Video clips surface from Heath Ledger's Nick Drake video

About a month after actor Heath Ledger’s death, a haunting video tribute he filmed in memory of British folk singer Nick Drake has raised many questions about the actor’s state of mind during his last days.

Stereogum reports that Ledger directed, filmed and acted in a video set to Drake’s song “Black-Eyed Dog,” a term used by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to describe depression. Portions of the video are now available on YouTube, interspersed with an Australian news report:

Ledger was a long-time admirer of Drake and his music, and made the film for an exhibition honoring the musician’s life. Drake died at the age of 25 of an overdose of antidepressant pills, and Ledger’s accidental overdose of prescription sleeping pills in January struck many as eerily similar. Both Drake and Ledger were artists passionate about their craft, and both appear to have been immersed in a deep state of depression during their final days.

Ledger’s video of “Black-Eyed Dog” is very dark, featuring images of the actor spinning over and over again in a field and ultimately drowning in a bathtub. In light of his tragic death, many are wondering whether the video reflects a sense of hopelessness and despair that Ledger could have been feeling before he died.

Whether the project was simply an artistic outlet or a veiled cry for help is impossible to determine. But many may choose to view the video for another reason—that it was one of Ledger’s last projects, one very close to his heart.

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