NEW YORK -- Jake Gyllenhaal has been awake
for roughly 24 hours, give or take a few winks he may have caught on the
fly. Yet the actor is pulsating with an enthusiasm so palpable you
could almost touch it. He apologizes for the charmingly mussed state of
his hair, and his messy attire of jeans and sneakers. He gulps water
from a reusable bottle and quips that given how sleep-deprived he is, he
probably isn't making much sense. And when told that his level of
energy is, to say the least, awe-inspiring, he shrugs.
"This
is not tired. It's great. It's nice to be having a movie opening and a
play opening. It's a blessing, not tiring," says Gyllenhaal, 31.
Indeed, the actor has hit his professional sweet spot. He's starring in the off-Broadway play If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet, and his performance as a drifter has earned him solid reviews from critics. And his cop drama, End of Watch,
not only garnered Gyllenhaal raves for his turn as a cocky LAPD officer
who polices the brutal South Central neighborhood, but also topped the
box office in its opening weekend. Gyllenhaal acknowledges that his
career is at a turning point, after a series of films -- like 2004's The Day After Tomorrow, 2007's Rendition and 2010's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
-- that were, at best, forgettable. So what shifted for him? He's not
sure, but says turning 30 was a factor, as was his parents' divorce
after three decades of marriage.
" I
woke up and I said, 'I've had the privilege of being able to do this
for 15 years.' I got so far away from the idea of acting as a real craft
to master. I didn't want to skirt the surface in it. I wanted to learn
about myself," says Gyllenhaal, who earned a supporting-actor Oscar
nomination for 2005's Brokeback Mountain. "I
wanted to interact with people doing real stuff and have it enrich my
life. I wanted to have my work enrich my life and have a life that I was
proud of. Not to say I wasn't proud of it before. There were a lot of
things. Many things dominoed into that moment."
The result is Watch, a role that Gyllenhaal lived and breathed for half a year. He spent five months shadowing police officers to prep for Watch.
He went on ride-alongs. He learned to fight. To shoot guns. To deftly
handle live ammunition. To, in his words, become a cop in his "own
mind," and do it while forging an authentic relationship with Michael
Pena, who plays his partner and best friend. Gyllenhaal admits that he
pursued the part
"I fought for the role.
The rewards of making the film extend to his personal life. Today, says Gyllenhaal, he considers Pena (who co-starred in World Trade Center and Tower Heist)
part of his inner circle. Pena, in turn, says he and Gyllenhaal text
consistently; they've spent time with each other's families; and Pena
went to see Gyllenhaal's play while he was in Manhattan. Initially,
though, relations were frosty.
"We
didn't hit it off right away. He comes from a completely different
background. I grew up in the ghetto. He grew up in Hancock Park and his
sister is an Oscar-nominated actress. My parents were farmers. We didn't
have a lot in common. But when somebody's shooting a gun two feet away
from your head, you gain a little bit of respect for them and you have
to trust them," says Pena.
So is Gyllenhaal anything like his character, a man both brashly confident and sweetly true-blue?
Pena says what's most endearing about Gyllenhaal is how
family-oriented he is, and how much he adores his mother, screenwriter
Naomi Foner, and sister, Maggie. And how he's willing to help everyone
be on their A-game, including Pena -- who admittedly was out of shape
before shooting started.
"He's a
complicated dude, to be honest. He's really, really smart. He can be
goofy at times, but his mind is always going, going, going," says Pena.
"He goes on these epic jogs. He called me up and said, 'Let's go for a
run.' And there's paparazzi shots of us. He's running all stealth and
all you see is me dying. Meanwhile, Jake is like, 'Whatever.' "
Not exactly. Those who know the actor praise his dedication, and his unwillingness to cut corners. During the Watch
shoot, Pena recalls how Gyllenhaal would step in and help him navigate
difficult scenes. "Good things happen to those who are in movies with
Jake. He's proud of that fact. He's pretty selfless in that regard, and
he wants you to kill it," says Pena. "There were a couple of times I
wasn't doing very well, he'd pull me aside and tell me, 'Dude, do you
remember that thing you did in rehearsal? Do that.' His motivation comes
from a good place."
