The actor Heath Ledger He may have already died – and very early, at the age of 28, in 2008 – but his legacy continues both in the dramatic arts and in the fight against homophobia.
In a recent interview with the magazine Another Man, Jake Gyllenhaal, who starred alongside Ledger in The Secret of Brokeback Mountain (2005), said that the Australian actor decided not to agree to perform at the 2006 Oscar ceremony, alongside Gyllenhaal, a homophobic joke that satirized the film, whose story is about the hidden love of two cowboys in the interior of the United States United.
“They wanted us to open the ceremony by kind of playing with it. And Heath refused,” she said. “I kind of said, 'Oh, okay, whatever.' I always said 'it's just a joke'. And Heath said, 'It's not a joke to me – I don't want to make jokes about it'.”
Gyllenhaal stated that this characteristic is one of the ones he most admires in his friend. “He never joked. If someone wanted to make a joke about the story or something, he would say 'no'.”
In this way, Ledger preserved the integrity of Brokeback Mountain, which that night contradicted expectations by losing the Oscar for best film to Crash: No Limit.
Both Ledger and Gyllenhaal were nominated that year, in the acting and supporting actor categories, respectively. Brokeback Mountain won for soundtrack (Gustavo Santaolalla), adapted screenplay (Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana) and direction (Ang Lee).
In 2009, the Australian posthumously won the Oscar for supporting actor for his performance as Joker in Batman the dark knight (2008)
