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  • 7 weeks ago
Jake Gyllenhaal sat down on the set of his Hollywood Reporter cover shoot to reflect on his "Hollywood Firsts," from his first audition, his first mentor in Hollywood and more. Plus, he shares a sweet story about a woman who once thought he was Spider-Man.
Transcript
00:00I did have a very sweet woman on a plane, an older woman, come to me and say,
00:05came over to me, and I said, yeah, she's like, can I tell my son I was on the plane with Spider-Man?
00:12And I was like, you absolutely can't.
00:14Hi, I'm Jake Gyllenhaal, and I'm here with The Hollywood Reporter,
00:17and I am about to share some of my Hollywood firsts.
00:22I think it was The Court Jester with Danny Kaye.
00:27I remember watching Danny Kaye and thinking, wow, he's having so much fun.
00:32And I don't know if it was a film itself.
00:35I think it was really just as a kid, just watching people perform,
00:40and the ones that brought me joy sort of brought me in.
00:46Is it telling that I can't remember the first audition that I ever,
00:50because I was a kid, but I think it was for City Slickers.
00:55Wow, I realized I got the first audition I ever, but I was a kid.
00:59I was, I think I was 10 years old.
01:01I remember flying to, I think it was to Billings, Montana.
01:05The first day I shot on that movie that I was so, I was just so in awe.
01:11Yeah, I think I, I just was so excited to be there.
01:15I remember that they, they shot the scene that I was in
01:19at John Burroughs High School in Los Angeles, where I grew up.
01:22It was pretty near where I grew up, and I played baseball at that high school.
01:27And so, so strange, there were all these like trailers there and stuff.
01:31And I have so many memories of that.
01:35I've been in many movies I, I wasn't in, in certain people's minds.
01:39It's, it's very inconsistent, like the movies that people think that they recognize me from.
01:45Though I would say consistently, like in that space, it's, it is probably,
01:49there is a lot of Donnie Darko, particularly now.
01:52There's been a, I think, you know, there's like a resurgence of a time
01:56that was once, was once cool, it's cool again, you know?
01:59So like, there's definitely that.
02:01I did have a very sweet woman on a plane, an older woman, come to me and say,
02:07she said, came over to me, she said, I said, yeah, she said, can I tell my son I was on,
02:14on the plane with Spider-Man?
02:16And I was like, you absolutely can.
02:19I'm a food person.
02:21So I, you know, I, I, I have had some really nice meals.
02:27I mean, I, I, I mean, I, yeah, big purchase.
02:30I mean, I remember buying my house, you know, that was pretty incredible.
02:34I lived in Los Angeles, Los Angeles at the time.
02:37And that was, I just couldn't, I just couldn't believe it.
02:41You know, I remember the first time, a house.
02:44I remember Donnie Darko, this film I did.
02:48It was such a sort of trippy journey through the whole script and then putting it into your body
02:55and, and telling it out in, you know, in, in, in 3D in the world.
03:01Like I had no idea what it was going to be.
03:02And it was also like the first thing that really felt like, um, I felt very, very close to emotionally.
03:09And, um, and I think that's always, that's always scary.
03:12That kind of like, that kind of vulnerability.
03:14I've been lucky enough to have a number of, um, I guess you could call them mentors in a way.
03:19Chris Cooper, when I was making this film, October Sky, when I was probably 6, 15, 16 years old.
03:26Throughout the years, Chris, you know, like, was just, has been, and always still is so lovely.
03:32Um, but when I was working on that movie, he was constantly helping me and giving me advice and support.
03:37I also was really, really privileged to know Paul Newman when he was around.
03:42And, you know, he, he constantly was just a wonderful support, just a, a great human being, as we all know.
03:50And I think there are a number of hundreds of people, maybe thousands of actors in the business
03:56that would probably say the same thing I'm saying about Mr. Newman.
04:00I don't really have those regrets.
04:02I, you know, I, like, I don't, I don't have a, I think you just slowly start to kind of go,
04:09these are all, these things are meant.
04:11These are my journey.
04:11Some people ask me sometimes, like, oh, like, was there a role that you were up for, this and that?
04:16I'm like, I'm always like, these are, unless you're doing theater, which I think is a different space,
04:21you know, you're like, people play other roles, they're your own, whatever they are.
04:27I'm Jake Gyllenhaal, and those are some of my Hollywood firsts.
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