His second foray as a writer-director was the surprise success "A Knight's Tale" (2001), in which Helgeland cast Heath Ledger in the role of a mideval swashbuckler and set the story to a soundtrack of modern arena-rock anthems. As a screenwriter, he adapted Michael Connelly's novel for the Clint Eastwood-directed crime drama "Blood Work" (2002), and Eastwood tapped him again to adapt Dennis Lehane's novel for the veteran actor's next directorial effort, the gritty, twisting and turning whodunnit "Mystic River" (2003). He also tackled an uncredited rewrite of the Joel Schumacher thriller "Phone Booth" before taking the director's chair again, lensing his own original script for "The Order" (2003), a religion-minded secret sect thriller that reunited him with his "A Knight's Tale" cast Ledger, Shannyn Sossamon and Mark Addy.