The actor received an Oscar nomination in 2006 for his portrayal of Jack Twist in the movie. Brokeback Mountain has been credited as being a driving force for queer cinema becoming more mainstream, despite both Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger identifying as straight men.
Discussing his breakout roles in an interview with The Sunday Times, Gyllenhaal was asked if he thinks the two actors playing LGBTQ+ characters would be met with a different reaction today. “Aaahh,” he says after pausing to think and sighing. “I don’t know.
Maybe? Part of the medicine of storytelling is that we were two straight guys playing these parts. There was a stigma about playing a part like that, you know, why would you do that?