Jake Gyllenhaal In "Proof", featuring Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins, Gyllenhaal played a graduate student in mathematics who tries to convince Paltrow's character to publish a revolutionary proof to a problem puzzling the mathematicians' community. In "Jarhead", Gyllenhaal played a violent U.S. Marine during the first Gulf War. He also auditioned to be Batman for the blockbuster "Batman Begins" and came close to getting the role, but Christian Bale was ultimately chosen for it. In "Brokeback Mountain", Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger play young men who meet as sheep herders and embark upon a sexual relationship that begins in the summer of 1963
Maggie Gyllenhaal may have knowingly or unknowingly contributed to this conflict." Gyllenhaal took part in Artists United to Win Without War, a campaign started by Robert Greenwald that aimed to advance progressive causes and voicing opposition to the Iraq War. She and her brother Jake filmed a commercial for Rock the Vote, and visited the University of Southern California (USC) campus to encourage students to vote in the 2004 U.S. presidential election, in which she supported John Kerry. Gyllenhaal supported Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. She has campaigned on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), an organization her