New interview - Jake Gyllenhaal on making big, small and tricky movies: 'I take all my roles very seriously, always.'

Another great interview with Jake Gyllenhaal from Germany today. I particularly liked this one because it includes some questions I would love to ask myself, not least of which is whether Jake knows about the Amy Macdonald song LA which is dedicated to him. It always puts a smile on my face when it shuffles on to my iPod. Thee are other gems here. Forgive the bad translation, that's from me and Google. The good bits are thanks to Mrs JG, for whom we have to thank for the link. I have a few things to post from Germany to mark the release on 2 June and so I'm spreading them around.


'Do you like the song, Amy MacDonald dedicated to you? JG: I don't know anything about that, it sounds very nice anyway. I just hope she pronounced my name correctly!' [She got round that by calling him J.] 'It certainly isn't the easiest name to pronounce, I'm looking forward to when people make the effort with it. In school, I was fortunately spared these problems because my sister was a class above me - and with Maggie lies down to no-one.(Laughs)'

Working with a director on his first film: 'This first film, "Moon" was just so extraordinary and magnificent that I really wanted to work with director Duncan Jones. What they offer visually with relatively little money, I found very fascinating... I told my agent that I would like to meet Duncan. We understood each other well and he said that I could definitely try to play in one of his films. Then I said that I already had a screenplay I was considering that could come to him. I sent it to him and he committed four days later.'



An unusually complex film: 'It was great fun to tell my friends the first ten minutes of "Source Code". Everyone asked, "What, the train exploded?" And "He no longer recognises his own face?". Then I calmed them down and explained that the story is much more exciting. (Laughs)'

Tricky films seem your passion?: 'I find such material very attractive. At that time in "Donnie Darko" every day of filming began with questions: "What are we doing today?", "What happened yesterday?", "Have I already this guy?". Such questions lead to the ongoing development of a story, I like that a lot.'


With Jake's last eight minutes: 'I would call my family and talk with them. I would love to find something that I could laugh about - I've always found very intriguing the picture of smiling Buddhas.'

And if you could travel in time, what would you change in the past? 'If I could dive, like in the movie, into the body of another person, then I would warn John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King about the attacks on them. Most recently, I would warn Japan of the disaster - the list is endless.'


How easy is it for you to find such projects? 'Strangely, it has become very difficult to produce short films. A cheap project with a budget of under five million dollars is far more difficult to realise than a movie that is twice as expensive. That sounds pretty crazy, but that's the reality in Hollywood.'

You were a candidate for "Spider-Man, " "Batman" and "Superman" - are you happy in retrospect that the commercial popcorn heroes passed you by? 'I have absolutely nothing against these movies. They have huge success, which is certainly due to the quality of the directors. For me the difference is always whether someone simply makes a very expensive film or a film that has a premonition. Entertainment also has an obligation: it must tell intelligent stories. Therefore, Duncan was the perfect director for the perfect big budget film.'



How important is the balancing act between art and commerce to you? 'To me that's not important. (laughs) In the end it doesn't matter how big a project - as long as the story is right, a film also finds its audience. I had this experience with "Brokeback Mountain" as well as with "Donnie Darko" - which at the start broke no records, but in the long run, was highly successful.'

If the success of complex films such as "Winter's Bone" and "Black Swan" just coincidence or has the image of America changed in Hollywood? 'It has certainly been a change that I think is wonderful. "Pulp Fiction" and Robert Redford's Sundance independent productions have given it a boom, and the mood has returned. For actors, this is a great development.'


Does Jake take a film like Prince of Persia as seriously as Source Code? 'Absolutely! I take all my roles very seriously, always. When I play a character, then it means everything to me - otherwise I could not work at all.'

Wouldn't you like to act once again with Maggie? 'Why not? However, we've never talked about it much, we talk about family matters. But it would certainly be tempting to act together again in the theater.'


Thanks to Mrs JG for the scans from SKIP. Berlin photos from friends Christina and Sandra.