Reel Talk: The Gyllenhaal Effect

Why Jake Gyllenhaal is the most important actor of his generation


When film historians look back at the most important actors of our generation, who do you think they will choose to represent the 2000s? Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp's careers have both been eclipsed by their personal lives, and others have sold out to the superhero dollar. You could make an argument for Leonardo DiCaprio, but his Oscar hunger led to increasingly showy roles over the past few years. 

My money is on Jake Gyllenhaal: an actor who steadfastly refuses to be pigeonholed, and consistently chooses roles in interesting films. This week he stars in Nocturnal Animals, the second film from fashion-designer-turned-director Tom Ford. It's a stylishly twisted tale of regret, rage and revenge, and Gyllenhaal is superb as a writer who sends a manuscript of his brutal new book as a gift to ex-wife Amy Adams.

It's the latest twist in a career that has seen him work with the world's best filmmakers, from Sam Mendes (Jarhead) and David Fincher (Zodiac), via Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) and Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners and Enemy). He has transformed himself: losing weight to become a creepy crime reporter in Nightcrawler and beefing up as a boxer in Southpaw.

OK, so he has made some stinkers (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, anyone?) but his hit rate is high. And there isn't an actor working today without at least one dud on their CV.

Incredibly, Gyllenhaal has never won an Oscar, and he's only been nominated once, for Brokeback Mountain (remember the heartbreaking "I wish I knew how to quit you"?). Perhaps it's because he disappears so entirely into his characters that he makes it look easy. It's tough to give an acting award when you don't actually notice any acting. He's too good, essentially.


Brokeback Mountain, 2005

So I was delighted to hear that Donnie Darko, Richard Kelly's 2001 classic that first brought Gyllenhaal to mainstream attention, is being reissued on the big screen later this year - first at the BFI and then nationwide. Gyllenhaal isn't the only reason to watch this utterly original coming-of-age psychological drama. There are the surprising performances from Drew Barrymore and Patrick Swayze, and the brilliantly natural bickering between Donnie and his on-and-off-screen sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal. But, above all, it's the chance to watch a future icon being born.

Arrow Films

Donnie Darko, 2001

Donnie Darko BFI tickets go on sale Tuesday 8 November at 11.30am. Book yours here. Nocturnal Animals is released nationwide on Friday 4 November.

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