It's true that
Gyllenhaal goes after what he wants. He had made a promise to himself
that he would alternate every few movies with a theater production.
After making his lauded stage debut in the 2002 London production of
Kenneth Lonergan's This Is Our Youth, Gyllenhaal wanted to do
theater again -- and soon. It took him a decade to make good on his
word. After seeing Nick Payne's play Constellations in London, Gyllenhaal approached the scribe about appearing in his production of If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet. Again,
he went after the role, because it spoke to him. Gyllenhaal isn't the
first name on the poster promoting the play. Nor does he view himself as
the star of it. "He chose a really interesting ensemble play," says
director Michael Longhurst. "He's obsessive about making this production
as good as it can be."
His
character, says Gyllenhaal, is "thinking and doesn't say what he thinks
and he feels the thoughts connecting. His desperation to communicate
some kind of honesty, I fell in love with that. It's a high-energy role,
so it requires a tremendous amount of focus and attention. To be able
to do what I love the most is the best. It gives me energy."
Yes, you want to roll your eyes at Gyllenhaal's unabashed
exhilaration and all that talk about work ethic. But there's the real
sense that he means every word. "Honestly, I love waking up in the
morning knowing that I'll be on stage and feel like you're part of this
history of storytelling. I walk home every night," he says with a
smile.
What free time he has, says
Gyllenhaal, he spends with older sister Maggie, who in April gave birth
to her second daughter, Gloria; big sister Ramona is almost 6.
Gyllenhaal relocated from Los Angeles to New York City so he could be
closer to his sister and brother-in-law, Peter Sarsgaard, and his mom.
If you really want to see the softer side of the actor, ask Gyllenhaal
about his parents and sibling.
"We
have a new generation. My sister and I aren't the youngest ones anymore.
All those things came together in my life," Gyllenhaal says. "It's
really cool to see my niece now because she really helps out. There's
this video that Peter sent me the other day. My older niece was playing
with my younger niece. She would turn around and surprise her, and my
younger niece was so in love with her. It gave me a perspective on how
much I probably felt the same way about my sister, and I do still. That
stuff never goes away."
Gyllenhaal
babysits, but not as much as he probably should. " I was in L.A. for the
premiere, and they were all together here last night. My niece is a
little sick right now because she just started school again. I felt
really torn -- maybe I'm a bit of a mess, but there's this family in
this movie that I didn't want to leave and I was talking to my family on
the phone and thinking how much I missed them and loved them and wanted
to be with them. I watched Brave on the plane on my way to Los
Angeles, and all I could think about was my niece because that's her
favorite movie," he says.
And if
that's not enough to win you over, Gyllenhaal also is adept behind the
stove and is a foodie, in the non-annoying sense. John Lesher, who
produced End of Watch and became close friends with Gyllenhaal,
says the actor "always knows where to get the best food and the best cup
of coffee. He cooks -- I went to Seder dinner at his mom's place and he
made all the food, which was spectacular. He made brisket and all kinds
of stuff. He's very in touch with his Jewish side. He's always
questioning everything. He's not neurotic. If he's going to do
something, he's going to do it well."
He's curious and focused, adroitly discussing post-traumatic stress
syndrome and the effect it has on those exposed to violence on a regular
basis, like police officers. "He's interested in everything going on in
the world. You're meeting Jake for dinner and then you're sitting with
K'naan, this Somali poet musician. You never know with Jake where
something is going. Or you're with his mom and his niece and making
dinner and talking about the issues of the day. He's a very decent
person, which goes a long way," says Lesher.
And now that he's on a roll, Gyllenhaal has no intention of slacking off. He just wrapped the thriller An Enemy,
another intense film about a man who discovers what appears to be a
doppelganger living nearby. His mantra: Listen to yourself and follow
your instincts.
"I did this movie October Sky
with Chris Cooper. When I asked him for his actorly advice, he said,
'Just don't have any regrets.' I don't think I had any understanding of
what that meant until very recently.This is one of the very first movies
where I can say that I have very little regret. I've combed every
corner. And that was for me," he says.
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