Growing Pains

With Jake's play opening tomorrow, it signals a change for Jake. New challenges and more into a different part of his career.

 After career defining highs and less that critical success, Jake found himself in an uneasy place.

 “I wasn’t really listening to myself about the kinds of projects I wanted to do,” he said in a recent interview, reflecting on the past decade. “I had to figure out what kind of an actor I wanted to be and feel confident going for that.”

 And what we have been seeing this past year is Jake working on being the kind of actor he wants to be.

 "Nominated for a supporting actor Oscar for 'Brokeback,' said he still revels in experimenting with his take on characters from scene to scene and performance to performance. But acting rigor is increasingly his goal, and perhaps the respect that comes with it. “Early in your career it’s hard to know everything for yourself, and asking questions isn’t always a welcome thing in Hollywood, where everyone seems like they know what they’re doing,” he said during an interview over tofu salad and squid sashimi at a Japanese restaurant in the West Village.

 “Around the time I hit 30, I asked myself if I was respecting acting as a craft,” ...."and if I was doing the right projects that deserved my attention and where I’m learning in a way that you might not feel at 15. So now it’s like I look at acting more as building little delicate cricket cages, with care and more thought.” In the past 18 months Mr. Gyllenhaal parted ways with his longtime manager, signed with a new agency and began devoting more time to selecting and preparing for projects."

 Projects like EoW, The Enemy and the play are part of Jake's journey. Even Berlinale.  And there seems to be a paradigm shift from acting and the celebrity, to acting and the craft that it is, and with that maturity, commitment, and challenge.

Why did we see Jake up at Columbia so much last spring? He was contact his professors for advice about his role in The Enemy.

On EoW Jake got so involved giving feed back, watching dailies and things like him checking out the camera technology and showed so much commitment that "John Lesher, one of its producers, decided after filming to make Mr. Gyllenhaal an executive producer."

And he's tackling the play the same way. Taking on the challenge that is stretching him and make him give everything and more. He went out and sought the play, pursuing it and it writer and director.

 "It was Terry’s capacity for cruelty that appealed to Mr. Gyllenhaal most of all. 'The intentions of Terry are very different from anything I’ve played before, especially his vicious side,” he said. 'It intrigued me so much, and that was the sign. I want to come home at the end of the day and be wiped out and feel I’ve torn my heart out from acting and feel fulfilled. At this point I don’t have the desire to do anything other than projects that make me feel that way.'"

 It looks like Jake is growing, we will just have wait and see where he ends up.

 And Jake, Break A Leg!!

Quote Source - NY Times.