Jake Gyllenhaal believes "deeply in the unconscious".
The 34-year-old actor has a reputation for putting his all into every film role, such as shedding weight for Nightcrawler and spending six months with cops and sheriffs in Los Angeles for End of Watch.
For Jake this method makes it easier to connect to the story and by fully immersing himself, the performance comes naturally.
“I believe deeply in the unconscious. That you literally accumulate the molecules of the space that you’re in. We’re like 90 per cent water, so naturally we are going to be affected by the moon when it’s full: if the sea is, why wouldn’t we be? That seems scientific to me," he mused to British Esquire. "So, if you spend enough time in whatever environment your character would exist in – the way I spent six months with police officers – then the molecules of that environment must transfer somehow. And then you put it on screen, and people go, ‘I feel something that I don’t normally feel.’”
Jake first caught people's attention in 2001 cult classic Donnie Darko and has worked continuously since. At the beginning he accepted film offers simply as jobs which paid extremely well, but it wasn't long before he became wary of what he said 'yes' to.
“I woke up one day and I wasn’t in the right room,” he recalled. “It was like a David Byrne song: ‘That’s not my beautiful house. That’s not my beautiful wife.’”
And so began his journey into becoming a Hollywood A-lister and award-winning actor. Next up fans can see him in Southpaw as boxer Billy Hope. Director Antoine Fuqua spoke to the publication about how impressed he was by Jake's dedication to the gruelling role.
“Jake gave up whatever life he had to live the life of a fighter. That’s a sacrifice. He even broke up with his girlfriend because he was at the ring every day," the filmmaker explained, referring to the thespian's parting ways with model Alyssa Miller last year.
