Jake Gyllenhaal Talks Heath Ledger with GQ, May 2010

It’s been a little over two years since the body of Heath Ledger, aged just 28, was found lifeless in his apartment, after he’d overdosed on over the counter medication. Since then, his “Brokeback Mountain” co-star and friend Jake Gyllenhaal has kept very quiet about what it was like to work with such a talented actor as Heath was and, most importantly, about the pain his sudden death brought about. Jake breaks his silence in the May 2010 issue of GQ magazine.

Dressed up to the nines in a dashing J.Crew shirt and Prada suit, Jake says the experience of making “Brokeback Mountain” is one that he’ll always be carrying with him, both because of the wonderful people he met on the set and because of how they bonded. For instance, they all lived in trailers for about a month by the side of a river to shoot a few scenes, and this made them bond in ways they couldn’t have if they were to shoot on a closed set. The entire cast, director and producers would get up in the morning at the same hour to have coffee together, in what Gyllenhaal describes a “magical” experience.

The same goes for working with Heath, undeniably one of the most talented actors of his generation. “He was very sensitive. He didn’t always have a sense of performance in his everyday life. He knew who he was. I think actors very often, they know how to present something, and that’s part of their job. I think he was just really sensitive. We often used to do a lot of things together, because people were very interested in him and I think we felt safe together,” Jake says.

As for losing Heath, the actor says he had serious trouble dealing with that. “I don’t really like talking about it. That period of time was… it was difficult. Even when we did Brokeback and stuff, it was like my work was the only thing that mattered to me. It was like I could only understand or define myself through doing that. Life, I didn’t totally understand. And I think I was afraid of life. And I had success in my work, enough success that you could keep going back there. But after that happened… I think I recognized that it was work. And I recognized that this is for real,” Gyllenhaal explains.

In the same interview, Jake also talks about being single again – he recently split from Reese Witherspoon –, his family and his parents’ divorce and, of course, the love of his life, acting. As fans should already know by now, Gyllenhaal has a new movie coming out: “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” drops on May 28.