Brokeback Mountain of Focus Features, James Schamus to ask if the film was ever made. Ang Lee was considering retirement after "Hulk". In an interview with "Out" magazine, he described himself "wrecked" after filming both "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Hulk". "Brokeback Mountain" "nurtured" him back into filmmaking. The casting of Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal was announced in 2003. Anne Hathaway stated that during her audition, she lied to Ang Lee about her knowledge of horse riding so that he would cast her. Subsequently, she took horse-riding lessons for two months. While the film is set in Wyoming (like the original
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