Jake Gyllenhaal Shares Heath Ledger's Touching Response to 'Brokeback Mountain'

Jake Gyllenhaal is opening up about his late Brokeback Mountain co-star Heath Ledger.

The 38-year-old actor explained that Heath never joked about the movie, despite some negative reactions to the homosexual love story when it was released in 2005.

“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. He would never joke,” Jake said in a preview of his interview with Sunday Today.

He added, “Someone wanted to make a joke about the story or whatever he was like, ‘No. This about love.’ Like, that’s it, man. Like, no.”

Jake also reflected on how the film impacted his career.

“When we did Brokeback Mountain, I was like, ‘Whoa, what’s going on?’ This is a level of focus and attention that hits a certain nerve and you’re like, ‘This is bigger than me.’ This little movie we made that meant so much to us has now become not ours anymore. It’s the world’s. It opened tons of doors, it was amazing,” he added. “It’s defined my career in different ways,” Jake explained.