‘Moulin Rouge!’: the movie that gave Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger a headstart
The cinematic legacies of Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger are destined to be linked together ever since Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee’s stunning 2005 pseudo-western where the two play American cowboys that fall in love with one another, a film roundly seen as a turning point for queer cinema in popular culture and one that was eventually preserved in the National Film Registry of America.
However, the two had actually been in each other’s orbit for quite some time before that, dating back to both of them almost being cast in a film that was recently revealed as one of Morgan Freeman’s favourites: Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge.
Freeman was glowing in his praise of the film, proclaiming it “fabulous” despite Moulin Rouge being extremely divisive upon its release in the same fashion as many of Luhrmann’s films. It’s a fact that Freeman says is actually to its credit: “Some people really like it, and some people just don’t…I think when you have divided opinions like that, that’s the sign of art. It’s a work of art. It’s impressionable, and I think people tend to fall one way or the other because of that. I like the way Moulin Rouge! is edited. It has frantic energy to it”.
Long before that film would ever see the light of day, Ledger and Gyllenhaal were both fresh-faced in Hollywood – Gyllenhaal a little more so than Ledger – and were both in line for the Parisian movie’s starring male role of Christian, a part that would eventually go to Ewan McGregor and gain him the unforgettable position in the hearts and minds of millions. And from how Gyllenhaal describes Luhrmann’s handling of the auditioning process, the director may have inadvertently contributed to the simmering chemistry brought to life in Brokeback Mountain four years later.
While doing press for Brokeback Mountain, Gyllenhaal spoke to About Film and detailed the experience around auditioning for the role of Christian and his awareness of Ledger saying: “We knew each other before we filmed this movie. We had both been on an extensive, really intense, audition process for Moulin Rouge! with Baz Luhrmann. There was me and Heath and Ewan (McGregor) as the last three for that role.”
Gyllenhaal goes on to recount feeling somewhat intimidated by the experience, but an eventual friendship with Ledger being born out of mutual disappointment — Gyllenhaal would be no stranger to rejection by big name directors as his career went on. “I feel like I was the puppy of all the three of them,” the actor explained.
Adding: “I don’t know what I was doing in there, but I was just amazed to be in there when we were auditioning. Heath and I started to know each other just by name, because I never saw his face—Baz never let us see each other. We’d be ushered into a room and locked in, and the other would go out and audition with someone and then ushered back in, so I heard him by name for a long time. When we were both not cast we became friends out of jealousy. From there we knew each other on and off, different times we’d see each other.”
While the two men would have to wait to gain their big Hollywood moments, Gyllenahaal and Ledger would use their shared experience of missing out to foster their burgeoning on-screen relationship for aguably the most impactful movie of their careers.
