#178. Jake Gyllenhaal: The Most Underrated Star?
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This short bonus cut, spun off from the main Guy Ritchie's The Covenant discussion in episode 177, is a no-preamble victory lap for Jake Gyllenhaal, with Sonny, JVL, and Mike Warren agreeing he's one of the most durable and underrated leading men working today. They open by dissecting Guy Ritchie's directorial tics — Sonny identifies a recurring "close-up zoom" push-and-pull as close to a signature move, seen again in The Covenant — before pivoting into a full career survey of Gyllenhaal: October Sky, Bubble Boy, Donnie Darko (a DVD-era phenomenon that broke big in dorm rooms alongside The Big Lebowski and Boondock Saints), The Day After Tomorrow (JVL loves it, Sonny is lukewarm, Mike rolls his eyes at the snow), Brokeback Mountain, Jarhead, Prince of Persia, Zodiac, End of Watch, Prisoners and Enemy with Denis Villeneuve, Nightcrawler, Velvet Buzzsaw and Okja on Netflix, and his scene-stealing turns in Spider-Man: Far From Home and Ambulance. JVL argues Gyllenhaal, still only in his forties, hasn't even hit his peak yet and could become a genuine movie star if he wanted the "brass ring." There's no opening banter or ratings in this one — it's a pure, breezy bonus-episode victory lap for an actor the hosts feel never gets his due.
From the show notes
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Full transcript
Sonny00:00:00You know, I was thinking about this before the show today. I think I think Guy Ritchie is the the all tourist director who either we have done the most episodes on or just has released the most films since we've been doing the show JBL. I mean, if you go back to 2017 is chap King Arthur King Arthur Legend of the Sword. And then in 2019, you have Aladdin 2020. There was the gentleman 2021 Wrath of Man and then two more movies. So that's, you know, five movies over six years, six, seven years. That's that's a that's a pretty productive stretch.
JVL00:00:47He's very good.
Mike00:00:49Is he an auteur? Would we consider him an auteur?
JVL00:00:53Well, he doesn't write as well. Do you have to write your own stuff?
Sonny00:00:58No, no, you don't have to write your own stuff to be an auteur. You know, that's that's not Steven Spielberg writes very few of his own movies. I don't think anyone would deny that Steven Spielberg is an auteur. But he, you know, he the real question is, does he have a signature visual style? And I don't think that he necessarily does. And this is kind of what I was getting at earlier on, is that he slides very seamlessly into four very different genres in these last four. Years. I mean, it's it's very interesting and kind of impressive, really.
JVL00:01:28Well, he definitely has a style, but it is typically been more of a compositional style than a visual style, I think. Right. I mean, I just think about that. My favorite scene in Jeff King Arthur is when the the bent cop comes to interrogate, you know, the bent and friendly cop comes to interrogate Jeff King Arthur in the in the beginning. And they have a. You know, back and forth with, you know, let me tell you a story about a Viking. How do you get a bike? And that patter is a very, very rapid exposition kind of thing. That's like typically been a Guy Ritchie thing, but he doesn't do it all the time.
Sonny00:02:11You know, like that. No, he doesn't. The one the one kind of consistent stylistic tick that I think you pick up on is the close up zooms. And. Reverse, like zoom, zoom ins and zoom out. So there's there's there's a shot in the covenant where Jake Gyllenhaal and his interpreter, who I really whose name I should know, I really done him a disservice.
Mike00:02:39Yeah, go ahead.
Sonny00:02:40I'll offer it anyway. The but there's there's a there's a moment when the two of them are talking in that hallway. I think it's either in the hallway or it's in the house. And Richie kind of starts close in on their faces and then zooms back and zooms. Back and it's like it's like you're and he's like slowly pushing in on both of them. But at the same before that and then the zoom out, it's like we're getting tense, tense, tense, tense. All right, we're good. It's very it's an interesting thing. He does it. He does it in most of his movies. I think if you if you if I were to go back and watch them, I would probably call that, you know, I don't know. It's it's an interesting little the riches of the riches of the I don't I wouldn't call it the Richie Zoom necessarily, but that's a little Darcelle.
