Late actor Heath Ledger was so adamant that 2005’s “Brokeback Mountain” be taken seriously, he refused to entertain those who made jest of the homosexual relationship central to the story, according to co-star Jake Gyllenhaal.
Gyllenhaal recently revealed that the Oscar-winner refused to present at the 2007 Academy Awards due to a joke written into the ceremony’s opening monologue.
“I mean, I remember they wanted to do an opening for the Academy Awards that year that was sort of joking about it,” Gyllenhaal, 39, told fashion magazine, Another Man. “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.’”
Gyllenhaal continued, “That’s the thing I loved about Heath. He would never joke. Someone wanted to make a joke about the story or whatever, he was like, ‘No. This is about love. Like, that’s it, man. Like, no.’”
“Brokeback Mountain” received eight Academy Award nominations, including acting nominations for both Gyllenhaal and Ledger. Both went home empty-handed, but Ledger won posthumously in 2009 for his role as the Joker in “The Dark Knight.”
Ledger passed away in January 2008 after accidentally overdosing on a cocktail of oxycodone, diazepam, hydrocodone and doxylamine. He was 28.
[via Page Six]
