I Am Heath Ledger Page #3

---

who's out there waiting.

Okay.

Hey.

Did they know?

Okay, he's not there.

Let's keep on looking.

Down here.

Good Lord.

It was an effort.

Thank God I made it.

What's this? A message?

It must be from him.

Oh, my God...

The screen test for The Patriot

came up with Mel Gibson,

who's the biggest

Australian movie star.

That was one of his idols,

and he loved,

you know, Mad Max and...

It was a huge,

huge thing for him.

It was an actual screen test

and costume on the set

with the main star.

I was halfway

through the second scene

that I had to read for them,

and words were just bluhblbl,

coming out like this,

and so I just stopped

and stood up

and I said, "I'm sorry.

I'm wasting your time."

Heath called me and said,

"They're not calling you

on this one.

I just didn't do well,"

and it was something,

enough there

that Roland Emmerich

and the studio and Mel

all looked at each other

and, I think, said,

"You know, let's take a shot."

So this is, um,

first day shooting.

This is the first day

on The Patriot for me.

I'm looking forward to it.

It's been three months since

I found out I got this job,

and finally, after three months

of sitting around

thinking about it,

I get to go out there

and do it.

This is it.

So...

Blink my eyes,

and it'll be out there.

Guys, guys,

Heath's here, guys.

Everybody look alive.

It was a huge production.

It was a little terrifying

to be in another city

with no friends,

and you're just sitting there

on your own.

It's a lonely life.

Cut.

That's why he took me

to most places

is that it was us.

Hee hee hee hee.

We met riding our bikes

out in the street,

and we just became

best friends.

We felt...

at home together.

You could tell that he was...

he wanted to do a good job.

He was still learning.

I'm not going back.

No, I didn't

expect you would.

That Gates is a damn fool.

He spent too many years

in the British army.

Going muzzle to muzzle with

Redcoats in open field...

it's madness.

He called me one day

from the set,

really upset.

He was having a hard time,

and he was struggling,

just a crisis of confidence.

He was probably, in his head,

he's standing across

from his idol,

acting with Mel Gibson.

For a young Aussie kid,

it was a lot.

He would get caught up

in the fear

of whether or not

he could accomplish

what he wanted to do.

He kind of almost pulled out

of every movie

he ever ended up doing.

It's kind of

a rule of thumb for me

to self-doubt,

always think

that I shouldn't be doing it,

and I don't know how to do it,

and I'm going to fail,

and that I fooled them,

and I always try

and find a way out.

And he got past it,

and Mel was great.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes