Jake Gyllenhaal - one eye on the future and one straight ahead

This week, up and coming young actor Josh Hutcherson was interviewed about his new film Journey to the Centre of the Earth, in which he plays opposite Brendan Fraser. The 15 year old was asked what his dream was - he had two: to play soccer in a movie and to act with Jake Gyllenhaal (not necessarily in that order).



This reminded me of an interview Josh did just over a year ago now, when his movie Zarutha was doing the rounds. Then Josh was asked who he wanted to act with and, demonstrating that Josh knew then what he knows now, he replied 'I want to work with Jake Gyllenhaal because I love his acting and I love the way he’s taken his career path. He’s done movies that aren’t necessarily blockbuster movies. He’s done those too but he’s also done smaller films with more challenging roles and that’s what I want to do so I’d love to work with him.'


Likewise, the extremely talented Daniel Radcliffe was once asked who he wanted to act with and he picked Jake. At the end of 2007, Jake and Heath picked Once as their film of the year on Film 2007 - Daniel picked Zodiac.


So, although Jake is just 27 years old and arguably he is standing at a milestone with one of next year's biggest and potentially most exciting crowdpullers in his grasp, Prince of Persia, one realises that Jake is now influencing another even younger generation of actors that has ambitions to excel. A huge reason for this is the path Jake has taken, with its range and its astonishing maturity, as well as its challenges and glorious surprises.


When Jake appeared in Donnie Darko - a film that took about as long (or as short) to shoot as the time that Donnie himself had to wait for the end - Jake possibly had little idea about what a crucial role Donnie would prove to be. Big choices awaited. Jake went from Donnie to Joe Nast in Moonlight Mile, allowing him to work with giants of the stage and screen Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon. After this, Jake took two decisions which had a big impact on the rest of his career, one with and one against the advice of Dustin Hoffman, who clearly saw himself as some kind of mentor, having a son who was also called Jake.


Dustin told Jake that he was good but that he needed to be better and these skills would be learned in the theatre, so Jake took to the boards of the London West End. As a result of this, Jake was spotted by no fewer than three directors who influenced Jake's subsequent career - Roland Emmerich for The Day After Tomorrow, John Madden for Proof and Sam Mendes for Jarhead.


Although Dustin Hoffman advised Jake against The Day After Tomorrow, telling him to be patient and wait for roles that would follow from Moonlight Mile and This is our Youth, Jake wanted to do it and showed that he could be a young swoonworthy heart throb. So from disparate projects - one on the stage, the other in front of blue screen - Jake helped set the scene for the range of choices from which he can now take his pick.


This is the path Jake chose - but when the publicity was appearing for Donnie Darko, there was an alternative role on the cards and shows how choices apparently seemingly sealed do not always come to pass for whatever reason. While Jake was considering starring in Bernado Bertolucci's Dreamers, which would feature an amount of nudity Jake wasn't comfortable with, at the other end of the spectrum almost, it was widely anticipated that Jake would be appearing in Me and My Monster, as the boy and young adult whose life was changed by his friendship with an extraordinary creature. For some time, Neil Jordan's name was also attached to this 'Jake Gyllenhaal comedy vehicle', but before long so much had changed.


Includes pictures from IHJ and links.