Jake Gyllenhaal: trying on a coat, that's what acting is

Jake Gyllenhaal on the set of 'Source Code' in Montreal on 22nd April 2010. Pictures courtesy of Iheartjakemedia.com

Jake Gyllenhaal in WonderCon 2010 San Francisco, CA, on 3rd April, 2010

Scan of "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" in Fotogramas Spanish magazine.

"On a recent trip to the Bay Area to promote the Disney adventure film, Gyllenhaal seem wide-eyed but also amused by his career detour into blockbuster madness. He grinned at more than 4,000 fans who cheered him at a pop-culture expo called WonderCon but also kept an ironic detachment from the scene; during a question-and-answer session a fan asked the actor what moment in history would he visit if he could turn back time (as his character in the movie can do), and after a pause he answered with a straight face: "I would go back and watch my birth."
Jake Gyllenhaal & Gemma Arterton as Dastan and Tamina in "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time"

"I actually jump out of a window and land on the back of my horse, just like in the old movies, Zorro-style," Gyllenhaal said with the expression of a teenager who just hopped off, like, the best roller coaster ever. It's no surprise the athletic actor, who was nominated for an Oscar for "Brokeback Mountain," finds himself going from indie-spirited work into the Comic-Con cinema zone; that's the template these days after the success of Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr., Christian Bale and Tobey Maguire in massive summer franchises. "He's a big, robust guy, he's really a general, like how you imagine a D.W. Griffith might carry himself on the set," Gyllenhaal said. "He would use a bullhorn if you handed him one. He's got this bellowing, old-school British accent -- you hear him from behind the camera, 'That's smashing, Jake, smashing. Well done, my boy.' You're not living in 'The Sheltering Sky' but it's easy to pretend you were in this old British Empire moment."
"I grew up with filmmakers and I consider myself a filmmaker, sort of, but as an actor taking on a role I know that I'm just a piece of a situation. What I mean by that is you become part of the story that will be up there on the screen and that makes you want to try a really wide variety of situations. You try on a coat, you wear for it a while and you give it back. That's what acting is. I know this is going to sound simple or maybe even trite, but for a filmmaker there's a real devotion to the movie -- an investment -- but sometimes as an actor you just want to try something on." Source: latimesblogs.latimes.com