Jake Gyllenhaal's passion and heart

Jake Gyllenhaal has not only brought Hollywood's glamour to the south of France - something, of course, that Cannes has become very familiar with over the last 60 years - he has brought something more, something extra special. Although still reeling from the emotional impact of the re-discovered Italian interview, in which Jake so eloquently described what his previous role of Jack Twist meant to him as an actor and as a person, we now have another great interview. This time, Jake turns his attention to the difficulties of playing Robert Graysmith and of the conflict of two great driving forces of personality - obsession and passion.


As usual, Jake interviews best when he is given space to articulate the 'big themes' that clearly preoccupy him. As the interviewer Jason Solomons states, Jake 'is an earnest young man' and, given the chance, he has a lot of things to say which reveal much about what motivates him, interests him and drives him forward in these roles which have influenced so many of us.

The Guardian Unlimited's audio interview (which begins with an interview with the smart Chloe Sevigny) focuses on Jake's interpretation of obsession, its distinction from passion, and the contradictory roles of director and actor. "I think that obsession leads to destruction and can lead to real devastation of one's life or anything, and that passion is enlightening and energy-infusing and amazing. But they come from the same family and I think you can understand them and see the destructive nature of something if you understand that one thing. And I think I do understand passion very well - I'm very passionate about certain things and I spend a lot of time on them."


When asked about the difference between David Fincher's earlier movie Se7en and Zodiac, his latest, Jake replies: "Se7en is like the land, it's like being on land, you know where you are, even if it's scarey, you know what's going on. [Zodiac] is like the ocean - it's twice as big, twice as long." And Jake laughs as he realises he could spend forever describing the nature of the ocean. "I think there are no better movies I've seen in a while that kind of gels at the American psyche, which is they're terrified of being in the unknown. And they will destroy whatever they can to know. It's just not probably America. It's probably most of humanity. But if you're comfortable in that ambiguity, then you can create, you progress."


Jake's perceived difficulty of working with David Fincher on set has become almost legendary but now, months after finishingthe project, Jake is able to look back with admiration on Fincher's dedication, even obsession. David "can fall into obsession sometimes... because a director is dealing with things he can control, you can fall into that, and a little bit of that in a director is important, whereas an actor doesn't exist in acting. It's like you exist in the unknown. You never know what someone's going to do in a scene. You're in an emotional world, you don't need anything known and so it gets hard because he knows what he wants and sees.... So as an actor - and not an ego-less actor [laughing] - it's hard to think there are other things as equally important - like say the drape in the background - as what you're doing. But [David] believes that. So now I think he's extraordinary. At the time we wanted to garrotte each other at times - to quote Robert Downey Jr... But I think he's brilliant and I think he's a wonderful man."


Jake was finally asked about whether he brought anything different to his interpretation of Robert Graysmith's obsession, in comparison to his earlier portrayal of the obsession of Jack Twist. Laughing, Jake exclaims "That is my life - being devoted to obsession!" More seriously, Jake reflects that "I think it was hard for me throughout the process of this movie to go back into this world" but that, when asked, he could only say yes to doing a film with David Fincher, whatever the context of that movie, or his character in it. "I remember everyday as I put on my shirt to play the the character, I'd be like [big sigh] 'I hate this shirt' but it worked for me - and not just for the movie - to push myself through that."

Jack Twist's obsession was with love and, therefore, was emotional, something easier perhaps for Jake to relate to. Zodiac "is a procedural obsession... There's a lot of repeated emotions, sometimes not emotions, sometimes just a discovery in your head, using your brain a lot and so that was a different type of obsession."

"My heart is a much stronger muscle than my head."


Jake's passion also featured in France's Metro newspaper (main image above), which could be found freely available across Cannes on Thursday 17 May, the day of Zodiac's Cannes' triumph. The reviewer hails Zodiac as 'a marvel of direction' and praises its Hitchock influence. 'The murder scenes, the interrogation scenes of the main suspect and Graysmith's nightly roams make our hair stand on end and yet flatter our eyes with the mastery of suspense. The historical reconstruction is perfect down to the last detail, the actors are sublime.' However, if anything, the film may be 'too perfect' for the ultimate Cannes prize, although Fincher as winner of best director is a possibility.


Metro interviewed Jake at the Hotel du Cap, Antibes, on Wednesday 16 May. In addition to saying that he had been 'misquoted' in the past about his problems with Fincher on set, Jake says that the only way he can understand Graysmith's obsession with the killer is to compare it to "watching a magician doing these incredible tricks. Some people are just blown away... and other people want to know how that's done. So much so that they want to go backstage, go to the magician's locker, then to his house..." When asked about how he makes his movie choices, Jake replies: "For a while I would ask for people's opinion. And then my father gave me this one advice: 'No matter what you chose the most important thing is to have a good life. Don't be afraid'."

Here's a direct link to the audio interview.

Photographs from JustJared, BBC News Entertainment and Metro.