National Award-winning director was supposed to meet Heath Ledger the day he died: ‘Call me at 9’

The director avoided calling Heath Ledger, thinking that he shouldn't disturb him in the morning. He would soon find out that Ledger had died.

Heath Ledger died in 2008. (Photo: Express Archive)

Mere months before he shook the world with his performance as the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, actor Heath Ledger was found unresponsive and lying face down by his housekeeper. It was January 22. The same day, he had a meeting with his The Four Feathers director and friend Shekhar Kapur. They were supposed to discuss a new film together, which unfortunately never panned out.

In a recent interview with Filmfare, the filmmaker spoke about Ledger’s passing. He shared, “I was in New York and we were supposed to meet. He had come from overseas to New York. He was living in New York during those days and he was very jet-lagged. So he said, ‘Shekhar, call me at 9 in the morning and we will meet at 11. I have a massage or something.’ Because I am very close, I said, ‘You come here to Deepak Chopra’s massage centre. We will do that there. We will chat.’ He said, ‘Okay.'”

He added, “I was going to call him at 9 in the morning and I thought to myself, ‘Poor guy, he is jet-lagged.’ We made this very big kind of film and he was shooting for the Joker. And I thought, ‘Well, he is really tired and I think I should not bother him. At 11, I came back to Deepak Chopra’s apartment and he said, ‘Shekhar, sit down.’ I sat down. He said, ‘Heath Ledger is dead.’ I said, ‘No, he is coming here at 11. He will be here soon.’ He said, ‘No, he is dead.’ So that’s how I found out.”

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Previously, in an Instagram live with Manoj Bajpayee, Shekhar shared, “I worked with this fantastic actor called Heath Ledger and I did one of his first films. I was in New York and we were talking about a film we were going to do — The Nine O’clock War — and he was going to do the lead role in it. We were going to meet.”

He added, “He called me and he said, ‘Shekhar, mind if we don’t meet this evening? I am a little jet-lagged. Let’s meet tomorrow.’ I said okay. He said, ‘Call me at 9:30, just wake me up.’ At 9:30 in the morning, I felt, ‘I shouldn’t really wake him up. He is jet-lagged.’ Around 11:30, the friend I was staying with said, ‘Shekhar, sit down, I have something to tell you. Heath Ledger is dead.’ I said, ‘Hang on, I just spoke to him.’ And he was gone.”

Ledger’s death was ruled an accidental overdose. He won a posthumous Oscar for The Dark Knight, which remains one of the best-regarded superhero movies of all time. Shekhar Kapur is best known for directing Bandit Queen, Mr India, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

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