"THE first scene Heath Ledger shot was the
hardest -- and it’s one of the most wrenching in
Brokeback Mountain. Over dishes after a depressing Thanksgiving, his ex-wife, played by his real-life girlfriend, Michelle
Williams, confronts him with the knowledge that she knows about his affair with his friend Jack Twist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. It’s a shocking moment in the film, one in which a lifetime of charades is suddenly dropped and the wounds of both parties exposed.
"'We’re both in our late 30s and 40s [in that scene], and I know the differences are subtle, but if that’s the first thing you’re going to shoot, you have to have the story that happens before already played out in your head,' says Ledger, 26. 'I guess that’s why Ang scheduled it that way, he forced us into studying harder.'"