Jake Gyllenhaal: Oscar favorite

Jake Gyllenhaal, Sesame Street Promo #3 (What's The Word On The Street?)
Jake Gyllenhaal was nominated to an Oscar in 2006 for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for "Brokeback Mountain" (2005).

"No young actor in Hollywood is putting together a more eclectic resume than Jake Gyllenhaal these days. With the news (per Variety and the Hollywood Reporter) that he's negotiating to star in 'Source Code', a sci-fi thriller to be directed by 'Moon' helmer (and David Bowie spawn) Duncan Jones, Gyllenhaal is poised to add science fiction to an already beefy arsenal of roles that spans almost every genre imaginable. Well, before we go over the mounting group of projects to which Jake is attached, let's talk about the Oscars.Now back to Gyllenhaal. In addition to 'Source Code' in which he'll play a soldier who wakes up in the body of an anonymous commuter and is forced to relive the same harrowing train bombing over and over again until he determines who's responsible, he's got a slew of wildly different projects on the horizon. He portrays the buffed-out hero of the upcoming video-game-based epic 'Prince of Persia', giving him an action-adventure chit; plays Tobey Maguire's underachiever sibling in 'Brothers',filling up the drama bucket; stars opposite Jessica Biel in 'Nailed', in which he'll likely nail romantic comedy; and plays a traveling pharmaceutical salesman who falls for Anne Hathaway in 'Love and Other Drugs', which takes care of straight-up romance.

And we know football legend Joe Namath personally approved Gyllenhaal to play him in an upcoming biopic. Indeed, Gyllenhaal has already played real people on screen three times: in 'October Sky', 'Jarhead' and 'Zodiac'.
What could be behind the actor doing quite so many flicks? Could Gyllenhaal be aiming for an Oscar by dint of simply overwhelming the Academy with the volume and diversity of his work? We're not saying this is his only motivation. We're saying the opposite -- that he deserves one, and it's possible he may be pushing himself to max out his chances". Source: insidemovies.moviefone.com