HOLLYWOOD -- Cowboy love can be rough.

In Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Leger play Wyoming cowboys who struggle with the realization they have fallen in love with one another.

Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal) and Ennis Del Mar (Ledger) are in their early 20s when they meet one summer tending sheep in the Wyoming mountains.

They have a sexual relationship which they try to dismiss once they return to their former lives.

Four years later they meet only to discover their feelings for one another are more intense than they were on Brokeback mountain.

Their reunion is marked by a passionate kiss which is observed by Ennis' wife (Michelle Williams).

"I thought Heath had broken my nose while we were filming that scene," says Gyllenhaal.

"Both Michelle and Ang kept insisting the kiss had to be more fierce, more intense, more passionate so Heath pushed me against the wall and came in really hard for the kiss."

The fact two straight actors agreed to play Jack and Ennis in this romantic drama has been the buzz in Hollywood for more than a year.

Gyllenhaal, 25, recalls he first heard of Brokeback Mountain almost eight years ago: "I was 17 at the time and it was introduced to me as the gay cowboy story. I was terrified of it at the time. I wouldn't even read it because it sounded like the farthest thing from anything I'd ever want to have anything to do with."

Two thing happened between then and 2003 when Lee sent him the screenplay.

"My family and I saw Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility. I walked out of that theatre feeling so clean. There is a true benevolence to Ang's work and a real understanding of the human condition."

Gyllenhaal had also taken time to ponder his own sexuality.

"I grew up in L.A. so the idea of same-sex relationship is hardly foreign to me.

"I think there comes a time when everyone asks themselves about their sexuality. That doesn't mean you experiment, but you definitely think about your preferences," says Gyllenhaal, who has had an on-again, off-again relationship with Kirsten Dunst for three years.

When Lee offered the role of Jack Twist to Gyllenhaal the actor did not hesitate, but that doesn't mean he thought it was going to be easy.

"Filming the love scenes was nerve-racking for both Heath and me, but we had talked and were determined we'd treat it like diving into any icy lake. You take a deep breath and dive in. It's freezing cold and you want to get the hell out, but you are determined to keep doing it until you get that dive right."

He also admits he and Ledger "joked a lot when we were preparing and while we were filming. There was no way around that for us. Joking was the way we dealt with the honesty Ang kept demanding from us."

Brokeback Mountain has garnered seven Golden Globe nominations and is poised to be a major Oscar contender.

One of his biggest hopes is "people will see beyond the whole Heath and Jake have gay love scenes thing. I hope they will see how important love is but how difficult it can be for some people."