Jake Gyllenhaal: 'It's OK for actors to be openly gay'

Hollywood actor Jake Gyllenhaal hopes the movie industry's attitudes towards openly gay actors is changing for the better.

The 34-year-old played a cowboy with sexuality issues, alongside the late Heath Ledger, in 2005 drama Brokeback Mountain, and in the 10 years since the film was released, the LGBT community has made a lot of progress in their campaign for equal rights, and Jake hopes this is being reflected in his industry too.

"I think it is changing," the actor told The Hollywood Reporter during a roundtable discussion about changing trends surrounding openly-gay actors, "and it's pretty amazing how it's changing. And one of the things that I'm so proud of (about) that movie, was to see, within the past basically 10 years, how much has changed.

"When the Supreme Court (issued a ruling) just a little while ago, I felt like we had been part, a little part and parcel of that movement. I was proud, you know? To me that's really a pretty incredible moment. We had to wait a little while for it. But when will it be OK for an actor to be gay? I mean, it's OK now."

Jake has fond memories of his time on the set of the Ang Lee drama, heightened by the fact that Heath passed away two years after its release in January, 2008. The actors were friends before they started filming but got even closer during production and Jake admits he was fascinated by his co-star.

"Heath was always somebody who I admired," he continued. "He was way beyond his years as a human, in a way. I wasn’t quite sure where he came from. I mean, I know he’s from Perth, but I wasn’t really quite sure where he came from, and I think that’s the feeling most people got when they were around him and why he was so extraordinary."