Jake Gyllenhaal - 'it has been wonderful and it is wonderful'

Jake Gyllenhaal is 'one of those lucky few who could be a great actor and a movie star at the same time. I think you'll find that most movie actors aren't necessarily great actors and most great actors aren't movie stars.' So said Sam Mendes about his Jarhead Jake in an interview for the BBC. With the sad announcement yesterday of the loss of one of those few screen legends who really did marry great talent with that indefinable cocktail of magic that makes a movie star, it's good to predict that, in the coming decades, Jake could make good that promise foreseen by Sam.


The BBC feature reflects on an incredible year for Jake, in which he starred in Brokeback Mountain, Jarhead and Proof, all in all demonstrating that Jake is much more than 'well-connected eye candy'. As Jake says: 'I have a lot of opportunities and it has been wonderful and it is wonderful.'


Despite having movie star looks, Jake is happy to play with them in order to put on the suit of a character. In this video (see the link below), Jake discusses what is was like to cut off that hair and get the jarhead - one senses that Jake couldn't decide whether to be horrified or exhilerated; probably a mixture of the two. 'First, I was thrown off by it, it freaked me out, and then I started to love it... I'm doing a movie right now [Zodiac] where my hair is longer for the movie and I'm ready for when the movie finishes. I'm gonna cut it all off again. It's in me and I like it!'


'Jarhead' Cast Interviews


'People say your hair's really your identity - you take it away, you lose some identity. But I think you're allowed to look at other things actually more than just vanity and stuff. Physically, I felt my presence much more. I just felt much more present for some reason.'


Always happy to have an excuse to discuss Jake's hairdo, I am for one relieved that Jake reconsidered cutting it all off after Zodiac - in fact he went the other way and grew it longer for Rendition (taking it to almost ponytail proportions with Prince of Persia). However, after Rendition and in time for Brothers, Jake did this for Interview magazine, which appeared on US stands a year ago.


Jamie Foxx also appears in this video (discussing his lovemaking music) and says how he continued to work with Jake once the cameras stopped rolling, encouraging him and advising him, in the same way that Will Smith had done for him.


While I'm in a Jarhead video mood, here is another one in which Jake and Peter Sarsgaard mention how much fun they had on the set, especially filming the football game (and no doubt the scene that followed it).



It also includes one of my favourite moments from any of Jake's films - Swoff reassuring the oil drenched horse.


Includes pictures from IHJ, Getty and links.