Some Thoughts on Jake Gyllenhaal (Let Him Be Weird, Dammit!)

Jake G is good in Presumed Innocent but I prefer it when he plays a strange goblin figure who yells in a weird accent.

This month, Jake Gyllenhaal joined the ever-growing ranks of film actors entering the prestige TV business with Presumed Innocent, Apple TV+’s adaptation of the Scott Turow courtroom thriller. You can read my review of the show on TheWrap, but my general thoughts are that I enjoyed this throwback series and that maybe we could use more courtroom dramas. Remember when they were everywhere? I don’t tend to have much time for David E. Kelley’s work but I appreciated how he leaned in hard on making pretty much every character in this series a complete jerk. Gyllenhaal is very good in the lead role as a prosecutor who is accused of murdering his lover/colleague. He’s an actor who does well in playing seemingly stoic figures who are barely holding it together and will explode when we least expect it. The series sadly doesn’t let Gyllenhaal have a lot of room to do what he does best: be a total effing weirdo.

(Image via Apple TV+_

I’ve long had a soft spot for Jake Gyllenhaal. I was that teenage girl who was obsessed with both Donnie Darko and Brokeback Mountain, so of course I do. Gyllenhaal ascended the ranks of stardom around the time I fully committed to being a film nerd, and I always associate him with that time when I was daring myself to watch disturbing arthouse fare and discovering directors like Lynch and Almodovar. The year of Brokeback Mountain’s release was also the year I became obsessed with the Oscars, and you can imagine how furious I am to this day that Crash won Best Picture.

When I think of Gyllenhaal, I think of his ever-evolving career and how he often seems torn between two extremes: leading man action dude and weirdo character actor. This isn't unique to him, of course. Really, I think a lot of the most interesting actors find themselves trying to balance their commercial prowess with their inner freak. Sebastian Stan is a good recent example, moving from Bucky Barnes to Tommy Lee and Donald Trump (men want one thing and that’s to be Willem Dafoe.) You can see a lot of Gyllenhaal DNA in Stan, although many of Gyllenhaal’s nerviest choices were ignored by audiences. His best performance might be in David Fincher’s Zodiac, a commercial flop that has mercifully been accepted as one of the greatest works of the 21^st century. On Okja, Bong Joon-ho’s sci-fi environmental fable, Gyllenhaal is at his most unhinged. Why talk when you can bellow? Honestly, I’m all-in whenever he chooses to do a weird voice (see also the sinfully underseen The Sisters Brothers.) He is a musical theatre kid, after all.

In recent years, Gyllenhaal’s increased his action fare, most of which feels like an ill fit for his brand of stardom. As a Guy Ritchie apologist, I am of course obliged to shout out the underrated The Covenant, which sees the king of the blokes channelling his inner Paul Greengrass, but there’s also the limp remake of Road House, which felt like it had been churned out by AI. It harkens back to 2010, when he headlined the big-budget wannabe franchise starter Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, a film lacking in actual Middle Eastern people and any sense of urgency. It felt like Gyllenhaal was coaxed into this side of his career, moving from Oscar nominee indie actor to headliner. It didn't work, but not because of Gyllenhaal. He's simply never felt like that kind of performer. We tend to view this sort of action performance as an excuse to slum it but it’s way tougher than that. There’s a reason we’re sorely lacking in the old-school movie-star these days, aside from that old guard like Will Smith and Tom Cruise who are now in their 50s and 60s.

Perhaps the best example of Gyllenhaal nailing this balance in recent years is Ambulance. Yes, it took Michael f*cking Bay to make it happen. We live in a strange timeline. He plays a crook who ropes his brother into a bank job that goes wrong, sending them both on a high-speed chase through Los Angeles in an ambulance. Gyllenhaal’s performance in it can best be described as, “imagine if John Turturro had abs.” His character, Danny Sharp, is unhinged to the point of sociopathy, a description that feels too tame for this villainous weirdo. He's charming but explosive, a guy who has no qualms about slaughtering anyone who mildly annoys him yet is staunchly loyal to his brother. The zenith of the film comes when the brothers sing along to “Sailing” by Christopher Cross with the maniacal zeal of a stag do karaoke session nine hours into the evening. He’s exhausting but thrilling to watch, which makes him the manifestation of Bayhem. Frankly, that’s my Gyllenhaal.

There is one thing that makes him perfect for Presumed Innocent: for all of his good looks and charm, there is something fascinatingly untrustworthy about him. It’s fitting for a story about a guy who, even if he didn’t murder his lover, is a piece of sh*t who you still want to suffer for his sins. Sure, Gyllenhaal can be a hero but in the way that 1970s character actors are: weird, weaselly, probably back-stabbing. Many hot dude leading men excel in roles where the pearly white smile reveals a sinister undertone (hi, Tom Cruise and that guy from The Boys.)

It’s one of the reasons he’s so excellent in Zodiac. As Robert Graysmith, the cartoonist turned obsessive investigator of the Zodiac killer, Gyllenhaal isn't sinister, per se, but still just kind of off. He seems like the kind of guy who could easily move on from this story, as many in the media did, but he stayed fervently committed and it tore his family's life apart. Watching him sink further into his fascination is pitiable, more so because he himself seems painfully aware of what he's doing. He just won't stop. A bad guy? No. Someone you want to be around? Also no. That’s a great Gyllenhaal role – a man who is a simmering pot barely holding onto its lid.

I could probably go on about Gyllenhaal the guy, the Swift song, the weird stories about him, and so on. He certainly has a clash of personalities in terms of his public image: a charming interview who loves his family but also a questionable boyfriend but also an intense talent who maybe needs to calm the hell down? That feels like a post for another day, to be honest (and I’m not really qualified to talk about anything related to Tay Tay, sorry.)

Gyllenhaal’s next major role is as Iago in a Broadway production of Othello alongside the one and only Denzel Washington. Imagine Gyllenhaal as the great weaselly villain of Shakespearean canon. That’s some good casting, right?

(You should all watch The Sisters Brothers.)

Thanks for reading. It was my birthday yesterday – yay for turning 34 – so to celebrate, I shall share another classic Gossip Reading Club issue for all subscribers. I also celebrated by going shopping and getting a massage. I bought a Talking Heads CD and some Pizza flavoured Pringles. Rockstar life, right?

I’m also nearing 1,000 subscribers so I’m going to do a Q&A. if you have any questions about me, the newsletter, some celebrities or classic gossip, or you just want some vampire book recommendations, leave a comment or DM me!