Jake Gyllenhaal says it was ‘important’ to break stigma of playing gay role with Brokeback

In a new interview with The Sunday Times, Jake Gyllenhaal was asked whether people would now have a “different reaction” to him and Heath Ledger – two straight actors – playing gay roles in the 2006 movie Brokeback Mountain.

“I don’t know. Maybe? Part of the medicine of storytelling is that we were two straight guys playing these parts,” Gyllenhaal replied. “There was a stigma about playing a part like that, you know, why would you do that? And I think it was very important to both of us to break that stigma.”