Jake Gyllenhaal - 'a dreamy loveboat whose body you wish you could drape around you like a duvet'

Lately, there's been a lot of talk about possible future movie roles for Jake Gyllenhaal, there's also been talk about possible past movie roles for Jake. This can mean only one thing, it is now time to talk about the past movie role that Jake was rumoured to have got, didn't get, but then everyone thought he'd got it anyway because a bunch of people can't (or at least couldn't) tell the difference between Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire. While, to you and me, this might seem a bit like not being able to tell halibut from squid, Jake's alleged similarity to Tobey has persisted. Some people might even think they could be brothers...


There is an upside, Jake gets the credit for a role he no doubt wanted and was even offered when Tobey had to make a choice between having a bad back and doing some of Spider-Man's more spidery stunts. Jake had the role for the grand total of two days. Nevertheless (Alternative Press 2002): 'I have to say, I just saw Spider-Man, and it's awesome... And I'm not just saying that because I always get mistaken for Tobey Maguire... It's really nice now, because people are like, 'We really loved you in Spider-Man', and I'm like 'Thanks! It was fun to make.''


Mind you, it wasn't just Spider-Man. Jake was quoted in a Mistaken Identities article in EW as saying,'I always get Tobey Maguire. 'I loved you in Cider House Rules.''


We've talked before about how close Jake was to being Spider-Man - the movie business can be tough: '"Jake was talked to," [Spider-Man producer] Arad says. "We had to talk to others because this is an action movie. Not a walk and talk picture ... God forbid Tobey signed on and then had a life-threatening injury. But all is well now."'


Nevertheless, it's clear Jake would have loved to have done it (a Day After Tomorrow podcast): 'Something changed in me when I saw Spider-Man actually, I have to say... There was a movie that was a huge movie, that was made for a lot of money, had incredible special effects, but it also had a story that, though it was simple in a lot of ways, was something really important for people to see at the time that it came out - which is just about love, like it's just a love story, but all the love stories that we've seen even in smaller movies become so cliche and it was really great to see a story like that. And something in me switched and said Wow, you can actually be in a movie that is a huge movie, that is like hugely entertaining and so much fun! That some people walk out of going 'Oh wow, there's something to think about' or there's something to feel. Not everybody will but some people will and that was really cool as I think that's why I want to make movies.'


Even during Rention promotion, Jake was quoting Spider-Man: '“Lately it's felt like a great responsibility," Gyllenhaal says of his career. "It's an interesting thing, in our generation at least, to be thrust into [a position of importance.] There's the line from 'Spider-Man': 'With great power comes great responsibility.'"'


When it didn't happen, Jake began to be a regular frequenter of the gym: 'Jake seems to be taking this very seriously. He has bought himself new Nike gear and he works very hard. He has a thin frame, but if he keeps working this hard, he'll be buffed up in no time at all.' When asked about his training for Jarhead, Jake replied once: 'I got bitten by a spider - just call me Spiderman.' In 2005, Jake and Ziyi Zhang presented an Academy Award for visual effects to the Spider-Man 2 team. Jake was a good choice to present it, now completely beefed up for Jarhead and definitely looking every part the superhero.


During the earlier years of Jake's career, comparisons between Jake and the older Tobey were rife. For example: 'Gyllenhaal, with Tobey Maguire's sleepy eyes and sly smile, is fascinating as Donnie, smoothly making the frequent transitions between normal, beyond-his-years angst and the delusional misfirings of someone truly disturbed.' 'In Moonlight Mile, Jake Gyllenhaal plays a troubled young man who is also holding in his feelings, yet with his big, dark doe eyes and Cupid-gone-Mona Lisa smile, Gyllenhaal looks as placid and innocent in his funk as the winner of the Tobey Maguire act-alike sweepstakes.' Both actors have been called natural Holden Caulfields.


I cannot resist quoting this description of Jake from the Telegraph review of Donnie Darko: 'But it's Jake Gyllenhaal who really catches the eye. With his doleful, mischievous features, knowing and yet so fretful, he looks in equal measure like an exhausted catamite and a dreamy loveboat whose body you wish you could drape around you like a duvet. He has a gift for sincerity, convincing us that Donnie's outbursts and feelings of confusion are more than just fits of pre-grunge teen petulance. Tobey Maguire was once - almost - this good.'

But a few years have gone by and now both Jake and Tobey have risen above the confusion and rivalry to work together in the roles that some people may have thought they were born to play - Brothers.

Includes pictures from IHJ.