Jake Gyllenhaal on luck and grabbing opportunities to fly - and why he liked working with Ed Zwick

Jake Gyllenhaal continues to enjoy his holidays on that island with the Pap-Exclusion Zone. Time for a diversion. IHJ has today posted scans from Italy's magazine Nick and, as well as the great pictures, here are GyllenGems. For instance, when Jake is asked if he was destined to make films, 'I believe that everything is already written at our birth... In my case, the signals were very clear from the beginning.' Jake continues that with Paul Newman as his godfather, Jamie Lee Curtis as his godmother - how could he have been anything other than an actor? Apologies, as always, for the translation.


'Not that I want to be like the princesses of Disney films, but if someone gave me a fairy godmother, there must have been a reason from the beginning! Then Maggie comes along with this talent, and everyone cries. Without that miracle, Maggie and I may have missed the real opportunities but, little by little, we've tried to hit the target.'


On whether Jake's career has been a mix of luck and resourcefulness? 'I don't have the age or experience to work it out... I debuted in a successful movie (City Slickers), and I often wonder what would have happened if I hadn't seized that opportunity to fly, if I hadn't allowed it to grow. So much so that later when I was offered the title role in Donnie Darko and I found myself next to the same actress who only a short time before I had adored in the role of Stands With A Fist in Dances with Wolves (Mary McDonnell), I didn't think: "You did it." I thought: "Try."'

Jake has learnt 'To never abandon curiosity. Indeed, I try to be surprised every time. When we arrived in Morocco for the filming of Prince of Persia, I thought that the six months of training was only a first test, but harder tests than them would be waiting for me.'


How hard was the training? 'Physically, especially. The gym every day. The training was rather long and stressful, learning to run better and above all to jump. Everything was about the sword, which I knew absolutely nothing about. But anyway, apart from the physical training, when we arrived in Morocco, I knew I had to find an answer to this idea of the "luck of being chosen", and then we started the training for real.' Gemma Arterton was a big help in this process.


Jake describes how noone knows how to hold together a large crew like Mike Newell, who also never forgets the importance of what actors can give to their roles. Jerry Bruckheimer added professionalism, skill and precision. 'Whoever produced successful films such as Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop, and especially the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, knows not only the film but also the audience... One thing surprised me when I was viewing the rushes. Especially in action scenes, [Jerry] imitated a hypothetical member of the audience watching the screen for a few seconds, who turns to his girlfriend, then again to the carton of popcorn at his feet. He said they must absolutely avoid making an action foreseeable and, so ensure that the film managed to capture the attention of that hypothetical viewer more than his girlfriend and popcorn did. But this is just one side of his professionalism.' There is also luck.


Why does Jake keep referring to luck? 'Because it is true. For example, who would have said that Brokeback Mountain would have been so successful? And that the film, after what happened to Heath, would became a kind of milestone, a testament?' Jake is asked if he thinks about the fate of Heath and this is clearly a subject Jake doesn't want to broach. 'Never, but I think of him with great affection. I don't really want to talk about personal things'


The interview ends with a little about Love and Other Drugs: 'The film is about a Viagra salesman who happened to meet this wonderful woman who is ill with Parkinson's, that Anne Hathaway plays with absolute tenderness. The director is Edward Zwick, whom I have admired since the days of Glory'. While Zwick works in Hollywood, he doesn't appear 'Hollywoody' to Jake. Jake is asked what the term 'Hollywood' means to him: 'Predictable. And sugar.'


Many thanks to IHJ for the pictures and scans.

Note: Paul and Jamie are magical Hollywood godparents and not 'real' swearing over the font godparents.