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Heath Ledger was working on his directorial debut before death

Heath Ledger, who was a chess fanatic, wanted his first directorial venture to be titled, The Queen's Gambit.

By: PTI
New York | May 17, 2017 01:04 PM IST

2 min read

‘I Am Heath Ledger’, a documentary on the late actor Heath Ledger will receive a digital release on May 23.

Heath Ledger was happily living out his career-long dream to become a feature film director. Released in May, a new documentary ‘I Am Heath’ sheds light on The Queen’s Gambit, the star’s unfinished passion project, which bears an uncanny resemblance to the actor’s life. Based on a novel, the tale centres on a chess prodigy who develops a reliance on drugs and alcohol, Elle noted the coincidence reporting: ‘his choice of material only feels more heartbreaking given the murky circumstances of his death.’

While scant details about the film’s early stages production were available around the time of his death, the all-access documentary revealed that The Dark Knight legend was himself a devoted chess fanatic. At age 10, Heath was the junior chess champion of his home state Western Australia, continuing his passion even after he found fame.When he was living in New York, the megastar would regularly stop-off in the city’s famed Washington Square Park to challenge other chess fanatics.’And the culmination of that hobby, his acting experience, and his directorial aspirations was to be a film called The Queen’s Gambit,’ the publication added.

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Ledger, who was a chess fanatic, wanted his first directorial venture to be titled as The Queen’s Gambit. The story of the film was based on the novel by Walter Tevis about a chess prodigy who develops a reliance on drugs and alcohol.

Ledger died of cardiac arrest brought about by combined drug intoxication on January 22, 2008. I Am Heath Ledger will receive a digital release on May 23rd.

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