Jake Gyllenhaal conquers the world: 'PoP was my Indiana Jones and Source Code my Hitchcock'

I'm very grateful to Lady Ekster for sending across scans from the April edition of Dutch magazine JFK, with Jake Gyllenhaal looming large from the cover. Not only that, she has taken the time to do a full translation of the article. The pictures may be less recent but the interview is new and it's a goodie. It is called 'From cult hero to crown prince' and the magazine cover has the legend 'Jake Gyllenhaal conquers the world'.


'Everybody knows he can play a tender cowboy and a bothered teenager, but Jake Gyllenhaal never got to be a real action hero. Until last summer, when blockbuster Prince of Persia got released. And his newest flick, action thriller Source Code, is certain to earn him the medal Most Versatile Actor. In Los Angeles he tells JFK’s Jorrit Niels how he became Hollywood’s crown prince.'

'Jake Gyllenhaal worked as a lifeguard for years, but never rescued a soul. “Well… once,” he tells, his eyes looking at the table in front of him. “I saved someone from a jellyfish bite. By peeing on him.” An actor’s profile simply is incomplete without such little fun facts, so why not share some more: Jake Gyllenhaal used to be a big video game fan (Zelda, Super Mario Bros. and Metroid), hardly ever watches tv, is a fitness freak, cycles alongside Lance Armstrong regularly, and once confessed to his diary that he loved football more than his family. “I know you guys in Holland will understand that.”'


'We meet up with the thirty-year old actor in the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. He is dressed in a crumpled outfit made up from a black’n’blue shirt, black jeans and brown boots [us Gyllengirls will know immediately which outfit that was! ;)]. Underneath his clothes dangles a necklace with a Madagascan sapphire. A gift from his sister Maggie, much like her brother a celebrated actress who shot to fame with the arthouse hit Secretary, in which she let her boss undress and humiliate her. “That was not exactly an erotic film from my point of view,” Jake says with a smile.'

'Brother and sister starred in Donnie Darko, the 2001 cult phenomenon, but since then brother has ‘gained upon’ sister. There was a period filled with some brother-sister competition. “I’ve always been the one calling her for advice, not the other way around. I’ll always be her little brother. My sister is a strong woman who has always been very protective of me, both in jobs and in relationships. Each and every girlfriend has to pass her test. When we were young, she told me what to do; up until a theatre piece we performed at home in which I was a lonely tree in the corner and she was the star. But we’ve both grown up, have developed different personalities and inspire each other because of that.”'


'His sister isn’t the end of the connection between family and films. Gyllenhaal’s father is a director, his mum a screenwriter. They are progressive parents; Jake celebrated his bar mitswa doing voluntary work in a shelter for the homeless to ‘do good’ for the community. Steven Soderberg once rented the room above their garage. “It always was like a circus at home. We had quite a lot of filmmakers visiting us. Jamie Lee Curtis is my godmother and Paul Newman gave me my first driving lesson. Just like someone who grows up in Holland speaks Dutch, I speak Hollywood’s language. Better put: the language of film.”'


'If there is somewhat of a pattern to be discovered in Jake’s work, it’s his drive to not be a stereotypical actor. Next to small, independent movies like Proof, Brokeback Mountain and Jarhead - the ones that laid the foundations of his reputation - there was the modest success of disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow. After altruistic roles his evolution is now complete with two action-packed movies: video game adaptation Prince of Persia and action thriller Source Code. “I’ve always dreamed of playing roles like this. PoP was my Indiana Jones and Source Code my Hitchcock,” Jake comments. In Source Code, Jake plays captain Colter Stevens. Stevens wakes up on a train heading for Chicago. The passengers seem to know him, but he has no idea where or even who he is. He subsequently discovers he has been transported into someone else’s body in the last eight minutes of their life. His mission: to relive those eight minutes time and time again to find that one passenger who’s trying to blow up the train. The result of it all is something Hitchcock would have been proud of. “The thing I was most attracted to was the idea of gaining access to the last eight minutes of someone’s life,” Gyllenhaal elaborates. “A fascinating idea. The countless possibilities! What would you change? Who would you help? I’m not a huge sci-fi fan but playing a role like this is só cool. After I had read the script for the first time, I knew I would want to spend two hours in the cinema watching it.”'


'Those last eight minutes bring us to a logical question: whose eight minutes would Jake himself want to relive? “It’s more than just eight minutes inside someone’s body. That’s Being John Malkovich. These are the lást eight minutes of someone’s life, and because of that I would pick somebody who has had a big influence on the world. A historical figure whose ideas I admire. I would, for instance, tell Lincoln not to go to that theatre piece, or tell Kennedy not to visit Dallas. There is so much to choose from.”'

