Heath Ledger aspired to be a film director. For his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain", Ledger won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and Best International Actor from the Australian Film Institute, and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and the Academy Award for Best Actor. Posthumously, he shared the 2007 Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award with the rest of the ensemble cast, the director, and the casting director for the film "I'm Not There", which was inspired by the life and songs of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan.
Jake Gyllenhaal he portrayed a young man from West Virginia striving to win a science scholarship to avoid becoming a coal miner. The film earned $32 million and was described in the "Sacramento News and Review" as Gyllenhaal's "breakout performance". "Donnie Darko", Gyllenhaal's second film, was not a box office success upon its initial 2001 release but eventually became a cult favorite. Directed by Richard Kelly, the film is set in 1988 and stars Gyllenhaal as a troubled teenager who experiences visions of a tall rabbit named Frank who tells him that the world is coming to an end. Gyllenhaal's performance was