Jake Gyllenhaal Opens Up About Heath Ledger's Death: "It Affected Me in Ways I Can't Put Into Words"

In the latest edition of People and Entertainment Weekly editorial director Jess Cagle's interview series, Jake Gyllenhaal sat down for an emotional discussion about his days filming Brokeback Mountain and the tragic death of his friend and costar Heath Ledger. "Personally, it affected me in ways I can't necessarily put in words or even would want to talk about publicly," he said of Heath's 2008 death. "In terms of professionally, I think I was at an age where mortality was not always clear to me."

The Demolition actor also went on to describe the "bubble" he finds himself in while making films and how Heath's highly publicized death changed that. "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." Check out everything Jake had to say in the interview above.