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Thursday, March 6, 2008

Fictojournalism

posted by on March 6 at 11:47 AM

Esquire sent a reporter to cover Heath Ledger’s final days. There apparently wasn’t enough ‘there’ there, and so they just published a first-person, fictionalized account of Ledger’s last weekend.

From the introduction (emphasis mine throughout):

To write a conceivable chronicle of Heath Ledger’s final days, writer Lisa Taddeo visited the actor’s neighborhood, talked to the store owners and bartenders who may have seen him during his last week, and read as many accounts and rumors about the events surrounding his death as possible. She filled in the rest with her imagination. The result is what we call reported fiction.

And from the beginning of the story:

For me, it was just like any other weekend in my life. I didn’t eat a last meal, I didn’t jerk off any more or any less, I didn’t climb a mountain or end up swinging from a noose with Mozart’s Requiem in the background. But suddenly it’s important exactly what I did, because they are the last few days, and what you do in the last few days, down to your last lunch, becomes a fairy tale.

If you force me to make my last weekend a microcosm of my existence, and what my existence means to you, then I’ll tell you how it went and who I played. But first things first: It was an accident. I’m not some fucked-up star who couldn’t deal. I could deal; I just couldn’t sleep.

If you’re at all interested, you should read it now, before it gets pulled.

RSS icon Comments

1

That looks awful, I'm not going to read it. Did she really have to mention jerking off in the second sentence? In any interview I've ever seen, Heath Ledger didn't talk like that. Generally I'm all for anything inappropriate or irreverent, but... yech.

Posted by Aislinn | March 6, 2008 1:04 PM
2

The Stranger needs to sue Esquire for ripping off their idea: fictojournalism. Sorry, I mean the Onion, with the Stranger 'borrowing' it from the other half of Tim Keck's head.

Posted by wbrproductions | March 6, 2008 1:15 PM
3

Now that they're legal, I'm looking forward to some good Olsen Twin slash fiction....

Posted by NapoleonXIV | March 6, 2008 1:47 PM
4

Why do journalists continue to think they can mimic Hunter Thompson? It always ends with epic failure.

Posted by laterite | March 6, 2008 2:26 PM
5

Where's the computer simulation?

Posted by Chris in Tampa | March 6, 2008 4:43 PM

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