Memories of my mate Heath
One of Heath Ledger’s childhood friends tells Jack van Beynen he was ‘‘blessed’’ to have the late actor in his life.
Heath Ledger’s death in 2008 sparked a media frenzy of rare intensity. People with only tenuous connections to the Oscar-winning Australian actor spoke to the press, prompting at-times wild speculation about his mental state and the cause of his death.
Watching it all, bemused, was Ledger’s childhood friend, the musician N’fa Forster-Jones. ‘‘When you see the circus that happened after his passing it was pretty...’’ He trails off. Forster-Jones is speaking on the phone from Melbourne, Australia, where he lives with his family.
‘‘I didn’t do any interviews with anyone. I saw people jump on and do stuff and I thought it was a bit weird.’’
Forster-Jones grew up in the same Perth suburb as Ledger, and the two went to kindergarten together. Although they went to different primary schools, they reconnected at Guildford Grammar School, where they were part of a tight-knit group of mates who remained firm friends up to and after Ledger’s death.
‘‘[It was] a strange year group,’’ Forster-Jones says. ‘‘We’ve all stayed tight, that doesn’t usually happen. Especially as Heath didn’t really like school all that much.’’
Forster-Jones and Ledger had lots in common. At high school, people said they were ‘‘like slightly different versions of each other’’.
‘‘That wasn’t me who said it, that was what everyone else used to say. We were both a similar height, both sports kids, both into music and drama,’’ Forster-Jones says.
When Ledger moved to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career, he’d call Forster-Jones in the middle of the night to catch up.
‘‘He’d talk to me about all these crappy soapy roles he was being offered, and how hungry he was, and crashing parties where he knew there would be free food and drink. He knew how to have fun.
‘‘I talked to him about my music and what I was up to. I think he kind of liked hearing from someone who was going through, not the same thing, but someone who was having a creative existence and succeeding like I was with my music.’’
Ledger would come to Forster-Jones’ concerts, both solo and with band 1200 Techniques, when he was performing in the US or Ledger was in Australia. ‘‘He was a supportive friend, that was just what he was like.’’
Ledger directed two music videos for
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This 10-part series, made to celebrate this North American nation’s 150th anniversary this past year, uses CGI and a Forster-Jones’ debut solo album, Cause An Effect. They filmed it in a Sydney garage with props the pair had picked up from second-hand shops around the city. The experience showed Forster-Jones Ledger’s potential as a director.
‘‘I just enjoyed watching him do his thing as a director. I always figured he was going to become a director. I always saw him becoming that. Most of his acting career he directed himself through,’’ Forster-Jones says.
Forster-Jones hasbeen approached numerous times by documentarymakers wanting to make films about the actor, but until recently, he has refused.
He was convinced to open up on camera by Matt Amato, the executive producer of the film I Am Heath Ledger. Amato was Ledger’s friend and partner in their production company, The Masses. He told Jones that Ledger’s family and friends were involved in the documentary and had given it their blessing.
‘‘I’ve been approached plenty of times by other people trying to make docos [about Ledger] but I just wasn’t about it. But this one was a bit different because Matt was involved and it sort of felt more in the family, and I sort of thought, ‘OK, this will be the one I do, and that’ll be that’.’’
Forster-Jones also saw the documentary as an opportunity to put an end to some of the speculation surrounding his friend’s life – for example, the idea that Ledger’s
I'm blessed to have been a part of his journey, and blessed to have him be part of mine. I still think about him and lessons and things he said to me." N'fa Forster-Jones
cast of celebrity interviews to take viewers inside the country’s biggest stories. As the publicity states, it features 50 stories of ‘‘change makers and rule breakers, dreamers and visionaries, commitment to his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight contributed in some way to his death.
Jones spent time with Ledger while he was filming The Dark Knight and saw no sign that the role was taking a toll on his mental state.
‘‘I was hanging out with him between takes ... [We] had lunch and he’d go, ‘Man, I got the s... kicked out of me today by Batman, it was awesome’. It’s not like he was walking around being all dark all day. He was just being him, and when it was time, it was time.’’
As for the documentary? ForsterJones says the film, which uses a trove of intimate footage of Ledger filmed by his friends and by the actor himself, is a ‘‘beautiful celebration’’ of his time on Earth.
‘‘You can take a documentary in a lot of ways. I’m sure people will try to make other ones, try to make things all dark and leery and stuff, but you know, that’s just weird people. I thought they
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did a beautiful job.’’
Forster-Jones says the documentary will form a nice ‘‘visual message’’ for Ledger’s daughter Matilda, who was just 3 when the actor died.
The film also reminded him of how lucky he is to have known Ledger. ‘‘It was fortunate I guess that I happened to live in the same hills and attend the same daycare and go to the same high school and have the same interests and be his friend. It was just cool.
‘‘I’m blessed to have been a part of his journey, and blessed to have him be part of mine. I still think about him and lessons and things he said to me. It will stay with me forever.’’
❚ I Am Heath Ledger
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