Jake - 'We're the closest thing to an Italian family without being Italian'

It took Sam Mendes four months to decide if Jake Gyllenhaal was the right man for Jarhead. '"Yes, frankly, I did initially have some doubts," British-born Mendes says. "I pegged him as one of those drippy, sorry, American indie-film boys, a bit too doe-eyed and whiny to pull this off. Which was unfair of me."' Tony Swofford himself was impressed by Jake in an instant: "It took me almost 10 years to level with myself about the type of guy I was in Desert Shield. [Jake] got it immediately. So I see myself in the manic behaviour. But, of course, I never looked as good doing it."


It's well known how Jake failed to impress at his initial, informal audition for Jarhead, having already attracted Sam's attention on stage in London: 'Mendes thought of Gyllenhaal to play Swofford after seeing the actor onstage in London in the 2002 play This is Our Youth. The two later met at Mendes' apartment, where, at the kitchen table, Gyllenhaal read two emotional scenes. His performance fell flat. Afterward, Mendes served sandwiches and watched Gyllenhaal doggedly fight the urge to go down on his knee and beg to do the audition again. Instead, they small-talked, and the actor went home.'


The filming itself was hard, after long physical and mental preparation: 'There was usually always - like when the oil fires were going on, we had two real fires in front of us and we had oil raining on us and then in the background, and then they filled that in, but everything that we're in is all real. So it was burning hot, those fires, and they didn't use real oil, but we had like molasses, basically, so we had all of that dripping all over us all day. In terms of the explosions and things like that, they were happening, and then they would add them - the far background. The foreground and initial background was all real, and then the far background was computer-generated, so as actors, we were pretty much in the real thing all of the time. There was never a moment where they were like, "oh, don't worry - we'll drip oil all over you in post."'


To Jake, filming Jarhead, and the role of Swoff, was a step away from the kind of roles audiences were accustomed to see him play. This was partly due to the creative freedom granted to Jake by the director: '"I just tried to take risks, and Sam allowed it. He made me feel my ideas are intelligent and correct, and now," Gyllenhaal adds wryly, "you can't sway me from that."'

'These days, Gyllenhaal wants to reinvent himself. He wants to drop the loopy, disaffected image he has perfected in arty movies such as "Donnie Darko" and "The Good Girl," as well as his people-pleasing ways, and become, well, more selfish. "I think I've spent a lot of time [worrying] about how people perceive me rather than doing what I want," he says. Gyllenhaal tends to talk in circles and can be hard to follow, like the instructions on a new toy made in China. "I'll go into situations and fit right in, and that's sort of where I'm coming out of. I'm tired of fitting the way I think everybody thinks I should fit." Gyllenhaal credits "Jarhead" with setting him on that path.'


The soldiers themselves had to grow up young: 'As much issue as I have with our current situation, [as far as] the troops themselves, it's extraordinary what they do. I mean, at my age, I'm still figuring out who I am. When you're 25 years old or in your early 20s, and even younger than that, you're figuring out who you are, and when you're put in situations that they're put in and doing the things that they're doing, within that discovery I think it's just the bravest you could be.'

After Jarhead, would Jake have made a sharpshooter? '(laughs) I don't think any of them wanted to see me doing it. I mean, I dug a great foxhole (laughs).'


In addition to information on how Jake approached Jarhead, these interviews include other gems. In USA Weekend, Jake let on about what it's like around the Gyllenhaal family table: 'The actor grew up surrounded by creative types with "big personalities." His family was loud at the table and never short on opinions. They debated Reaganomics and environmental issues over farmer's-market-fresh food. "We're the closest thing to an Italian family without being Italian," says Gyllenhaal, whose mother is Jewish and father grew up in the Swedenborgian church, a traditional Christian faith from Sweden. "We're all verbose, so it's hard to get a word in edgewise. You have to claw your way around." Gyllenhaal learned early that in order to get attention, he would have to perform.' Jake is also informative: "if you drive a hybrid, you don't have to pay for [meter] parking anywhere."

Some time ago, I posted a link to an audio interview with Jake, in which he described how, for days after filming ended, he came across sand on his pillow - 'it invaded me'. Here is the video to go along with it, which begins with an 'exposure check'.



And while I'm posting videos, here is a video interview with Jake from a French source, in which Jake discusses how he prepared himself mentally for the role and how he worked with the real Swoff to do justice to the character.



Jake and Beth Grant

While finding information for this feature on Jarhead, I stumbled across this Q&A session for Donnie Darko, with Jake and others from the film. I knew that Jake had known Beth Grant (who played Kittie Farmer) for years, but here we discover that Jake's casting had a big influence on Beth taking the role and Jake says 'I used to play naked in their pool with [Beth's] two nieces. Two beautiful blonde twins. Things have changed. (Laughs)' Now there's a thought.


Beth says of the film 'It's honestly my most favorite thing I've ever done, it's my favorite movie, I must have seen it fifteen times, and Richard, I know I'm so Kittie Farmer right now, I loved this cut so much... Richard is a great director and he knew what he wanted in every scene and he got the freedom to try things and do new ideas.' Jake says: 'But it was an amazing experience for me and a familiar one too because this was hopefully not the last time that I work with my sister, but everyone sort of became family from that experience and I'm so proud of it.'

Earth Day

Thanks to I Heart Jake for posting New Old pictures of Jake and Salma Hayek from Everything's Cool and Earth Day in 2005.





Includes pictures from IHJ.