Hollywood Director Shares Call He Received from Heath Ledger's Father at Scene of Actor's Death

A Hollywood director has opened up about the phone call he received from Heath Ledger’s father at the scene of the actor’s death. 

Speaking on the latest episode of author Malcolm Gladwell's podcast Revisionist History, director Stephen Gaghan shared how he got a call from Ledger’s dad Kim and the actor's close friend after the star was found dead in his New York apartment in January 2008.

Gaghan, 58, explained how at the time he and Ledger were working on a film adaptation of Gladwell’s book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, and the script for the movie was found in bed with Ledger.

“I got a phone call, they were on speakerphone and it was Heath Ledger’s father, who I’d never met ... and a guy who was really close to him. They were there with the body, and our script was in bed with him, and your book was on the bedside table,” Gaghan told Gladwell. “I think my number was on the script — like written. These guys are in, as you can imagine, they are in shock. And they dialed that number, and I don’t know why.”

Gaghan, who has directed films including Syriana, Rules of Engagement and Dolittle, went on to share his reaction to the tragic news, which he received while was he was at an airport with his wife, Minnie Mortimer. 

“I literally just collapse. It’s never happened to me before or since,” Gaghan said. “My feet went out from under me. I just literally sat down because I was like, ‘What? What?’ The emotion, what they were going through, I should not have been a party to in any way, really, and yet as a human and somebody who just cares, I just was there and I was listening. My wife was looking at me. I remember her face and I was just speechless. I just listened and listened and listened. It was just really, really sad. And it’s still sad.”

Ledger, who was 28 at the time of his death, died due to an accidental drug overdose.

Gaghan said that the shock of The Dark Knight star’s death meant that the movie, which was originally going to star Leonardo DiCpario, never got made.

“For me, I just had to put a pin in it,” said Gaghan, adding that he had become “very close” with Ledger and the pair shared a “real connection.” 

However, Gaghan went on to admit that revisiting the script before going on the podcast had made him realize just how special it was.

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“I got it out right before we got on. I was reading it … I was like, ‘I could be crazy, but I think this script is really good,’ ” he told Gladwell.

“Maybe it’s time to bring Blink back to life,” added Gladwell. “If there’s someone listening in some big office somewhere in Hollywood, I will get on a plane tomorrow, if that’s what it takes.”

In 2016, Ledger’s dad Kim recalled the last conversation Heath’s sister Kate had with the actor the night before he died.

“The last conversation Kate had with him was this discussion about his medications, and she warned him, ‘You can’t mix drugs that you don’t know anything about,’ ” Kim told news.com.au. “He said ‘Katie, Katie, I’ll be fine.’ Well, that’s a cavalier boy’s answer. It just put his whole system to sleep I guess.”

The New York City loft where Ledger died sold for $14.3 million last year. The condo unit, which was located in downtown Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood, was sold to an LLC, according to property records obtained by PEOPLE.