The Spider-Man: Far From Home actor, Jake Gyllenhaal, is opening up about his Brokeback Mountain costar, Heath Ledger, who unfortunately passed away in 2008, and it's making us miss him even more.
Hindustan Times
Jake Gyllenhaal Says Heath Ledger Refused To Take Part In 'Brokeback Mountain' Jokes
It's hard to believe that it's already been 14 years since "Brokeback Mountain" made its debut.
It's been a major classic since 2005.
Where does the time go?!
The movie was pretty forward-thinking for its time.
IMDb
It was a tale of two cowboys in the 1960s and their forbidden but ever-flourishing romance that goes on for 20 years.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays rodeo cowboy, Jack Twist, and Heath Ledger played his ranch hand, Ennis Del Mar.
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The pair were hired as sheepherders in Wyoming, where their romance budded.
One night, Jack makes a pass at Ennis, after a drunken night on Brokeback Mountain.
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A pass that is eventually reciprocated, repeatedly. Although, the two deny their sexuality and feeling toward each other.
Ennis, ends up marrying his longtime girlfriend, Alma, despite the flame between him and Jack.
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He had two daughters with Alma, and works as a wrangler and on a highway crew to support his family.
But still, the two men maintain their tortured romantic affair alive for 20 years.
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And that, my friends, is the definition of an epic love story.
Take notes.
Jake and Heath remained close friends off-screen.
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So close, in fact, that Heath made Jake the Godfather of his daughter, Matilda Rose, and Busy Philipps as her Godmother, in October of 2005.
After Heath's untimely death, Jake stepped in to help Heath's wife, Michelle Williams, take care of Matilda, who was only three years old at the time of the tragedy.
Getty Images | Kevin Winter
Because surely, mourning the loss of your husband and being a single mother at the same time can't be an easy thing to do alone.
Jake has mainly kept quiet about about his friendship with Heath ever since his accidental overdose in 2008.
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He told People in 2016 that Heath's passing “affected me in ways I can’t necessarily put in words or even would want to talk about publicly.”
Anyway, because the movie was so ahead of its time, it was the center of a lot of gay jokes.
In a recent interview with Sunday Today, Jake revealed exactly how Brokeback Mountain affected his reputation an acting career, and how his late costar, Heath, took to the scrutiny.
"When we did Brokeback Mountain, I was like, 'Whoa, what's going on?'"
YouTube | Sunday Today
"This is a level of focus and attention that hits a certain nerve and you're like, 'This is bigger than me,'" he said.
"It was amazing. It was crazy," he added.
“I see people who have joked with me or criticized me about lines I say in that movie — and that’s the thing I loved about Heath,” Jake said.
YouTube | Sunday Today
“He would never joke.”
“Someone wanted to make a joke about the story or whatever, he was like, ‘No. This about love,’” he continued.
YouTube | Sunday Today
Despite all the homophobic criticisms and jokes poked at the film, Brokeback Mountain won three Academy Awards — and was undoubtedly a staple in both Jake and Heath's acting careers.
Jake went on to say that being apart of the film “defined" his entire career "in many ways".
“This little movie we made that meant so much to us has now become not ours anymore,” he said. “It’s the world’s.”
Here's a clip of the interview:
Hindustan Times
Let us know in the comments below what you of Heath taking the movie so seriously, and protecting the sanctity of the love story!
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