Movies
Gyllenhaal makes move from indies to big-budget films

By Erin Ailworth
Los Angeles Times

DALE ROBINETTE Jake Gyllenhaal in "The Good Girl," in which he starred opposite Jennifer Aniston.

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HOLLYWOOD — Actor Jake Gyllenhaal, 23, has been busy, vogueing for photo shoots to promote his new movie, "The Day After Tomorrow," an elements-driven, effects-packed action flick that opens Friday.

"It felt like a different movie than I've ever done ... just in terms of scope and size," he said of the film, which he saw for the first time the day before this chat. "It blew me away," he said, a smile rising in his voice. "Not to toot my own horn or anything."

He said he doesn't normally like seeing himself on screen, even if he has a bag of popcorn, no butter, to distract him.

"I don't usually have the best time watching because I am so critical, which I don't like being," he said.

Even "if it's a great movie and the story works, watching myself is hard."

Among roles Gyllenhaal is better known for are his characters in indie films "Donnie Darko" (the director's cut of which is premiering at this year's Seattle International Film Festival) and "The Good Girl" with Jennifer Aniston.

He can also be seen in next year's Ang Lee film, "Brokeback Mountain," with Heath Ledger. The movie is an adaptation of a love story between two cowboys that was written by E. Annie Proulx and originally published in The New Yorker.

Gyllenhaal said he is often drawn to projects, like "Brokeback Mountain," that explore relationships and family structure.

"We're — I guess you could say we're so ignorant ... when it comes to relationships of any kind," Gyllenhaal said. "Be it a relationship between a man and a man or a woman and a woman."
 
He added: "That idea that two people can fall in love, can actually fall in love ... and that due to circumstances and things in their lives they can physically consummate (the relationship) but they can't really and emotionally consummate it. ... I was really into that idea."

Unlike seeing himself on the screen, Gyllenhaal said, watching his family at work is a treat.

He lauded sister Maggie's performance in the racy "Secretary," which was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in 2003.

"The only weirdness is watching someone you know so well perform," Gyllenhaal said. "The fact that it was provocative and sexual — you know, I don't really find those things as shocking or important as people find them or as people think I should find them.

"She gave an incredible performance. That's what I saw."

Besides, he said, watching others is easier because at that point, "I'm just like part of the audience, too."

Gyllenhaal says that if he weren't an actor he could see himself as a chef — maybe.

The Los Angeles native was inspired after meeting Alice Waters recently at a party in New York. The famous chef who designs all-natural menus for her Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse impressed Gyllenhaal with her sharp mind.

"I was so thrilled to meet her," he gushed.

He doesn't gush often, he pointed out, and "I don't really get star-struck on actors."

The problem, he said, is that after watching someone on screen there's an expectation about how that person will be — a quotient for disappointment.

Gyllenhaal said that with his own roles, he never feels as if he takes on a persona.

He's not the type to "hide behind the mask," he said, but rather likes to take on characters in whom he sees a part of himself or people to whom he can relate.