Heath Ledger's family to attend premiere of Batman sequel

Parents of tragic actor to see The Dark Knight in New York

Tuesday, 17 June 2008

Heath Ledger's family will travel from Perth, Australia to attend the premiere of The Dark Knight in New York City next month, PEOPLE confirms.

A representative with the Australian entertainment company Village Roadshow says, "the family is now happy" to confirm the news of their attendance at the premiere on July 14, just days before the six-month anniversary of the actor's death. Ledger died on Jan. 22 of a prescription drug overdose at the age of 28.

"What happened with Heath is so sad. It's tragic; it's hard to believe," costar Aaron Eckhart told PEOPLE Saturday at the Style Villa Sports Presents Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09, a celeb video game tournament for the unreleased XBOX and Nintendo Wii game. "I enjoyed my time with him immensely."

Eckhart, who portrays Harvey Dent in the Batman sequel, described Ledger as "magnetic."

"Heath was loved by everybody on the set. It's not all the time that the crews are interested in what is going on. Sometimes they get blasé about things, but Heath was electric," he said. "The crew watched him, we all watched him, and he brought such an energy to his part and to the set. It was amazing to watch."

Eckhart added: "People were in awe of him."

By Brenda Rodriguez