Jake Gyllenhaal In "Proof", featuring Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins, Gyllenhaal played a graduate student in mathematics who tries to convince Paltrow's character to publish a revolutionary proof to a problem puzzling the mathematicians' community. In "Jarhead", Gyllenhaal played a violent U.S. Marine during the first Gulf War. He also auditioned to be Batman for the blockbuster "Batman Begins" and came close to getting the role, but Christian Bale was ultimately chosen for it. In "Brokeback Mountain", Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger play young men who meet as sheep herders and embark upon a sexual relationship that begins in the summer of 1963
Jake Gyllenhaal positive reviews, with Roger Ebert saying that ""End of Watch" is one of the best police movies in recent years, a virtuoso fusion of performances and often startling action", and Salon.com's Andrew O'Hehir stating that the film was "at least the best cop movie since James Gray's "We Own the Night", and very likely since Antoine Fuqua's memorable "Training Day" (which, not coincidentally, was written by Ayer)". To train for the role, Gyllenhaal took tactical training and participated in actual police drives with co-star Michael Peña to help establish the language of the characters. Gyllenhaal appeared in two films directed