Mike00:03:24I was I say. Danish national actor.
Sonny00:03:29Very few people in this movie who speak American English, by the way. I don't know if you if you guys picked up on that. Basically, every every supporting character is a is a Brit or a Scott.
JVL00:03:40Yeah. Well, I mean, this is the thing that for outside of Jake Gyllenhaal, who, by the way, we didn't. Yeah, I was going to ask about Jake Gyllenhaal.
Mike00:03:47Yeah, he's fantastic. How do we feel about Jake Gyllenhaal before we before we leave?
Sonny00:03:51Like he's I think it's I think it's very funny. I was thinking about this while I was watching the movie, like the first the moment when Jake Gyllenhaal kind of burst onto the scene as playing this kind of portrait of disaffected American youth, right? Donnie Darko, he's the he's your he's the standard suburban, you know, sad white kid who who just is is oppressed by the the manicured lawns and all that, right? And it's a very kind of, you know, dyspeptic look at America. And here he is a I would say. I think it is fair to say a more strident, a more well, what's the right word? I don't know. A more a a striking vision visage of American honor.
Mike00:04:41Yes, an archetype.
Sonny00:04:42Yes, I well, the warrior, the American warrior, you know, he's older, he's not a teenager.
Mike00:04:49And I mean, there's like there's a there's something I mean, there's something like to like, you know, the actor's own. You know, you know, aging and life, you know, anyway, so I don't know. I just I love Jake Gyllenhaal. I've loved him ever since Donnie Darko. And I just was and I love how the movie makes a joke about his blue eyes because it's just like they're so like distinctive. And it was like a nice little in joke.
JVL00:05:16About that, he's really good in that, you know, I I started turning around him on of all things and Spider-Man Far From Home. Right. Where his Mysterio, I mean, just look, he didn't he didn't write this. He's not the screenwriter. But the idea that Mysterio as a villain should be like somebody from a Ted talk, right? We're going to take a Silicon Valley entrepreneur from a Ted talk and he's going to be our supervillain. Just great. And he's really good in that. He's great in ambulance. He, you know, Gyllenhaal has a bunch of different speeds and he's or a nightcrawler, nightcrawler, nightcrawler. Yeah. I love that movie. So good. He is. I, I feel like we are actually not yet at his peak. We haven't read Pete Gyllenhaal. Gyllenhaal is going to re he's going to be at his best as an actor in his mid forties and early fifties. And I think he's not quite there yet. I think he's probably like 40 years old. No, he's older than that. I don't know. He's 42. He's 42. So I think we're getting like, I think he's not actually, I think it's possible that Jake Gyllenhaal. If he wants to, could become a very real movie star. I don't know if he has the interest in that. He seems to be much more actorly and likes taking different projects. But if he decides he wants to a shot at the brass ring, I think he's got,
Sonny00:06:40well, I mean, he's, he's a guy who has, uh, w what do you say? We just keep going on this and make this the bonus cut off the, yeah. Um, so, uh, so, uh, Gyllenhaal is interesting too, because he is, uh, he's a guy who works. He is, he is very fair. We seamlessly managed to do both the movie thing and the streaming thing. Right. He's in a bunch of Netflix originals, um, like, uh, Okja, uh, the, the director bong movie, um, about the, the manufactured pigs. Um, and, uh, and he was also in the, um, Oh God, what's it called? Velvet, velvet buzzsaw, velvet buzzsaw, velvet buzzsaw. He was, he was in velvet buzzsaw, which was a Netflix original about kind of the absurdity of the. The, uh, high art world. And he's, he's very good in that. But as you say, he's like, he he's, he's managed to, um, you know, kind of stay in the, in the, uh, big budget or medium budget, uh, mix, uh, he's in Spider-Man far from home. He's in, um, uh, ambulance. Uh, he's, he is arguably the best part of both of those movies. I think, I think you could make that case.
