I was fortunate enough to get a ticket to Jake Gyllenhaal’s Screen Talk at the London Film Festival. It was a really insightful talk that covered the span of Gyllenhaal’s career, with interviewer Edith Bowman picking out interesting moments to hone in on, and asking thoughtful questions.

The stage set up– two chairs around a coffee table with a vase of flowers on it – gave the whole thing a more relaxed air, assisting in a conversation that felt much more flowing than a straight question and answer session. The talk took place in the BFI Southbank’s biggest screen, but was still of a small enough size to maintain a fairly intimate feel.

Bowman worked her way through Gyllenhaal’s filmography, asking more thematic questions that ones specific to certain films. There were four films that she did pick out to focus on more, and of which clips were shown. These were Donnie Darko (The therapist scene with Donnie lying on the couch), Brokeback Mountain (‘I wish I knew how to quit you’ scene), Prisoners (Interrogating Paul Dano scene) and Stronger (Jeff’s first time standing scene). The particulars asked about these films also served as jumping off points for wider discussions.

In discussing Donnie Darko, Gyllenhaal revealed that it was after he had signed onto that, before shooting, that he first met Michael Shannon (later to be his co-star in Nocturnal Animals) at a Sundance filmmakers’ lab where they were both actors. He said that he actually recommended him to Richard Kelly to play Frank in the film, due to his demeanor and talent as an actor (Kelly already had the actor who went on to play him in mind, thus Shannon did not appear as the rabbit). Later, a seemingly random memory was jogged after watching the clip from Donnie Darko, concerning how hard it apparently was to get clearance for Christina Applegate’s name.

Gyllenhaal also talked about what a huge fan of Patrick Swayze he was, and how great it was to get to work with him as a young actor – Swayze was apparently was a really great guy. When discussing early influences, the main one Gyllenhaal pinpointed was Danny Kaye in The Court Jester – accompanying it with stating that he doesn’t have the usual responses people might expect. He also half-jokingly said that he used to watch Point Break a lot – suggesting this may be where his Swayze admiration was fostered.

One of the main things Gyllenhaal touched upon, that gave a real insight, was about how his audition process has evolved over the years, and the ways he has come to understand it more. Here, he mentioned an experience with Ang Lee that had a great impact on him long before Brokeback, when he went into a seemingly unconventional audition which consisted of him in a room with Lee, who apparently was a man of few words. It was after this, and not getting the role, that the casting director made the point that he wasn’t dressed remotely for the role, and how much of an impact that can have on helping the director to see you as the character.

In another pre-Brokeback Brokeback connection, Gyllenhaal talked about how he got down to the final few in the month long auditions for Moulin Rouge! One of the others also in that position happened to be Heath Ledger, which became the first point of contact between the two of them. Gyllenhaal explained that they had him and Ledger both reading parts, but being brought in and then kept separate alternately. Ultimately, neither got the role, but years later, post-Brokeback, Gyllenhaal got a call from Ledger to let him know that Baz Luhrmann had offered him a part in his new film, but he had turned it down, ‘for the both of us’.

In discussing Brokeback, Gyllenhaal commented on his growth as an actor, and how, back then, he saw Ledger as being far ahead of himself in terms of craft, and how much he learned by watching him. This provided quite a poignant and emotional moment that was felt by all in the room, and Gyllenhaal was visibly stirred by talking about the experience. After watching a clip of the film (a joke had been made earlier about him being uncomfortable watching himself), he talked about how young he was then, and how different of an actor he is now, suggesting he saw different choices to be made in the scene upon re-watching it now. He also fondly reminisced about how, during filming, he, Ledger, Michelle Williams, Lee and their 1^st AD lived in trailers next to each other by a river (Williams later moved into Ledger’s trailer as they fell in love), and would eat and walk to set together, and what a time that was. Bowman also mentioned on the legacy of the film and what it means to people, especially in the gay and LGBTQ+ community. Gyllenhaal talked about the gratitude towards that and how when such a wonderful thing, such as the film, is created, it stretches far beyond those involved.

