“The depth of this thing overwhelmed us…I can’t really express how proud I am of it.”
Seventeen years after the release of the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain, star Jake Gyllenhaal is reviving his neo-western heritage.
Gyllenhaal played the cowboy Jack Twist, who begins a secret decade-long affair with ranch hand Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger), though both have wives back home, portrayed by Anne Hathaway and Michelle Williams.
In a new video interview with Vanity Fair, Gyllenhaal looks back on the legacy of “Brokeback Mountain” nearly two decades after its 2005 release.
“The relationship between me and Heath while we were making this film was based on a deep love for many people we have known and grown up with in our lives, a deep respect for their love and their relationship,” Gyllenhaal said .
The ‘Ambulance’ actor added, “There were a lot of jokes made about the film or poked fun at things like that. and [Ledger’s] total dedication to how serious and important the relationship between these two characters was – it showed me how devoted he was as an actor and how devoted we both were to the story and the film.”
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Gyllenhaal also shared a moment he often looks back on when it comes to the “Brokeback” reception.
“Heath and I were at a Q&A at the Aero Theater in Los Angeles and I remember going out to dinner during the screening of the film. And I remember we were joking backstage, and I remember coming onstage in a humorous mode because we were just having fun together,” Gyllenhaal said. “We sat down and the lights came on and a man got up – and the film had been out for a week and a half – and he said, ‘I just want to say, this is my 11th time watching this film, and I can’t stop to check it out and I want to thank you all for doing it.” And I was like 11 times in 10 days.”
The ‘Nocturnal Animals’ star continued, ‘I remember how it swept us. We made fun of each other before we continued, and then the deep realization flooded us – the depth of this thing. It still happens all the time to this day and I can’t express how proud I am of it.”
Gyllenhaal has previously spoken out about Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain helping to destigmatize straight male actors playing queer characters. The actor also revealed in 2019 that the late co-star Ledger refused to let people he met get away with homophobic “Brokeback” jokes. Ledger reportedly even declined to present at the 2007 Oscars over joking about the film’s love story.
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