Johnny Depp Donated Entire Paycheck from a Movie to Heath Ledger’s Daughter | “Whatever It Takes to Help”

Johnny Depp is undoubtedly one of Hollywood's most well-paid actors, but he also makes an effort to use his fortune in a compassionate and charitable way. All of his co-stars were deeply moved by one of his gestures back in 2009.

Depp starred in the surreal movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Heath Ledger, Andrew Garfield, and Christopher Plummer were set to star in the Terry Gilliam-written and directed movie, per Cheat Sheet. The sudden and terrible death of Ledger upended Gilliam's plan. Without one of his stars, Gilliam had to devise a way to complete the film. Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law all pitched in to see the movie through to the end.

The director said, in an interview with Cosmopolitan, "The three actors were totally heroic coming in. This doesn't happen very often . . . where there's a tragedy like this, and very famous, very successful actors suddenly say, Okay, we'll do whatever it takes to help."

The trio went one step further by choosing to give Ledger's daughter Matilda all of their film revenue. "They came; they did the work; they allowed the movie to be finished; they didn't take money-the money goes to Heath's daughter. That's extraordinary! And wonderful, and when you're part of that, you think, 'Ah, this is maybe why I went into the movies, in the beginning. I thought it would be full of wonderful people.' And in our case, we've got a movie full of wonderful people, who did extraordinary things to help."

Matilda is very lucky to have such generous support around her. In the event of Ledger's death, although he had bequeathed all his property to his father and sisters, the family choose to leave everything in Matilda's name. "Matilda is an absolute priority and Michelle is an integral part of our family," Heath's father, Kim, told PEOPLE in March 2008. "They will be taken care of and that's how Heath would want it to be."

The family announced that Matilda will be the only recipient a few months later. "Our family has gifted everything to Matilda," Kim told PEOPLE. "That was the plan from the moment my boy passed away. There was never any question about the fact that Heath's estate would go to Matilda. Never a question. We are very close to Michelle and Matilda."

References:

https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/johnny-depp-donated-entire-film-salary-to-costars-daughter.html/

https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/news/a3725/actors-donate-to-heaths-daughter-84122/

https://people.com/crime/heath-ledgers-daughter-to-inherit-entire-estate/

https://people.com/movies/heath-ledger-sister-everything-about-matilda-reminds-me-of-heath/

Cover Image Source: (L) Getty Images | Photo by Sean Gallup; (R) Getty Images | Photo by John Phillips