'Source Code is directed by Duncan Jones. David Bowie’s son is famous because of that other sci-fi-movie-on-a-tiny-surface: Moon. “Duncan belongs to the line of great directors I have been working with. Directors are the principal reason why I take on a role. That is the one and only aspect of my career that has some calculation to it. When I’m at work I’m not focusing on the final result, I’m focusing on the experience of making that particular movie and the people I get to work with. Like Ang Lee on Brokeback Mountain, David Fincher on Zodiac and Sam Mendes on Jarhead.”'


'Prince of Persia, last summer, Love and Other Drugs, last January and now Source Code make Gyllenhaal into a very present figure in the cinema and countless magazines, papers and tv shows. Is he ever afraid of an overkill? “You know, talking about my work is part of the job. My work remains the most important thing, of course. I notice how I’m getting more and more fussy lately; I allow myself less space to move. People take in an interest in every actor whose face shows up in the cinema every other season and I think that’s reasonable. But despite all that I do wish to keep my private life private, including both the joys and the tears.”'

'It’s a noble ambition, but just look outside the entrance of the hotel: a group of paparazzi photographers, waiting for Jake to hop on his Triumph Bonneville again. It’s upsetting, but not something that makes him nervous or cautious. “Of course I lose myself in a good party every now and then, but I’m very aware of what I’m doing. We live in a world in which everything is connected. The more self-conscious you grow, the more you are able to take care of yourself in this world. But by self-conscious I don’t mean cautious. It has a lot to do with taking risks. I can be who I want to be and if that’s not enough, then what I am will do. I’m not a faker anymore and I won’t spend my energy trying to live up to other people’s expectations.”'


'That’s pretty deep for a Hollywood child. You’d think. There’s more to Gyllenhaal than a promising actor. He studied Eastern Religion at Columbia University in New York, and although he does not consider himself a Buddhist, it has definitely left its marks on him. “I have never found happiness in material success, nor in the quest for that success. That’s a thing to remember. Also, I’m not analysing everything anymore. I used to think and think and think and consider an option for years. These days, I’m guided by my gut. Jim Sheridan, who directed me in Brothers, once told me: “You should try to not think for a year.” I had a big laugh about that, and then a big thought.”'

'After a bored soldier in Jarhead, Jake portrays a military man again in Source Code - the kind of guy he admires. Not that he’s anything close to a right-wing redneck, but he likes the mindset. “There’s the physique in the first place. I’ve been athletic since childhood. Cycling, running; I love it. It keeps my mind focused and fresh. Second, there’s the feeling of ‘going it together’. We had a limited budget for Source Code so we filmed in dilapidated store houses with bad air conditioning, instead of sterile studios. That’s what I like most about films; their complete contradiction to Hollywood’s glamour. Weirdly enough I don’t feel like an actor when I’m on set. I feel part of a bigger community in which everybody works together. That’s why I understand the military and have an honest respect for it, regardless of the politics behind it. Those films and the months I spent researching, training and talking to veterans have been a major influence in my life.”'


'It’s funny he should say so, because you don’t see a tough soldier in his melancholic blue eyes, nor do you hear one in his soft tone of voice. Still, there’s something dark deeper inside the actor. It reared its head during the filming of Jarhead. During a film-fight with a co-star things got serious and Gyllenhaal stopped acting and started beating the guy. In another scene where he had to strangle a co-star, he kept going until someone hit him in the face. What happened there? “I do have that agressive side to me, I do. Sometimes I can totally lose myself in a role. I like to think about what I would do if it really wére me on that train. Would I fight or would I run? Am I a coward or a hero?” He emphasizes that it’s not to do with frustration. “I like putting myself to the test. I get restless when I’m too much at ease. The marines were amazing. I returned from boot camp with a shaved head and it scared the hell out of my mother,” he says, grinning widely.'


'The paradox between likability and danger is the secret to Gyllenhaal’s success. Showing emotions without the need for words, being light and bubbly yet very present, like a chameleon - it has all been part of the transition from ‘who is Jake Gyllenhaal’ to ‘I want Jake Gyllenhaal’. It’s most welcome after a few stormy years. His good friend and co-star in Brokeback Mountain, Heath Ledger, died in 2008. It’s still difficult for Jake to talk about him. “That movie was unforgettable, an amazing experience for everyone involved. But Heath’s death was… It was a very hard time.” At the end of the same year, his godfather Paul Newman died. A year later, in 2009, his parents divorced and his two-year relationship with Reese Witherspoon ended in a break-up. It’s been a process of growing up quickly, Gyllenhaal says with a sarcastic tone of voice and ditto look in his eyes. “Some relationships last a lifetime and some don’t. At least I’m more comfortable with myself nowadays; I feel better in my own skin. All that’s left is becoming a father and then I’ll finally be a big boy.” A subtle hint? “Oh no, not at all. We should talk about that a few years from now.”'


And finally...

I can't resist a review that is built upon a comparison between Source Code and the sandwich chain Subway.

Includes stills from IGN. Many thanks to Lady Ekster for such a great interview!