It's been about eight years since beloved actor Heath Ledger tragically passed away, and his death still has an affect on so many people, including Jake Gyllenhaal.
The two starred alongside each other in the hit 2005 film "Brokeback Mountain," and Gyllenhaal recently opened up about how much his former co-star's death has impacted his life in many different ways.
"Personally, it affected me in ways I can't necessarily put in words or even would want to talk about publicly," the 35-year-old actor said. "In terms of professionally, I think I was at an age where mortality was not always clear to me."
Gyllenhaal was just 27 when Ledger died from an accidental mix of prescription drugs, and at the time, it had not fully hit him what had happened. He also had a hard time realizing just how much Ledger had meant to him as not just a co-star, but a friend.
"I think you live in this bubble, too, of making films...There are real friends, and there is real community," he explained. "There is also that [new Macklemore song] where he says, 'The curtain closes and nobody notices'...I think that's true, and I think that's okay. But I think at the time, I assumed everyone would notice - and they did with Heath dying, but I think it [gave me] the experience of, 'This is fleeting.' And none of the attention or synthesized love that comes from the success of a film really matters at all. What matters is the relationships you make when you make a film, and the people you learn from when you're preparing for a film. That changed a lot for me."
Last year, while promoting his movie "Southpaw," Gyllenhaal explained how Ledger's death changed his perspective of Hollywood.
"It brings me back to thinking about doing that scene with Heath, and the honor it was to work with him, and the beauty of his work," he said of watching a scene from "Brokeback Mountain." "And I miss him as a human being, and I miss working with him. And what an unfortunate thing is that we won't be able to see the beauty of his expression. He was incredibly special, and that doesn't even come close to encapsulating who he is - who he was.
"I think that's why I like to go off and I like to try and get into worlds that will wake me up...I'm trying to be present where I am," he added. "I'm trying to have relationships that are as real as they possibly can be on a movie set [and] be close to people because I know that it's precious. And I know that not only can this career end in a very short period of time and this or that can happen, but also that life is precious. And I think losing Heath - and being a part of a family that was something like that movie we all made together - makes you see that, makes you appreciate that and hopefully moves you away from the things that really don't matter to the things that do."
When Ledger died, many believed that it could have been suicide, but his friends made sure to shut these rumors down quickly, especially since he was so in love with his girlfriend Michelle Williams and their 2-year-old daughter Matilda.
"There was some suggestion that he was suicidal, but that was absolute nonsense," his voice coach and roommate Gerry Grennall said at the time. "He lived for that kid, lived for her and his career. Everything about him was future, future, future. Growing, expanding, doing what he dreamed of. There was no way that was in his mind, zero possibility."
Shekhar Kapur, his friend and director, also dismissed these rumors. "The one thing he was not at all, was suicidal. Not at all," he added. "That's one rumor I refuse to accept."