When moving into talking about Prisoners, it was discussed how Gyllenhaal had worked with him twice, and apparently is going to for a third time (Excitingly!). Bowman had talked to the director the previous week, and mentioned what a lovely man he is and how his face lit up and he got very excited when she told him she would be talking to Gyllenhaal the next week, and professed how much he loved Jake. After watching the Prisoners clip, Gyllenhaal marveled over what a brilliant director Villeneuve is, pointing out details in the clip, and the rhythm of the intercutting scenes, and just how purposefully and effectively everything was done. He also discussed working with Paul Dano and the construction of the scene. Apparently it was mostly improvised, with little interaction regarding preparation between the two prior to it being shot. Gyllenhaal talked about how frustrating it was that Dano is so good, in that he didn’t give anything, and the only kind of hook Gyllenhaal could find was in touching Dano, and playing with his hair in an almost flirtatious manner, as Dano didn’t like it. It was fascinating to understand more of the stream of consciousness and on the spot decision-making that occurs during improvised scenes, as it is something that is not often gone into much detail about. He also discussed the presence and creation of the tick he has in the film (something he further elaborated on in the q and a), detailing how it came about and how he actually practiced it during the last couple of weeks’ run of a play he was doing previously.

Gyllenhaal also touched on working with Dano directing him (he has just finished shooting a film with him), commenting on how quiet a director he is, as he would come over, pause for a while, then quietly suggest one more take. As you may expect from such an actor, he did some great impressions of his directors throughout the talk.

From Prisoners, he also talked a little about End of Watch with regards to being able to shake behaviour he has built up through research and crafting his various characters. Coming off of discussing playing a police officer in Prisoners, he discussed the time he spend with police in L.A. in preparation for End of Watch, and the behaviours he had drilled into him during that time. He talked about how early on, whilst trying to prove he could do the role, David Ayer (director) had asked him to put some sunglasses on and say his lines, whilst looking to the left and right, which Gyllenhaal later discovered during his time with the police was the way most conversations would take place; in police cars, whilst scoping the area. Gyllenhaal said this constant surveying of the area and looking for anything off stayed with him afterwards, and almost got him into a bad situation with some (seemingly up to no good) people on the Subway due to the way he was looking at them.

Finally, the talk moved towards his new film Stronger, which he was at LFF to promote. He talked about how much time he spent with Jeff Bauman, the Boston Marathon Bombing survivor whom he plays, joking that while he was with him for several months, he didn’t sleep at his house or anything, not going full DDL (Daniel Day-Lewis). He spoke of the huge impact the experience of playing Jeff had on him and how, when he first went to meet him (after vast research) at a restaurant, he was suddenly overcome with this feeling of being a fraud. A ‘meeting of reality with pretend’ that made him nervous and doubtful, due to the near impossibility of understanding what had happened to Jeff due to the sheer magnitude of it, and how the subsequent experience and honour has changed him hugely.

He talked about the humour of the film and how that does stem from Jeff’s very real sense of humour and his good nature. He also discussed getting the film made (he is also a producer), and eventually getting BOLD films involved after initial finances became slippery (who had produced Nightcrawler). He also spoke of the incredible cast, particularly Miranda Richardson (who plays Jeff’s mother), joking how he had always had a crush on her, and so it was only appropriate that she played his mother.

Towards the end of the talk there was a short Q and A session. One of the questions asked was the ‘which character would you choose if you had to be stuck as one forever’ question. This was met with ponderous fillers from Gyllenhaal, clearly reluctant to pick any – he is not exactly known for playing happy characters with great lives – before someone shouted out ‘Bubble Boy’ and he took that as his jokey answer. Another character-centric question was which of his characters was scarily close to himself. Gyllenhaal’s reply of Lou Bloom was met with a stunned, uneasy silence, with only a few getting the sarcasm that Gyllenhaal pointed out afterwards, suggesting the audience either didn’t get his joke, or didn’t know who Bloom was (he is his character from Nightcrawler). Other questions elicited such humourous responses such as why he had lied in saying he had no sense of humour in an interview – a question met, again, with the explanation of sarcasm and the jokey exasperation that he thought he was in a country that would finally get that. There were other questions that focused on difference in performing for stage and screen, and questions by some actors in the audience.

Overall, the talk was a real treat from one of (in my opinion) the best actors in the business. It was filled with insight, interesting tidbits, genuine emotion and plenty of humour, and served as a reminder of the incredible career Gyllenhaal has had, and ignited even more excitement for what he is planning to do in the future.