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Jake Gyllenhaal Interview
By Sam Enrico Williams 2012-04-27 22:10:39 | |
(TRAMP Magazine) - 
Jake's Day - Jake Gyllenhaal, star of summer,s eagerly anticipated Hollywood blockbuster, ‘The Day After Tomorrow’, is the hottest young talent since River Phoenix, says James Mulinger.
On a New York trip recently, Tramp dinned at the trendy downtown eatery Balthazar. Not unaccustomed to the presence of stars, the staff and clientele rarely raise an eyebrow at the arrival of a certified A-lister. The appearance of one young gentleman, however, failed to invoke such a cool and muted response. No sooner had he entered, a hushed silence swept though the room. Busboys neglected their chores for a second to snatch a glance, patrons quietly announced his arrival to their companions, and even those who didn’t recognise the boy took a moment to glance over. It was clear even to tem that with looks as smouldering as his, he had to be a ‘somebody’. They were right. Jake Gyllenhaal (pronounced Jill-en-hall) is the hottest young actor since River Phoenix. At the tender age of 24, he has delivered show-stopping turns in ‘Donie Darko’, ‘Lovely & Amazing’, ‘The Good Girl’ and ‘Moonlight Mile’ with Dustin Hoffman. Now, he heads up this summer’s top contender for box office domination. ‘The Day After Tomorrow’. On the eve of the film’s Los Angeles premiere, Tramp met with him to get the low-down on the film.
Clearly enthused about his first lead role in a bona-fide blockbuster, Gyllenhaal does not hesitate to give a synopsis of the film.
“A weather expert is trying to tell the government that crazy things are happening in the environment and without change, some pretty disastrous things are going to happen to civilisation.” He says “Then it happens and it’s the most disastrous thing you could ever imagine. Meanwhile, the weather expert’s son is stuck in New York and the bulk of the film concerns him (Dennis Quaid) trying to get to me, his son. The father’s neglect is a metaphor for the neglect we have for the environment.”
“The biggest attraction for me was the subject of global warming,” he states bluntly. “This is an issue that I wanted to find a way of addressing without preaching and this is the perfect way of doing it. On top of that, I was desperate to work with Ronald Emmerich. I love his move ‘Independence Day’ and this is very much like that in a lot of ways. Working with Dennis Quaid was also a huge plus for me. Dennis has been a great spokesperson for independence films and he’s a legendary actor.”
There’s a particularly disturbing scene in the film where Gyllenhaal is trapped in a New York public library trying to make a phone call as water rises around him. As well as almost drowning, it’s a wonder he did not freeze to death.
“The most challenging thing about the film actually was surviving the Montreal winter,” He jokes. “In terms of acting and the stunts, it’s just being able to keep up the energy after twenty takes of being drowned or running up huge flights of stairs, climbing up ladders or being chased by wolves.”
Despite all the physical exertion that was required of the actors, none of them had any professional training to prepare them.
“What’s cool about Roland is that he wanted situations, so I was supposed to struggle when climbing up a ladder or whatever – which is what we would find ourselves doing if we were really caught in these situations. Roland is about telling stories like that. We’re not superheroes. We’re not flying on strings or anything like that. We’re doing it for real.”
There is a clear message running through the film about the state of the environment. The cast and crew ensured they were all up to speed on the science behind the film.
“The thing you learn, from all the environmentalists that were on set during filming and form the writers, Roland and Jeffrey Nachmanoff is that everything that happens is true. It’s not a question of it – it’s a question of when. I mean my first fear was that it’s so spectacular people would say, ‘Ah, this would never happen, this could never happen. It’s just an action film’. But the scariest thing about it that I learned that something like this, been though it wouldn’t happen in a week, like it does in this movie, it could happen in ten years.”
A fan of Dennis Quaid, Gyllenhaal was pleased when he heard he’d be playing his son.
“Dennis and I only have four scenes together. Working with him has been great and watching him work has been fun and inspiring. For me, it’s exciting just to see a Dennis Quaid movie as I wasn’t there for most of his scenes, it was like watching a movie afresh,” he remarks, adding, “I mean, we work, we split the schedule, basically, and I worked half and he worked half. I was just excited to see his half. He has a funny sense of humour.”
Fans of Gyllenhaal’s have become concerned that he will be turning his back on independent cinema in favour of big-budget popcorn fodder such as this. He assures Tramp that this is not the case.
“No, I don’t think you’re going to see me stray away from independent cinema. Roles like ‘Donnie Darko’, ‘Lovely & Amazing’ and ‘The Good Girl’ are wonderful because you are involved all the way through – and in a movie like this, there’s like six months of pre-production and then there’s six months of production and then there’s eight months of post-production and, you never see any of that stuff. I just want to learn about all of it. So, I think you can learn about all of it in doing small movies or big movies. I’m not going to limit myself to one or the other because if I did I would be denying myself experience.”
Despite all the attention that Jake’s public and private life is attracting, he remains very focused.
“it’s all very flattering but the thing is, is a lot of people think of a career as like, doing small movies as a stepping stone to doing big movies. As if it’s some sort of hierarchy, you know. It’s not like that for me. It’s never been about that. It’s sort of just about experimenting with everything,’ he concedes. “I mean, it is flattering that people might react and say like ‘Oh, good. I can go to my small art theatre and go see him in a film.’ Then the next couple of years, every actor I respect and look up to have done that.”
People have very high hopes for this film. Can Gyllenhaal define what will elevate it above the rest of the pack?
“That’s simple,” says Gyllenhaal, “Two words: Roland Emmerish. For Ronald, making movies. This isn’t about making money. It’s about making a great film and he loves doing it. This business is often all about commerce. But that’s not what’s on his mind, his mind is set on making a story where people walk out and go, ‘Oh, my god, I want to see that again.’ And there are not many people like that,” he adds. “Certainly not a lot of people in huge, blockbuster movieland either. The reason he’s lasted and the reason why so many people want to be in his movies and see his movies is because he has that attitude. It’s bigger and crazier and different than anything you’ve ever seen. And it has a real humanity to it. It’s about, when something is going to happen. The other thing I could say, is in the summer are things that would never ever happen. And this is a scenario that it might just happen and that makes it even scarier than any other films you’ll see this summer.” Click here to continue reading.... | |
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