Ledger, Murphy collide in bat cave
Actors talked into the wee hours
Published: Saturday, September 09, 2006
Oh, well. "Fame is a fickle food upon a shifting plate." So wrote Emily Dickinson. And while the spread was a melange downtown, some blocks up there was also plenty to snack on. That's where at Lobby, on Bloor, a late-night buddy-buddy act formed between Heath Ledger and Cillian Murphy.
The guys were at different booths at the back of the newly redone bar, but, once introduced, they certainly weren't. The two of them, I can confirm, got on like Buckingham Palace on fire.
The Irishman is here starring in a film that was a Cannes favourite, The Wind that Shakes the Barley. Heath, the Australian, is here promoting the intriguing Candy. But for those of us who know our Variety, there was a subtext to their fast-growing acquaintance: While Cillian played Mr. Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins last year, Heath, nominated more recently for Brokeback Mountain, has already signed on to be in the upcoming Bruce Wayne sequel. As the Joker.
Were some Batty tips passed on? We certainly think so. In fact, Cillian, who's the biggest acting name out of Ireland since Colin Farrell and is the spooky-eyed fella from films such as Red Eye and Breakfast on Pluto, didn't leave his Gotham cohort until about 3:30 a.m.
"His driver was waiting for him for hours," a spy tells me. "Because he said he was leaving hours ago."
Of Heath - who earlier in the day stopped by solo at Il Posto in Yorkvile, where he read a book and ate some soup - our spy tells us this: "He's a ratty-looking dude."
Certainly, that night he was in a very different mood from earlier that day, when he told a Canadian Press reporter than he and wife Michelle Williams are not into partying.
For the record, Ledger told Canadian Press: "I'm up at 5:30 or 6 every morning and in bed at 9. But it's fine, and the one thing I realize is that before Matilda, we were just sleeping in too long. We were missing out on so much of the day. I get much more done now. I feel more focused. And I actually need to go to bed at 9 now -- I feel it in my bones."
Brutal. Psychotic. All about the eyes. Weeeeeee!!!
I like what i'm hearing though from Ledger. 
