Jake Gyllenhaal on his belated superhero moment and why Tom Holland is the best Spider-Man
More than 15 years ago, Jake Gyllenhaal had a close call with a comic book blockbuster, readying to step in for Spider-Man Tobey McGuire after a back injury but it wasn’t to be. Now Gyllenhaal is getting his ‘mysterious’ Marvel moment with a new movie.
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If things had worked out little differently, it could have been Jake Gyllenhaal wearing the red and blue Spider-Man spandex.
More than 15 years ago, the US star of Donnie Darko and The Day After Tomorrow was in the frame to play the wall-crawling superhero in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, when a back injury threatened to rule original star Tobey Maguire out of the sequel.
Maguire eventually recovered and went on to play Spidey twice more before handing the role off to Andrew Garfield for two films and most recently, Tom Holland.
But now, after carving out a reputation as one of the most versatile actors in Hollywood, deftly combining acclaimed dramas such as Brokeback Mountain and Nightcrawler with blockbuster fare such as Prince of Persia and Everest, Gyllenhaal is finally getting his superhero moment.
In Spider-Man: Far From Home, the newest chapter in the hugely successful Marvel Cinematic Universe, Gyllenhaal plays Quentin Beck — aka Mysterio — a master of illusion who claims to be from an alternative dimension and teams up with Holland’s Spider-Man to fight elemental monsters that crop up all over Europe.
“It’s pretty daunting but I’m loving it,” he says of the joining the MCU, which has now made more than $30 billion at the box office over the 22 movies to date.
“I’ve been made to feel very welcome, not least by the fans. I’ll never forget stepping out at Comic Con and the greeting from the fans there. The response has been incredible.”
Asked how he ended up in the comic book world after all these years, Gyllenhaal clearly doesn’t take himself too seriously.
“I think they were looking for an actor who could shoot lasers from his fingers and I just got lucky,” he jokes, before adding, “No, people tend to consider me and the movies I make are a little weird sometimes, so I was looking for a role in a space like this, that felt like I could do something with. I don’t know how good I did, but I did something with it and it’s very exciting.”
Gyllenhaal is selling himself very short. Marvel executive Eric Caroll, who worked on both Marvel Spider-Man films as well as Thor and its sequel, says that the Oscar and Golden Globe nominated actor had long been on the radar of the studio.
In the tradition of the MCU films so far, which have enticed “serious” actors from Robert Downey Jr to Benedict Cumberbatch, and Oscar-winners including Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman, Marvel wanted an actor who could bring a certain gravitas and ambiguity to the extravagantly costumed Mysterio, who sports a red cape and a fishbowl helmet.
“We were looking for somebody who could step in and look at home next to all the other heroes we have introduced into this universe and he seemed like the kind of guy with the right amount of gravitas,” Caroll says.
“So since we have talked to him about a couple of things, we pitched him on our new take on Mysterio and if that was something he was interested in and he was very interested.
“He came in and we talked it out and he helped a lot with shaping the character and how he’s going to be appearing on the screen. But we just really liked the idea that if you know Mysterio from the comics he has this great duality to him and we think that is something that Jake is uniquely qualified to tackle.”
He also had a huge fan in Spider-Man himself, Tom Holland. A long-time fan who’s long had Gyllenhaal at the top of the list he makes with his agents each year of the actors and filmmakers he wants to work with.
The two have since become fast friends, reflecting on the relationship of Spider-Man and Mysterio on-screen.
“It’s been a really, really amazing process working with someone who I look up to so much and every actor I have ever worked with has this thing where they switch it on,” says Holland.
“Just before the take you can tell — ‘right, they are in the character’. Jake’s switch is seamless. Sometimes I’m like ‘is he just talking to me, or is he actually acting now?’
“There is no barrier between him and the character — he can move in and out without any hiccups.
“Sometimes if he is just laughing, especially, I think he’s just laughing and then I will realise ‘oh no, he’s acting’.”
For Gyllenhaal, the feeling is entirely mutual.
“I think he is the best Spider-Man yet,” he says of Holland. “There’s nobody more professional and who does most of his own stunts.
“There were moments when he did a double backflip into a scene, I mean, he actually did it, and I was like, ‘What the …’ He’s incredible.”
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JAKE GYLLENHAAL’S SUPERHUMAN ROLE
The 38-year-old Gyllenhaal, who comes from a show business family that includes director father Stephen, screenwriter mother Naomi and actor sister Maggie, is at a stage in his career where he can afford to be choosy about who he works with and the roles he takes.
In recent years he’s worked with kindred spirit director Denis Villeneuve in Prisoners and Enemy and was happy to take a supporting role to work with Korean maestro Bong Joon-Ho in Okja.
He also appeared alongside Ryan Reynolds in the underrated sci-fi drama Life and regularly returns to the stage on Broadway.
In coming months, he’s set to star in a big-budget adaptation of video game The Division and will re-team with his Far From Home co-star Zendaya in the crime drama Finest Kind.
“For me it’s about relationships with the people making the project and if we share a common vision and a mutual respect,” he says.
“That is most important to me as I get a bit older. I try and move towards the things that move me. I don’t really have a plan, which maybe I should. I’ve just been very lucky.”
— Spider-Man: Far From Home opens on Monday.
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