Hollywood What If Chapter 539
The whole country was shocked by the news. Celebrities having drug overdoses were quite common, but still surprising news. Celebrities had many scandals, but drug overdose was usually connected to death.
Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, two very famous celebrities whom even foreigners recognized by name and face, died because of an overdose. This showed how serious the topic was.
Marilyn Monroe died of a barbiturate overdose, and the police deemed it a classified suicide... Some rumors said that it was not a suicide and that someone wanted her dead, but no evidence could prove this information.
Because of multiple drug prescriptions, Elvis Presley suffered a heart attack in his bathroom.
These were just some of the celebrities who died because of drug overdose.
What happened to Heath Ledger made Americans more conscious of what they were consuming.
Furthermore, the fact that Heath Ledger was still unconscious for three days straight made the incident the focus of the nation.
So many people were waiting for Heath to wake up. However, it had been three days and there was no positive news coming.
Fans started gathering at the hospital where Heath was confined, hoping to hear the good news first. If you didn't know the context, you might think that a riot was happening in front of the hospital because of so many people gathering there.
Because of this, many news stories related to drug overdose started spreading... Warner Brothers was one of the factors that contributed to this.
Of course, it couldn't be helped that news related to drug overdose spread, as many publishers joined the topic. News publishers loved latching on to sensational events like this. However, Warner Brothers also fanned the flame and made the topic even bigger.
Naturally, they always included terms such as Heath Ledger and his relationship with The Dark Knight as The Joker.
Articles such as Heath Ledger becoming depressed because of his role as the Joker were published. They said that taking the role of the Joker made Heath use prescription drugs to adapt to the role.
Many people became curious about his role in The Dark Knight. They wanted to know what kind of role made Heath succumb to prescription drugs.
However, sources reported that Heath Ledger had been using prescription drugs long before his role in The Dark Knight. He was suffering from insomnia and used sleeping pills.
But it didn't matter, Warner Brothers wanted to make sure that anything related to Heath Ledger and drug overdose would lead people to the theaters to watch The Dark Knight.
For a moment, some people in the management of Warner Brothers felt that Kazir's decision to highlight the Joker's role in the movie was the right move. With this, the audience would understand how serious the role of the Joker was.
They were thankful that they followed Kazir's edited version. The Joker's performance in The Dark Knight was outstanding. No one would expect Heath Ledger to pull off the role. In a way, this was Warner Brothers' method to support Heath Ledger. Actors wanted to see their roles loved by the audience.
It didn't change the fact that Warner Brothers took advantage of Heath Ledger's situation, which was a dick move in terms of morality but an amazing move from a business standpoint.
Still, everyone was hoping that Heath Ledger would wake up. Even his co-stars were waiting for him to wake up. His family was seriously worried about him.
But seven days after the incident, Heath Ledger was still in a coma. This caused the community to further focus on the situation. People were praying. People were holding charity events. Even illegal drug usage was lowered because of this incident.
People became scared of suffering the same fate.
As for the crew members and the cast of The Dark Knight, they were bound by contract to attend the premiere of the film.
On the red carpet, many things focused on Heath Ledger, most of the interviews were related to him. It was not a lie that Warner Brothers used Heath Ledger as the main focus of their promotion.
They even created a short video about Heath Ledger and all the good things he had done, and released it on their TV network to stir the hearts of the people... For the record, the actor was just in come, not dead.
"I hope Heath will wake up. We miss you, man."
Christian Bale replied and went to the stage with a somber expression. This whole week was too much for everyone involved. Christian had a hard time sleeping because of the incident... He thought of taking sleeping pills, but he immediately said no to the idea.
The cast of The Dark Knight was busy.
He had complicated thoughts about using Heath Ledger as a form of promotion because he felt like he was taking advantage of a man currently suffering from a dangerous situation. Unfortunately, Warner Brothers was adamant about including it.
Yet it couldn't be denied that the emotions of the people were at their peak because of this incident. They were all sad yet ready to consume a superhero movie as a way to support Heath.
By the way, Warner Brothers announced that 3% of the profits from The Dark Knight would go to charities and drug awareness campaigns... Yes, this was a form of tax deduction. Warner Brothers was really taking advantage of the situation.
Heath's tragedy happened a week before the release of The Dark Knight, and Warner Brothers was going all out to make sure that people wouldn't forget it.