JVL00:07:51Is the jar head and Prince of Persia. Sour. Him on the idea of trying to do blockbusters.
Sonny00:08:00Well, char head. I mean, char head was a weird movie because it was a, it's, it's, it's, as we were discussing earlier, it's kind of like this in this crop of like anti, like, like nakedly anti-war movies, um, that come out in the mid two thousands, right? Like that was, uh, um, never going to be a huge hit. Um, Prince of Persia was a Prince of Persia was a bomb.
JVL00:08:22And that was just a, yeah, Prince of Persia was. Like an early version of the, what was that? Disney movie, John, John, uh, uh, the one with John Carter. John Carter from Prince of Persia is like that. It's like, we're going to, we're going to make a new franchise watch, but jarhead was like a bestselling novel, you know, like that was, you know, that, that was a highly anticipated movie. They're like, oh, they've optioned jarhead. It's going to be a, it wasn't very good.
Sonny00:08:52Um, I love Jill. I've loved Jill. I've loved Jill for a long time though. I mean, I, I am, you know, I was so, you know, my, my recollection of Donnie Darko was, this is a movie, this is one of the first movies that came out. Um, and got huge on DVD was, uh, was totally saved by DVD. Right. It was, uh, it was released the weekend either before or after nine 11, if I remember correctly, or it was like, it was released like a, a couple of weeks after nine 11 and like, nobody was really interested in having a movie where the central tension is a jet. Engine falling on the suburban house in Northern Virginia. Uh, as, as like their big back to movie back to the movie saying, but it was huge on DVD and it was huge on DVD because it was perfectly pitched to the, the new class of, uh, young purchasers of movies who would like sit around and watch these things over and over time and again on DVD, um, uh, in dorm rooms or work rooms or whatever, right? Also in this mix is interestingly, the big Lebowski, which had a huge revival. Um, kind of died in theaters did, did very well on home video. Um, and, uh, the boondock saints, Mike Warren, I bet you, Mike Warren, I bet you watch boondock saints 50 times in college with, uh, it was between
Mike00:10:15the boondock saints and Donnie Darko. So it was like, what, w w w which one are we watching tonight?
Sonny00:10:20Guys, uh, totally. And then, and then, and I, that, that, and also Zoolander.
Mike00:10:25Um, old school for sure. Old school for absolutely for sure. But no, um, yeah, Donnie Darko was like, see, I was in, I was in college when
Sonny00:10:33zoo, when, when, um, well, I was in college when Zoolander came out too, but I was in college when old school came out when that was a, we saw that in the theaters, uh, college, your old school was my super bad, um, because I was in
Mike00:10:45college when super bad came out and that remains my, I mean, this is, we're going off the director, but like that remains my sort of like, oh, this is exactly what. My friends talked like kind of movie. Um, but, uh, the, the other thing I was gonna say about Donnie Darko is like, I don't know, am I like silly for reading it this way? I, I actually thought it was a, like, I, I view it now as being a kind of sarcastic look at the kind of tortured, uh, suburban, you know, you know, kid who's like thinks that, you know, he's so tortured and misunderstood. Like there was a sort of. Uh, I, I don't know, like a, uh, cynical, no, it wasn't okay. Well then I'm just, I don't think so.
JVL00:11:32I don't think so.
Sonny00:11:32I don't, you know, it's amazing.
JVL00:11:34We've been talking about Jake Gyllenhaal for 15 minutes and we haven't even mentioned Brokeback mountain, which is funny because that's the kind of movie that at the time, and even for several years afterwards, I think we, we were generally thought of as like, well, that will be a career defining movie. Like that'll, you know, that, that will be the, the top line on his noted notable four, you know, on that, that part of the IMDb page, uh, and it turns out the guy's career has been so durable that, I mean, that's, it's, I mean, that was 18 years ago, it, it was 18 years ago, but he's, I mean, he's had a really durable career and he's done different stuff and as he does. He said he's worked in these mid budgets. He seems to have not really been interested, uh, in doing, in doing big budget stuff outside, like far from home and far from home was, was I guess the biggest budget movie he's touched. Uh, but he did it in a sporting role. Um, yeah, I don't know.
