Jake Gyllenhaal - actor, rocker

I may not be a geneticist (seriously, I'm not) but it could be fair to say that if one of the little blobs in Jake Gyllenhaal's DNA string had been a little bit bigger, or a little bit to the left or right, or a different colour, maybe we would be applauding Jake on the Glastonbury stage from a muddy field instead of on the silver screen. Indeed, Jake shows all the signs of a potential rock star. He may have said that he wanted to be a professional basketball or soccer player, but perhaps its a rocker's starlight that may have suited Jake best in an alternate universe. So, inspired by our glimpse of Jake at a magical, intimate gig, guitar in hand, with his favourites Mumford and Sons, here is a little taster of Musical Jake.



Talking of harmonicas, who could forget Jake on TRL back in those Zodiac days...?



Jake's musical ability has been commented on by Natalie Portman in People: '"Jake is the kind of guy who can do a spot-on impression of someone you work with that will make you giggle," raves Brothers costar Natalie Portman about the 28-year-old. "He plays guitar and has a great voice. Kids and dogs love him. He loves his mom and sister and girlfriend. He's perfect. Too bad he's ugly."'


He was also in a band as a teenager, as a guitarist: 'The band that I was in, "Holeshot," broke up. I am not currently in any band...but I am writing music and playing. I listen to all different kinds of music. I love The Pixies, Radiohead, Rufus Wainwright, Bob Dylan, The Toots and the Maytals, Beck, Belle and Sebastian, and Bruce Springsteen, to name a few.'


Jake elaborates here: ''Well, I think every actor says they're a singer. I don't know any actor who doesn't. They claim to be, every actor wants to be a rock star and every rock star wants to be an actor, which is probably true. But I've been singing all my life. My band, which broke up, was called Holeshot, and it was like rock, fusion kinda like, a little bit of like, I guess you could say influence like jazz. I love to play music.' What music do you like listening to? 'I love Tom Waits, I really love Tom Waits, I love Radiohead, I love Belle and Sebastian. I love so many and every time I remember answering this question and I go to my CD collection, I'm like, 'Oh! I should have said this, and I should have said that!' Because there are so many bands that I love so much, but those are the ones that are in my head.'

There are other things I'd prefer to forget.


But even that photo comes with a pleasant footnote. The Interview photographer, Mark Seliger, said at the back of the magazine: '"What I like about Jake is that he's got a fun, gentle side,"... The pair even took time to harmonize on what Seliger describes as "a pretty C-minus version" of John Prine's "Angel From Montgomery."'



Jake's singing and dancing powers are indeed legendary and another matter altogether but I cannot help posting this video which remains one of my very favourite Jake moments.



So when that musical happens, as it surely will one day, we won't be surprised by what we see but many no doubt will be. And also let's not forget, Jake has also inspired music.

Includes pictures from IHJ.

I've been busy this evening, I've done a post on robots! for Bleeding Cool and a post on Source Code for Man Made Movies.