Jake Gyllenhaal: "I've been doing this for 15 years now, Anne Hathaway is badass"

Jake Gyllenhaal and director Edward Zwick shooting a scene from "Love and other drugs" (2010)

-Love & Other Drugs is almost like two movies in one - a very distinct dichotomy between the silly and the serious. Do you agree?
-Jake Gyllenhaal: I think filmmakers in particular feel like they have to carve some perfect sculpture with their movie and everything has to stay within one tone - as if life is like one tone all the time. People have to classify a movie, like, "It's a drama, it's a comedy, it's a romantic comedy." The truth is (I'll speak for myself here), the day is filled with a million emotions probably very similar to the things that happen in this movie. You believe Oliver Platt [who plays my boss] when he's funny and you're moved by him, too. The nature of the actors in this movie, you know, we all love to walk that line. I think that's really where great movies exist.
-So what kind of movie is Love & Other Drugs?

-We don't like to call this film a romantic comedy, we're calling it an emotional comedy, which I think is more appropriate. You have to be invested. How many bullshit love stories are there out there? There are real stakes in this one. In order for the humor to land, in order for people to care about the love story, the stakes have to be raised. I think people are tired of romantic comedies. Because we love the genre, we wanted to give it more respect than people have in the last little while.
-You play Jamie Randall, who sells Viagra for Pfizer. Could you buy into the mythology of being the typical pharmaceutical sales rep?

-I definitely could buy into that. Part of my job is a little bit of that. I've gotta be a salesman. There's a nature to the act -- there's a real performance -- and there's a real performance to sales, so I think as an actor, it's natural. I think the only other role I could play really well would be a politician (laughs); there's an element of sales to that, too. What I loved about [playing Jamie] is I don't think this guy knows what's at stake. I don't think he knows what he's selling completely. I think that's part of the pharmaceutical world. I would say about half the people I talked to [while doing research for the character] were aware of the effect of what they were doing. It isn't just about driving sales, it's about people's health, too. What I love about Jamie is his sense of performance, and I don't mean performance in the Viagra sense (laughs). A real sense of being able to walk into a room and have so much confidence that people would trust whatever he said. That was really wonderful to play, because I haven't played anything like that before.
-What was it like working with Anne Hathaway again? You two did Brokeback Mountain together, too.
-I don't mean to sound like an old veteran because I'm without a doubt not one. But I've been doing this for 15 years now. Working with Anne, we did Brokeback and we did this -- it was magical. I hate to sound like an actor when I say that, but Ed and Anne and I had an incredible experience on this movie. In an odd way, it's the first movie I've made where I'm desperate for an audience to see it, because all we did was think about how much we care about our audience and how much we respect them. But I also know what an experience it was for me as an actor and I don't really mind what they think, which is a first for me. And I feel totally comfortable with Anne. She's ballsy, she's just a ballsy actor. For a woman her age to be that way with the scrutiny that she's under as an actress, is badass. You don't find that. She's pretty amazing.
-Anne portrays Maggie, a young woman with early onset Parksinson's disease. There's one sex scene in the film in particular where Anne's hand is trembling... That seemed to have "Oscar" written all over it.
-I don't know about that, but I don't think Anne or Ed or I can make a movie without going there. Anne met all these people with Parkinson's, and there was no shot in the movie that we could even get near what that's like [to have Parkinson's]. But Ed can kind of push that emotional thing sometimes. It's definitely an emotional moment.Do you wanna give any other shoutouts to the cast?
-Josh Gad [who plays Jamie's brother] is the engine in this film. Josh Gad will be and is becoming a force to be reckoned with. He brought all the humor and energy to the movie, and was a huge influence on me, and an inspiration in terms of comedy. He's a great actor. Working with Oliver Platt and Hank Azaria, they're comedic geniuses but also really great actors.
Love and Other Drugs opens in theaters November 24. Source: www.huffingtonpost.com