Jake Gyllenhaal Remembers Friend and Co-Star Heath Ledger

Actors and actresses are fully trained on how to handle emotions and respond to death on screen but nothing can quite prepare anyone for the real-life passing of a loved one. Jake Gyllenhaal recently opened up about his deceased friend and Brokeback Mountain co-star Heath Ledger, who died in 2008 from an accidental drug overdose.

The 34-year-old actor who recently took on a boxing lifestyle in Southpaw spoke with NPR's Terry Gross about the magnitude of unexpectedly losing a companion. "I miss him as a human being and I miss working with him and what an unfortunate thing it is that we won't be able to see the beauty of his expression," Gyllenhaal said in a Fresh Air interview, notes People.

Although the void of Ledger remains, Gyllenhaal has learned how to modify the pain and grief into focus and realizing what's most important in life. "I think losing Heath and being a part of a family that was something like the movie ... makes you appreciate that and hopefully moves you away from the things that really don't matter to the things that do," he said.

Gyllenhaal then searched for the appropriate words to describe his late companion who altered the way the world looks at Batman's Joker. "He was incredibly special and that doesn't even come close to encapsulating who he is, who he was," he added.

Although no one can replace Ledger's menacing performance as the Joker, 30 Seconds to Mars' Jared Leto will take on a still creepy yet divergent version of the green-haired Joker in DC's Suicide Squad. Gyllenhaal and Rachel McAdam's latest flick, Southpaw, hit theaters last Friday--stream the film's soundtrack here.

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