Maggie Gyllenhaal has hit out at the media for their reporting tactics after the death of fellow actor Heath Ledger – branding the industry “disrespectful”.

The Secretary star blasted journalists for their style of reporting after the tragic death of the Australian actor, insisting she was “shocked” by the way they tackled the sensitive issue.

Gyllenhaal starred opposite Ledger in his final full film, The Dark Knight, in which he stars as Batman’s nemesis, The Joker.

And the actress – whose brother, Jake Gyllenhaal, featured alongside Ledger in 2005′s Brokeback Mountain – reveals her co-star and friend’s untimely death has taken its toll on her.

She tells Britain’s Empire magazine, “It’s hard to talk about how it’s (Ledger’s death) affected me personally. It’s been really hard for me.” (And) the media has shocked me with the way that they’ve been disrespectful in some ways.”

Ledger was found dead in his New York apartment in January. Toxicology reports released a month later state he was killed by an accidental overdose of prescribed medication.

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It’s been five months since Heath Ledger’s shocking death at age 28. But the young actor was still very much on the minds of his colleagues at Thursday night’s Australians in Film 2008 Breakthrough Awards in Beverly Hills.

The emotional highlight of the evening came when Gregor Jordan – who became good friends with Ledger after directing him in 1999′s Two Hands – announced the formation of a Heath Ledger scholarship fund to help struggling Australian actors.

Long before the success of Brokeback Mountain, the director recalled, Ledger was just “your old, broke Aussie actor.” Once, things got so bad, in fact, Jordan said he had to loan his friend a few hundred bucks.

“The first thing he does with the money is go into a bar and buy everyone … a round of drinks,” remembered Jordan, who also worked with Ledger on Ned Kelly. “It is that generosity that somehow sums Heath up. When he had nothing, he still found a way to give to others.”

A Generous Heart
While details of the scholarship are still “a little sketchy,” Jordan admitted, the plan is to select one young Australian actor each year and give him or her the chance to “crack it” in Hollywood. (The first scholarship is due to be awarded in 2009.)

“It’s going to involve a number of benefactors and there’s been a lot of interest already,” the director explained. His voice cracking with emotion, he added: “I was talking to Michelle Williams, his partner and the mother of his child, today and Michelle has said she would be very proud and happy to be the first benefactor.”

At that pronouncement, the crowd erupted in loud applause.

Although Ledger’s father, Kim, could not attend, he did ask for a letter to be read aloud. “We know that Heath would be proud of his attachment to this scholarship,” wrote the surviving Ledger. “[It] does what Heath has done personally during the last 10 years …, [supporting] Australian actors, singers, directors or writers who seek to supply their talents to the U.S.A.”

One of the night’s honorees, Abbie Cornish, also paid tribute to Ledger, her costar in 2006′s Candy. “Heath’s a magical guy,” she told People. “Really incredible in every way – as a human being and as an artist.”

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After nearly five months, Mary-Kate Olsen still refuses to speak about the fact that she was the first person called after Heath Ledger was found dead in his apartment.

“I’m not going to comment on that,” Olsen, who turns 22 on June 13, tells Elle in its July issue. “I won’t give you a word about that in the nicest way possible. Let’s move on.”

The actress, who said in a statement last January that “Heath was a “friend” and “his death is a tragic loss,” also keeps mum about being a celebrity.

“It’s not a part of my life. It’s a media perception of who I am,” she tells the magazine. “It’s very weird. I mean, if I see a paparazzi shot of me walking that’s in a magazine or something at some event, it’s as if I see it from an outsider’s point of view. There’s like a character, almost, and then there’s me.”

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<img src=”http://icydk.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/heath_ledger_filephoto.jpg” alt=”Heath Ledger” />

A Heath Ledger Scholarship is being launched to help wannabe Australian actors follow in the late star’s footsteps.

Australians in Film has established a fund, which it will present each year to a young up-and-coming performer with aspirations of Hollywood stardom.

Aussie Ledger died in January, aged just 28, after accidentally overdosing on prescription drugs at his New York apartment.

The organization, founded in 2001 to support Australians in the movie and TV industries, has also announced actresses Abbie Cornish and Mia Wasikowska will be honoured at its fourth annual breakthrough awards at a Beverly Hills, California ceremony on June 5th.

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A man who pretended to be the father of late Hollywood actor Heath Ledger in phone calls to Tom Cruise and John Travolta has refused to apologize for his actions.

Wayne Scott, 35, has been accused of making fake calls to Cruise and Halle Berry and also asked Travolta to pay for an air fare to New York following Ledger’s death January. But Scott has no remorse, because he has no recollection of the incident.

He says, “I can’t talk about the Heath Ledger thing. I don’t remember doing it. It may not have been me. I’m not apologizing for something I can’t remember doing.”

Scott last week, pleaded guilty to posing as wrestling star The Rock to get free tickets from English soccer clubs Everton and Manchester United.

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Movie bosses at Warner Brothers have chosen not to alter the final cut of the new Batman film, despite one disturbing scene that features the late Heath Ledger pretending to be dead.

Early screenings of The Dark Knight left some film fans reeling after they saw footage of Ledger, as The Joker, hiding out in a bodybag. That prompted internet speculation about whether studio heads would cut the scene to avoid upsetting sensitive Ledger fans. But a source close to the production tells website MovieHole.net, “The film remains intact – and nothing of Ledger’s will be cut from the movie, including the bodybag scene.”

The source adds, “I know for a fact that that scene is in the film. I also know that WB has made no such mandate and that (director) Chris Nolan is honest when saying that he will not change what was intended with The Joker.”

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With rumors rampant that Heath Ledger may have had a teenaged love child, the woman in question and her husband have spoken out.

“I’m not answering anything,” she told UK newspaper The Daily Mail (names redacted to protect privacy). “I think it’s very, very rude that I’m being posed all of this. I really do. I can’t talk about anything.”

“You have no proof, there’s no background, there’s no grounds, there’s no nothing,” she continued.

Her husband supported her assertions: “The whole thing with [Ledger being the father] is no. No way. No can be.”

Reports Ledger fathered the now 11-year-old girl came from the actor’s estranged uncle, who spoke to Australian media.

Ledger — who died of a prescription drug overdose in January at the age of 28 — had a fling with a 25-year-old woman when he was 17. The woman learned she was pregnant after their relationship ended.

“We knew it would flare up and that is the point of my talking and the simple thing is we will do a DNA test,” her husband told the Daily Mail.

“I’m the step-dad, but there’s nothing to hide… and if I asked [the mother] I’m sure that she wouldn’t mind [to have a DNA test],” he added.

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