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 and Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for the latter role. In 2015, he starred in Antoine Fuqua's sports drama "Southpaw", Baltasar Kormákur's "Everest", an account of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, and Jean-Marc Vallée's romantic comedy-drama "Demolition". He was also on the jury for the main competition section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. In 2016, he starred in Tom Ford's thriller film "Nocturnal Animals". In 2017, Gyllenhaal starred in the science fiction thriller film "Life", as astronaut David Jordan, played a supporting role in the action-adventure film "Okja", and headlined the drama "Stronger", about Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff