Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the most beloved actors working today, especially amongst cinephiles. From Donnie Darko and Brokeback Mountain to Prisoners and Nightcrawler, Gyllenhaal has consistently delivered one stellar performance after another, throughout the years. It’s not easy to find a performer who is always in tuned with his inner actor.
So, one can only imagine how excited fans felt when news first broke that Jake Gyllenhaal was set to embody a popular villain from Spider-Man’s Rogues Gallery, Mysterio. After Killmonger, Thanos and to a certain extent, The Vulture, could we once again be getting an interesting and layered villain from the Marvel Cinematic Universe? After all, you don’t hire a dynamic actor like Gyllenhaal for no reason.
In a recent interview with La Times, Jake Gyllenhaal revealed why he agreed to sign on to play Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
He’s a great character…you know it was one of those things that people have asked me for a number of years, ‘Are you going to do / do you want to do a movie like that, or if you were asked to would you?’ And my response has always been, particularly since being at Sundance [where] so many of the stories [are]…character-driven and that has always been my desire, to find something in that space that seems to match my skill and also what I love and my own honesty. And it just so happened that it does with that part. So, I’m glad that people feel excited about it.
This quote is particularly interesting for a couple of reasons. For starters, Jake Gyllenhaal seems to take this character just as seriously as he would a character from a Sundance thumbsucker. In that same quote, Gyllenhaal also mentioned that he agreed to play Mysterio because it matches up to his skill and can play honestly. That is high praise (towards the screenwriters, Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna) coming from someone who almost always embodies nuance characters in films that have deep character explorations.
Spider-Man: Homecoming was a fun, lighthearted film with a lot of heart and some strong emotional beats. With the involvement of Gyllenhaal, we wonder if Far From Home would take a turn for the darker. Could it be even more emotionally poignant? A quick thumb through Jake Gyllenhaal’s IMDb and you’ll discover that he rarely stars in movies that are considered “playful”.
Spider-Man: Far From Home is set to hit the big screens 4 July 2019.
Source: LA Times
