Jake Gyllenhaal, a popular actor, comes from a long of prestigious names in the entertainment industry. He is the son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, and his sister Maggie Gyllenhaal is an actress. Gyllenhaal started acting at a young age and made his big-screen debut with City Slickers in 1991.
The actor’s highest-grossing film is Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, where he played the role of Quentin Beck aka Mysterio.
The actor received his first Academy Award nomination for Ang Lee’s 2005 romantic drama Brokeback Mountain. Jake Gyllenhaal also won a BAFTA Award for the film. However, he would not have been part of the film if the late actor Heath Ledger did not agree to sign the movie.
Jake Gyllenhaal once shared Heath Ledger couldn’t stand jokes about ‘Brokeback Mountain’
Love & Other Drugs actor Gyllenhaal opened up about Ledger’s sensitive approach to the subject matter taken up in the movie Brokeback Mountain. The film was very close to Ledger hence, he refused to allow any jokes to be made at the movie’s expense. Ledger had vetoed an Oscars gag that talked about the movie. Jake Gyllenhaal said in an interview with Another Man,
“I mean, I remember they wanted to do an opening for the Academy Awards that year that was sort of joking about it. And Heath refused. I was sort of at the time, ‘Oh, okay… whatever.’ I’m always like, ‘It’s all in good fun.’ And Heath said, ‘It’s not a joke to me – I don’t want to make any jokes about it.’”
The critically acclaimed film showed the complex romantic relationship between two American cowboys, Ennis Del Mar, and Jack Twist, in the American West in the 1960’s era.
Jake Gyllenhaal was cast in Brokeback Mountain because of Heath Ledger
Jake Gyllenhaal and The Dark Knight fame late Heath Ledger delivered memorable performances in the 2005 feature film on a sensitive topic.
The movie was nominated for several accolades, and Gyllenhaal was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work in the film.
As per reports, Gyllenhaal had been in talks about the project for many years, even before Lee took up its direction. Gyllenhaal said,
“I’d actually met with another director, who was attached to it maybe four years before Ang came along. I was probably 19 years old.”
When Lee became the director of the project, he did not have Gyllenhaal confirmed for the role in the film. There were several other actors whom Lee considered for the cowboy love story.
Gyllenhaal was told that being cast in the film might depend on Heath Ledger wanting to do the project. Gyllenhaal recalled,
“After I had met with Ang–a brief, somewhat awkward meeting–I heard, ‘Now he’s thinking about Heath Ledger and you. But if Heath doesn’t want to do it, then it’s going to be somebody else.’”
The movie was released in 2005 and starred Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams.
Brokeback Mountain is available on Amazon Prime.
Source-Showbiz Cheat Sheet
