Jake Gyllenhaal Plays An Important Role In Heath Ledger's Daughter Matilda's Life

Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger only met in the summer of 2004, three-and-a-half years before Ledger's untimely death in January 2008. Despite knowing each other for a short time, Gyllenhaal and Ledger developed a close friendship when they spent several weeks living together while filming Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" in Wyoming. "The relationship between me and Ledger while we were making this movie was something that was based on a profound love," he told Vanity Fair in 2022. 

Losing his close friend unexpectedly hit the "Ambulance" actor pretty hard. Even after several years had passed, Gyllenhaal still felt Ledger's absence. "It affected me in ways I can't necessarily put in words or even would want to talk about publicly," he said on People's "The Jess Cagle Interview" in 2016. Ledger felt just as strongly about Gyllenhaal. "I couldn't have asked for a better person," Ledger told MovieWeb in a December 2005 interview about working with Gyllenhaal. 

In addition to Ledger, "Brokeback Mountain" also introduced Gyllenhaal to Michelle Williams, who went on to start a relationship with Ledger. During the promotion of the Academy Award-nominated picture, Williams was pregnant with her and Ledger's daughter, Matilda. Williams and Ledger became parents in late October 2005, just a little over a month before "Brokeback Mountain" was released. Throughout the pregnancy, Gyllenhaal was right by Williams and Ledger's side. The bond carved by the three was so real that Ledger and Williams decided to make Gyllenhaal a permanent part of Matilda's life. 

Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams asked Jake Gyllenhaal to be their child's godfather, a role he gladly accepted. "Heath and I are best friends now, making the film was very intense for us. I'm actually godfather to Heath's daughter, Matilda, which is an amazing honor," he once said. Following Ledger's death, Gyllenhaal promptly flew to New York to help out Williams and Matilda, who was 2 at the time.

Matilda wasn't just close with Jake, but with the whole Gyllenhaal family, too. His sister, Maggie, worked with Ledger on Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" in 2008, at a time when she also had a toddler daughter. Born a year after Matilda, Ramona and Ledger's girl spent a good amount of time on-set playing together along with Nolan's children.  

Gyllenhaal shares the honor of helping Williams raise Matilda with Busy Philipps, who has been one of Williams's closest friends since they co-starred in "Dawson's Creek" in the early aughts. Philipps showed her affection for her goddaughter publicly during the final episode of her show "Busy Tonight" in 2019, which featured Williams and other of Philipps's close friends, Entertainment Tonight reported. Williams made the choice to be there to support her friend even if it meant missing part of her daughter's school play. "I love you," Philipps said while hugging Williams. "Matilda, I love you so much, my little buddy."

The making of "Brokeback Mountain" didn't just give Jake Gyllenhaal a best friend in Heath Ledger. During that time, he also developed a friendship with Michelle Williams. "For the first month of shooting we all lived by this river in little trailers, and I had my dog there," Gyllenhaal told Out magazine in 2015. "We all just lived on a campground and would walk to set." Director Ang Lee deliberately architected lodging that way in hopes the actors would develop the community-like mentality seen in the film.

And it worked. "It's why we are all still close — not just bonded by the success of the film, but bonded by the experience," he added. "It was an intimate project in that way." The experience also allowed Gyllenhaal to witness Ledger and Williams' budding romance firsthand. "We'd wake up and make breakfast for each other, and hang out. Heath and Michelle fell in love. It was a really special, special time."

The bond between Williams and Gyllenhaal continued way past Ledger's death. In later years, the actors were often seen hanging out at events and afterparties together, including one that followed the premiere of Williams's "My Week with Marilyn" in 2011. In 2014, Gyllenhaal also attended Philip Seymour Hoffman's funeral arm-in-arm with Williams, showing his support for her. Williams was close friends with Hoffman, with whom she worked on the 2008 psychological drama "Synecdoche, New York."