Jake Gyllenhaal on legacy of Brokeback Mountain: “That film lives in its own space”

Jake Gyllenhaal is generating Oscar buzz for his performance in the thriller Nightcrawler (it’s a must see!) which opened in first place at the US box office over the weekend.

The 33-year-old actor received his first Oscar nod in 2006 for his performance opposite Heath Ledger as two men who fall in love while working on a sheep ranch in the 19690s.

Gyllenhaal said this week that the film changed his career and how he viewed movies.

‘It was at the time, culturally, it gave me the idea that movies can be important,’ he tells HuffPost Live. ‘That they do have some sort of political value…it’s become something beyond what any of us could have imagined.’

Gyllenhaal said of the film directed by Ang Lee: ‘It’s a beautiful story and it was very successful in many different ways and so that’s what brought a lot of the attention … That film lives in its own space. It’s one of those films that’s no longer mine – it’s sort of everyone’s.’

In the movie, the characters of Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal) and Ennis del Mar (Ledger) have a deeply-felt love that is forbidden and kept secret. They meet sporadically over the decades while trying to lead heterosexual lives with wives and children.

It was nominated for eight Academy Awards including best picture and won for directing, screenplay and original score.

‘It just took off,’ Gyllenhaal says. ‘It’s become something beyond what any of us could have imagine … It’s a beautiful story.’