Conflict, instinct, no regrets - Jake Gyllenhaal and Jack Twist

It might not be a Sunday, my usual day for Brokeback posts, but after a stormy day of thunder, lightning and flooding rain (seriously, TDAT had nothing on today), I'm in the mood to wallow in Jake Gyllenhaal reminiscing about the choices - conflicts - that have shaped his career, leading him to Jack Twist.


An interview from the Hartford Courant, published on Christmas Day 2005. '"In every creative thing, I have an initial instinctual response... When I read this, and knowing Ang Lee was going to make it, I thought I had to do it. Then I thought about it some more, but I had no fear about it."'


'Although it is Ledger who is being talked up as an Oscar nominee, Gyllenhaal provides the story's more obvious emotional center. Both men pursue conventional lives by marrying and having children. The softer Gyllenhaal has one toe of his boot peeking out of the closet. He seeks paid male companionship south of the border and has other dalliances, while the tension of desire stays coiled in Ledger's jaw throughout. The pair's passion evolves into a 'Same Time, Next Year' rendezvous in the woods. It's a furlough from society's expectations on the pretense of a fishing trip.'


'"I don't believe necessarily that these two characters are gay... They have a homosexual relationship, but I don't know if they're gay." Reminded that Jack constantly seeks relationships with men, the actor backs off. "I think that's true in the story but that's not how I thought about it... I think he's just somebody who's dying for that same connection, like when we look for somebody who looks likes the person we just broke up with when they've broken our heart. He's looking for someone who feels the same, like when Ennis turns his wife around and has sex like he would with Jack."'


'Gyllenhaal stares out at the smog draping the skyline. "You could argue that my character is openly gay. I feel like he's having a more literal response to the love affair." The conversation turns toward the belief in some circles that everyone is bisexual on some level, one of the notions bandied about since the film knocked out audiences at Toronto and Venice festivals last fall. "I don't think so... I think that relationships are relative and sexuality is relative. Everybody has different interests and perversions. Everybody's different. I think what this movie does is deconstruct any idea of sameness. What's similar in all of us is that we're different."'


'All three of the principals -- Lee, Gyllenhaal and Ledger -- sought redemption in Brokeback. Lee's attempt to imbue 2002's The Hulk with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon artistry failed critically and financially. Ledger (A Knight's Tale) has said he deliberately tried to tank his career so he could rebuild it on his own terms. And Gyllenhaal found his try at blockbuster filmmaking on The Day After Tomorrow unsatisfying. "I always have conflicts... Whatever happens in the process of making the movie, as long as it's a collaboration and, even if there's fighting or whatever, as long as everyone is in, that's OK. Chris Cooper once told me, 'Don't regret anything in the process because that's all that you have as an actor.'"'


Includes pictures from IHJ. Article from WDW's Dusty Archives (as ever, if anyone wants a pdf of the article, just email me).