First Official Pictures of Heath Ledger in his Final Role Released

When Heath Ledger tragically passed away in January, he left behind an impressive body of work for a man who only lived until 28. Ledger’s films ranged from teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You, to the historical action film The Patriot, to the anachronistic action-comedy A Knight’s Tale, to award winning films such as Monster’s Ball and Brokeback Mountain. And of course, his amazing performance as The Joker in this summer’s The Dark Knight.

But The Dark Knight will not be Ledger’s final film appearance. Before his death, Ledger had begun work with Terry Gilliam, who he also worked with in 2005’s The Brothers Grimm (which is a terribly underrated movie, by the way), on a film entitled The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus. Only one third of Ledger’s scenes had been shot, so the fate of the film was in jeopardy.

However, the bright side is that this is a Gilliam project and his surrealist bend can account for just about anything. The remaining scenes for Ledger’s character were played by Jude Law, Colin Farrel and Johnny Depp. And if you know anything about Gilliam? It will all make perfect sense in a way that makes absolutely no sense and somehow you’re perfectly comfortable with that.

Now, new pictures have surfaced of Ledger in the role of Tony, an “outsider” to the immortal Parnassus’ magical circus troupe. Like I said, it’s Gilliam.

The film also features Christopher Plummer as Dr. Parnassus and Tom Waits as the Devil.. It is set to release in 2009.