At 23, Heath Ledger was already a Hollywood star when he arrived back in Australia for the release of Ned Kelly in 2003. He had made his name with 10 Things I Hate About You, The Patriot and A Knight's Tale, then emerged as a serious actor in Monster's Ball. But it was refreshing how much he played down his stardom and referred to himself repeatedly during an interview as still being a kid.
"I just live in my own little world," Ledger said as he fiddled with a plastic cigarette lighter in a Melbourne hotel room. "I'm very content in that. For the past eight months, I've been sitting on my arse in LA in my home with my puppy dogs living a normal life."
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Arriving back to see his face on Ned Kelly posters was a reminder of what he had become. "Up until this point, I've just been a normal kid doing my washing at home," he said.
Ledger, who was so polite during the interview that he jumped up to answer the phone and directed the caller to a publicist downstairs (sheepishly explaining "that was my next interview"), was dressed like a knockabout drama student in ripped jeans, a T-shirt and a no-fuss jumper that he sniffed at one point as if wondering whether it needed a wash.
![Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams at the Academy Awards, where he was nominated for Brokeback Mountain in 2006.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170519025054im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/6/l/j/0/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gw5xwu.png/1495094675013.jpg)
Confirming that he had turned down playing Alexander the Great for Oliver Stone because it was such a huge movie – "I'm young; I want to pace it out a little bit" – Ledger talked about wanting to play boxer Les Darcy and maybe shooting a film with Joel Edgerton "about kids my age and how we interact".
That was one of a few insights into Ledger's life I had over the years. Another was when he turned up bright-eyed and warmly enthusiastic when it seemed certain Two Hands would win best film at the Sydney Film Festival in 1999. He managed to seem not too disappointed when the award went to Soft Fruit.
Then there was the extraordinary Sydney press conference after the premiere of the trailer – yes, just the trailer – for The Patriot in 2000. Young women turned up from everywhere to ask such questions as whether he thought American women were sexier than Australian women ("ah, no"), how he felt about topping a reader's poll of sexy men ("pretty sexy"), whether his girlfriend was Australian ("yes") and what Hollywood's next big thing – impossibly handsome and charismatic at 20 – did in his spare time ("my washing").
While there are no references to his apparent love for washing in the documentary I Am Heath Ledger, which opened last weekend, it's a reminder of how unspeakably sad it was when he died from an accidental prescription drug overdose aged 28 in 2008.
![Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger in The Patriot.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170519025054im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/6/l/k/i/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gw5xwu.png/1495094675013.jpg)
Given one of its directors has also made "I Am" documentaries on late celebrities such as Bruce Lee, NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt and Evel Knievel – all requiring the co-operation of the subject's estate – the film was always going to be more of a warm tribute than a definitive look at the actor's life.
It aims to correct the record about Ledger's death – that he was happy at the time rather than exhausted and troubled by playing the Joker in The Dark Knight – and reveals a couple of fascinating things.
![Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170519025054im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/6/l/i/q/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gw5xwu.png/1495094675013.jpg)
Ledger was a brilliant chess player who was close to grandmaster status. And while he left behind two performances that are among the best by anyone, anywhere in recent decades – in Brokeback Mountain and The Dark Knight – he was devoted to learning how to use a camera. He was making music videos on the way to directing his first film, which was to have been The Queen's Gambit, about a female chess prodigy.
Having focused on becoming an artist rather than a star, Ledger's filmmaking career would have been something to see.
![Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170519025054im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/6/l/k/b/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gw5xwu.png/1495094675013.jpg)
What a talent. And, even now, what a sad, sad loss.
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