Jake Gyllenhaal Part 1 - Learning lessons and gathering the tools

Last night's publication of a fascinating interview between a reflective and thoughtful Jake Gyllenhaal (albeit fairly coldy and snotty) with Scott Feinberg gave us the rare chance to listen to Jake talk at great length about some of his deepest motivations and cares. In response to requests, I've taken a closer look at Jake's words. There is far too much to cover in one post (unless you want to wait 72 hours), not just looking at what Jake said, but also some of the themes raised. It is a veritable treasure trove. And so, in this first post, Jake talks about the early years and how he learned a valuable and painful lesson which ultimately led him to October Sky. There are gaps - some of the recording is unclear, especially at the beginning. And so any hesitations are mine and not Jake's.


Revenge of the Nerds

Going to the movies as a kid: 'I went to the movies a lot... When I was a kid, the actor that I loved - I was a huge fan of the Police Academy movies to be honest when I was a kid (laughs). They're great movies. There were actually really wonderful characters dealing in topics that were funny and also... I mean, mostly funny. I was a big Leslie Nielsen fan and all the Naked Gun movies I loved as a kid. I loved Revenge of the Nerds. In terms of actors that I looked up to, I... I'm trying to think,... I loved Harrison Ford because I loved Indiana Jones as a kid a lot, all of those movies. And then I loved old movies too that my parents always had us watch. I mean I loved Danny Kaye as a kid. we watched Hans Christian Andersen. I even just recently saw it, my niece had watched it, and just couldn't keep my eyes off it, how Danny Kaye, how effortless his screenwork was and how charismatic he was on screen and just the detail and the... in his performances. It looked kind of effortless and ultimately, as anyone knows who's done anything, you can see how much work is involved in that effortlessness. That I remember really, really well.'


Have a chair

'(Laughs) I do remember... I do remember getting a first laugh and I think it started that way for me. Like a lot of people have asked me that question and I never until really recently begun to think that the answer to the latter part of that question it, that it hasn't been until relatively recently that I've felt like performing is something that would be my life's work. I think as an actor, in particular, but I think anyone in the movie business whatever they do it seems to me... cos I'm always wondering if they're going to be able to get to the next job and what's it going to be and I think the nature of the business sort of in some ways thrives on knowledge and security... But it wasn't until recently that I knew that I wanted to do it through my life.'


'But when I was a kid there was a specific moment when I remember sort of getting an idea. My parents were at a dinner with their friends and we were all sort of joking and laughing and everything like that and I remember I was maybe six or eight years old and when one of the - as with a lot of the stories that one tells - it's probably not so funny when I tell it now - as one of the guests was leaving, me getting a chair from the table and telling them 'wait a minute, you forgot your parting gift, I got a chair for you...' I remember it very clearly and everybody, I don't know if they were drunk from the party or not, but everybody, that was the reason that they all erupted in laughter. But I remember that feeling... That having an idea... and then getting a response from it. I remember that really clearly and then it started to grow on me that impulse and I realised that you know, get on stage and try for the same thing.'


Gathering the tools

'My parents let me dabble in things... so I auditioned for that and when I got the role. They let me audition for things, I remember that, and what I think about it now is that I'm sure it must have been hard for them to feel that someone so young had something that they cared so much about and were passionate about. But sometimes it's like teaching a kid patience is one of the hardest lessons, it seems to me watching parents, that's the hardest thing to teach. And they tried their best, and saying to me 'I know you want to do this thing but you really have no idea of what it entails and there's a craft to it and there's... it's not just ambition and drive. It's about gathering the tools'. I remember my mother always saying that to me, 'It's about gathering the tools that you need in order to do this thing that you so desperately want to do cos you'll fall flat on your face if you don't.'


'As a teenage actor, I mean I did a little bit of work but I really did have and protect and I feel very, very protective of my life, which is what they knew, as an artist that there's no way to create anything if you don't have a life. I think that's really what they were getting at. 'You can go off and act and act and act but if you don't have a life that you're cultivating then you are going to have nothing to be inspired by. I think that as writers, as a writer and a director, and someone who's behind the camera and is a creator of a story, understands that more. Like if you're dry of ideas then usually it's because you haven't been out there living your life... I think there's always a need for kids in movies but I am not a huge proponent of it. I'm a huge proponent of... you get thrown up there and you become... you're just not aware. As a child you're innocent and you're not aware of the fact that it's an adult industry. And you have to act like an adult. And I've seen that before. I've been an adult with children in movies. It's a confusing thing, regardless of what anybody wants to say about it and I found it that way and that's what I want to say that it hasn't been until very recently that I've started to feel like it's something I've wanted to do for the rest of my life...'


Lessons

'There was a time in my life where I was able to drive. I got my driver's license and I was in high school still and at the beginning part of my senior year in highschool and I had free periods at school, like I would have an hour in between class sometimes and I had double free periods, when I had two hours and I would set up times where I could audition in that two-hour block of free time during the schoolday sometimes.And I was in a school play and then I would go and audition for things. And actually the great irony of that moment for me was that I was auditioning for things, I read the script of October Sky and I remember saying... 'I want to play this part; I can play this part' and I had...[You can stop me...] But I remember when I was in high school and I had gone into an audition for a highschool play and I asked my highschool drama teacher, who was a very important influence on my life, for directions before I went in to audition for him for another audition I was going to go to and - I didn't really give it my all at the auditions...'


'I had been acting for a long time but I would get a role, and I didn't really give it my all and I'd ask him for direction... assuming that he knew that I could act and that I was, you know... and I guess it goads me that some people have experience and I see it a lot too in any field professionally...'Let me get this, it's no big deal to put my whole heart into it', and I went off and did this audition which happened to be the first audition for October Sky and then I came back and for a couple of days literally after... I wasn't cast in the play and I was devastated. And I went to my highschool drama teacher and... he had no respect. 'There was no respect for what you had to do here. How can you have respect for doing it professionally if you don't have respect for it here, and vice versa? If you don't have respect for it. So why would I want an actor like that in my play?''


'That was a huge lesson for me and then in a strange kind of event I got a callback for October Sky and I didn't want to go. I shouldn't do this! I finally went in and did it and ultimately somewhere out of that lesson I learned I think I got this part. I gave it my all. I mean everything. I gave everything I could to get that part. I remember I auditioned many times. My heart was open to the process and so I got that part from there. And I remember... there were so many things that came up there that I learned from getting that role as an actor. The lessons I learned as an actor.'


'I remember that I auditioned for Ang Lee for Ride with the Devil actually, maybe a couple of times before that and I had walked in to the audition with my hair spiked up and I had all these necklaces on and... you know, obviously, Ride with the Devil, and when I got back from Ang Lee who ironically I ended up working with in another movie (laughs) was... I couldn't see him in any of the roles, he was a modern person, I didn't understand. His hair was spiked up, his necklaces were on - I couldn't see him in the role. And so for October Sky when I auditioned for it, I combed my hair back and I wore a shirt that I thought was sort of 50s like and I really got into the character in a way that... and I started to learn all these lessons which culminated in me getting the role.'


Read here for more about Jake and his teachers.

I have written some detailed reports of October Sky over the years, including this one: You made an astronaut who went to the moon cry, Jake.

I have discovered something I share with Jake - I vividly recall seeing Revenge of the Nerds! I also remember that Police Academy 4 was the first (and possibly the last) film I ever walked out of. Part 2 tomorrow.

Includes pictures from IHJ.