Sonny00:12:44He also, I mean, we all, we also, we haven't, we also haven't mentioned Zodiac, which often, often on lists of like the best movies of the. The two thousands, you know, that he's the lead, he holds his own with Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr. And, um, is great.
Mike00:13:03We also haven't mentioned, we also haven't mentioned actually the first movie that he, uh, before Donnie Darko, which was, um, uh, October sky. Yes. Uh, Homer Hickam. And of course the, uh, comedy classic bubble boy. You remember bubble boy?
Sonny00:13:19Yes, he was, he was bubble boy. Sorry, I cut you off. Go ahead.
JVL00:13:24No, I just, you know, this is one of those things where I, I remember there was a moment in the early nineties when if you sat and talked to, to somebody and be like, so who's your favorite band? And they would list like, you know, 10 different bands and then they would sort of be like, you know, I think I have every REM album though, you know? And like, geez, REM is pretty great. Chill and all's like that, like, you know, he's like, yeah. Who are some of the most interesting leading men like working right now? I don't think you would get to him. You know, you wouldn't really think of it cause it's, it's a lot of under the radar stuff, but he's been doing it for a long time and he's, he's pretty good.
Sonny00:14:09Yeah. And getting better. No, totally. Totally. I like, I, I don't know. I'm a, I'm just scrolling through it now. End of watch. I just, uh, is a, uh, great, um, great little movie, uh, and, uh, and we, we haven't talked about, he, he, he made two movies with Denny, Denny Villeneuve. Um, one, one of them is enemy, which I don't really like is a, is kind of a arty weird. I don't care for that one, but he, he also did prisoners with Hugh Jackman, which, and Paul Dano, um, which is a movie I like a lot. Uh, it's too long. It's like 25 minutes too long. It's like two and a half, it's two and a half hours long somehow, but it's a, it's a really good little thriller and he's doing some very actorly stuff in that movie. His, his character's name is Loki, I think. And he's like, got this like Tourette's twitch to him. And I'm like, all right, you can turn it down to like 5%. Um, but that's the only, I mean, that's one of the few movies where I really think like, Oh, Jake Gyllenhaal is acting here. Nightcrawler is another one, but Nightcrawler is like such a good manic, like propulsive,
Mike00:15:15uh, it's in character as well.
Sonny00:15:19Ego trip of a movie. Yeah.
JVL00:15:21So, Oh, you know what? And I, I should have said the other thing that I, may have soured him on big, big budget stuff was day after tomorrow, which is one of the last movies he does as still a teen actor. Even though I don't think he's a teen in it, but he's, he's playing like teen type. Uh, and I get the sense that he maybe didn't, again, didn't love it.
Sonny00:15:44I think the day after tomorrow was fantastic.
JVL00:15:45It is my favorite of the Emmerich disaster, uh, disaster flicks. One of my favorite disasters. Disaster type movies of all time. Just think it's so good. Uh, anyway, you could see, you could see him pulling back from big, big budgets, tent pole stuff after, you know, after those three, I don't, I don't love the
Sonny00:16:08day after tomorrow because it's, it's the, it's, I think it's the first movie that Emmerich made without Dean Devlin. I think that was like, they, they had split, uh, the, uh, right, right, right before that. Um, and I do think there's like, there's, there's. I, I don't know. I'm like, uh, I'm, I'm a, I'm a partisan of the, anyway, I'm with you.
Mike00:16:30So I don't like the day after tomorrow. It's like, there's something about like when the snow was taking over, I was just like, my eyes rolled at the back of my head.
Sonny00:16:37It's like, that's it. I do. I do love Dennis Quaid in that movie. Dennis Quaid is fantastic as the dad trying to, to rest.
JVL00:16:45Who's the girl.
?00:16:46His kids.
JVL00:16:47Emmy Rossum.
Mike00:16:49Yeah. All right. Well, I'm sure it's fine.
JVL00:16:54I'm sure it's fine.
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