexual identity sounds like it isn’t much of a plot. Still, if Ang Lee directs again it could be as rich and strong a story as the first, and I know I would watch it.

There’s economic incentive too. Brokeback is the eighth highest grossing romantic drama of all time, according to Wikipedia.

Heath Leger and Michelle Williams lead a very low-key lifestyle in Brooklyn punctuated by the occasional annoying paparazzo who catches them going about their daily business with surly looks on their faces. They have a daughter who will be two next month, Matilda, and have been together for a little over two three years. There was a story first reported by DListed that they applied for a marriage license in Brooklyn, but it was never confirmed that there was an actual ceremony. They were spotted wearing what appeared to be wedding rings, but they could have been symbolic and don’t necessarily mean they were legally married.

Now US Weekly is reporting that they split up “quietly and amicably” a few weeks ago:

A source close to the couple tells Us that Heath and Michelle “quietly and amicably split a few weeks ago.”

“The relationship had been rocky recently. They tried very hard to make it work but finally decided to separate. They just grew apart.”

The couple, who live in Brooklyn, NY and have a daughter, Mathilda, 23 months, met on the set of Brokeback Mountain in 2005.

“They have a beautiful daughter and they are both committed to being great parents.”

[From US Weekly]

Heath and Michelle’s reps haven’t commented on their supposed split yet.

I guess in all those candids of them looking miserable they really were miserable. They must have had that in common though, and maybe what once brought them together slowly eroded their relationship until there was nothing left. It’s sad when people break up, but they’re not my favorite celebrities and I can’t deny the schadenfreude I feel at hearing that they’ve broken up.

I’m interested to see if they really are married or not. Now that they’re breaking up we’ll probably get more details as the legal papers come out.

Heath Ledger is working on the Batman Begins sequel, in which he will play the role of Joker. Michelle Williams is looking busy lately too. According to IMDB she has four movies coming out next year, two of which she’s finished filming. Maybe they were both so wrapped up in their work they didn’t have time for each other and just drifted apart. Or maybe Heath was jealous that he wasn’t getting as much work as her.

In the header image Heath and Michelle are shown at the Independent Spirit Awards in February, and on vacation a while ago in the photo below.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is playing Katie Holmes’ old character on the latest Batman sequel, The Dark Knight, which is filming now. Hair-challenged Heath Ledger (not that there’s anything wrong with that, shave it off though and work The Bruce instead of The Donald) is playing villian Joker, but he was a hero on set when he saved Maggie when her clothes accidentally caught fire.

There were pyrotechnics as part of a scene they were filming, and the machine creating the fire fell over and Maggie’s skirt caught on fire. Heath jumped on top of her to put out the fire. This story sounds somewhat plausible except for the ending, which is cheesy to say the least:

Heath Ledger… jumped in to save the day when co-star Maggie Gyllenhaal’s clothes caught fire on the set of the Batman sequel, “The Dark Knight!” The scary accident occurred during a scene where The Joker confronts Maggie’s dishy district attorney character - and a pyrotechnics display suddenly explodes behind him, sending fireworks rocketing high into the air. Instead, the special effects generator toppled over - and balls of flame jetted at Maggie, who screamed as sparks set her skirt ablaze!

Quicker than you can say: “Holy fireworks, Batmant,” Heath threw himself on top of Maggie and pushed her down, smothering the flames with his body. Crewmembers raced to the rescue, but Heath was already helping shaken Maggie up, checking her charred skirt for stray sparks. “I’m fine,” she reassured everyone - then thanked Heath with a peck on the cheek. Snarked the macho star: “I got a better kiss from your brother!”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, Mike Walker’s column, August 27, 2007]

There seems to be a hero story every week in that guy Mike Walker’s column in The Enquirer, so I’m not entirely convinced this is true. There are two famous people involved and it happened on a crowded set, so it seems more likely in that it’s a verifiable incident.

If so, it’s a damn good story, especially with the bit about Heath telling Maggie that her brother was a better kisser! That’s priceless.

Maggie Gyllenhaal has said that she’s going to play Holmes’ former character as herself and that ““I’m not walking into Katie Holmes’ performance. I’m thinking of it as an opportunity to play somebody who’s alive and smart. Chris (Nolan the director) asked me to do this because he wanted me, not because he wants some generic lady in a dress.” It sounds like a dig at Katie Holmes to me. I wonder what would have happened if her skirt caught on fire. One of her Scientology minders would have probably been there with a hose and then given her some vitamins to cure the burn.