Jake Gyllenhaal Quotes

Jake Gyllenhaal's candid musings encourage self-discovery, acting and memory.

38 quotes

1. Being a star doesn't last. That's not what life should be about. It's a complete illusion that really has nothing to do with you. For me, finding out about life is the most important thing.

2. You know it's flattering when there's a rumor that says I'm bisexual. It means I can play more kinds of roles. I'm open to whatever people want to call me. I've never really been attracted to men sexually, but I don't think I would be afraid of it if it happened.

3. The question of identity to me, whether it's sexual or whatever it is, is what makes this movie so powerful. That's why I did it. My own struggle with who I am, and who I am to other people, and what masks I put on, is all hopefully interlaced in this character, and it's just kind of put in a different context.

4. First, it's 'Who is Jake Gyllenhaal?,' then it's 'Get me Jake Gyllenhaal,' then 'Get me someone who looks like Jake Gyllenhaal,' and then 'Who is Jake Gyllenhaal?'...Right now, I'm between 'Who is Jake Gyllenhaal?' and 'Get me Jake Gyllenhaal.'

5. Why not do what you really think, even if it's a mistake?

6. Occasionally, I'd pick up the lifeguard buoy and run down the beach Baywatch-style, like something was actually happening.

7. There are three things I'll never do again - eat Play-Doh, run with scissors and keep my ice-cube collection in a shoebox.

8. Voting is sexy. I think everybody should do it, and I want everybody to do it with me.

9. Don't listen to what anybody says except the people who encourage you. If it's what you want to do and it's within yourself, then keep going and try to do it for the rest of your life.

10. Someone once said that I was the 'thinking woman's man,' and I was just like, I hope every woman is thinking.

11. Films take me to places I never thought I would get to, and over walls that I never thought I could get over. When I think about that it's just... I dunno... I forgot. [...] Let's be real. I forgot. And I was almost there. It was really gonna be good.

12. The truth is most of the films that make a lot of money no one remembers, and I'm not interested in making films that no one remembers.

13. We live in a sad time where actors are politicians & politicians are actors.

14. It's very important for me to be in movies that don't have a message. Messages tend to be a little preachy, and I don't think that's what movies are about. It's important for me to be in movies that have a human level, have a heart in them. That's the reason why I did this (Rendition) and it just so happens to be really topical. This political issue is a very important one right now which as Americans we need to look at. So it seems like it's (the film) is very political, it seems like there's a message in it, but ultimately there's a real story about human beings dealing with actual human things.

15. For some reason, ... I just got so angry that I had chipped my tooth ... and just started hitting him and we didn't talk for a month after that.

16. I'd have to say Ewan McGregor's part in Moulin Rouge!. It was soooo close. I sang and everything. I went through months of auditions. It was between me, Heath Ledger and Ewan. I think it came down to age and where people were in their careers. I was the youngest and the least known. I would hope it didn't have anything to do with talent. Maybe it did.

17. The movies I've been in are full of interesting ambiguity and it's really nice to know that audiences are responding to an ambiguity. They don't always want something totally clear and spoon-fed. I give credit to my generation because I feel like they're really responding somehow to it and it's really cool. Both these movies changed my life in the process of making them.

18. What made me most courageous was that I realized I had to try to let go of that stereotype I had in my mind, that bit of homophobia, and try for a second to be vulnerable and sensitive. It was fuckin' hard, man. I succeeded only for milliseconds.

19. I'm in the business of helping stories get told, and I love this story. People don't say to me, When you were in Proof, were you afraid to play a mathematician? Or, Was it scary to play a Marine in Jarhead? Why is that?

20. I fooled around with Heath Ledger, and Michelle Williams got pregnant.

21. Every man goes through a period of thinking they're attracted to another guy.

22. I think I find tactile things, you know. Just the feeling of blood itself is enough for me. If you, even if it's not real blood. I mean that's enough, like sometimes there are very simple things that are enough.

23. Every journey starts with fear.

24. I've decided as an actor the only, the power I have really is in the performance. It's the only real place I get to sort of communicate.

25. You run your plays, you know your plays, you study your plays, you study the other team, you do as much as you can, you go to practice, you get in shape, you do what you need to do, and then by the time you get to the game, you know your plays, but they have to feel like they're in your bones. That has to be an unconscious thing, it cannot be conscious. That is everything to me.

26. Sometimes love is calm and easy and sometimes it's just plain dirty.

27. I don't think my approach to acting is all necessarily in service of the character. I think, selfishly, I've put it in service of myself, my perspective on the world and helping my life.

28. I did a lot of background and research on 'End Of Watch,' and I definitely used certain skills that I learned.

29. I was working with Michael Shannon and I was like, "Oh man I'm having trouble with this scene." And he's like, "Well, then just open it up." I was like, "But, the mark?" And I was like, what's wrong with me? And he was like, "Dude, what's wrong with you?"

30. I understand the opposite side of the camera. I have a profound respect for that. I have worked with people who, when you hit that mark, are doing 50 percent of your work for you. So, you know, it's a balance. When you walk into a mark and you're lit a certain way or something's happening so often you don't know what's behind you... And that's what's so strange about being a movie actor.

31. To me I just, I'm a geek when it comes to cinematographers . And when it comes to Robert and when it comes to someone like Roger Deakins who shot Prisoners and he shot Jarhead.

32. Heath [Ledger] was always somebody who I admired.He was way beyond his years as a human, in a way.

33. I think, when someone say, "When did you feel like an actor?" it's those moments when I feel like, "I'm an actor, wow." That's an extraordinary moment for me. So it's not like I walk around going, "I'm an actor."

34. There are standards. I like to be prepared, I guess I should say - that type of pressure of, "All right, now you go with abandon," you know. Now when you're in it, you let go of all the things - that's what happens when you're onstage.

35. We are all from different cultures. Heath's [Ledger] Australian, really. I'm from here. Ang's [Lee] from China. But I think Ang gets very close in preproduction and rehearsals. And then he allows his actors - I don't think scared of actors, but I think he's scared of getting in on the scenes he's watching. The space he's watching. So he just totally disconnects from you while you're shooting.

36. Most of the things that I learn are from the women in my life.

37. I don't have a "I want to play this or that," I just don't have that. I've never been like that.

38. Heath [Ledger] would walk up to a horse and could like silence the horse. Just literally he'd be like, 'Shh. Shh.' And then he'd get on the horse. I'd be like, 'I'm going to get on you.' They'd be like, 'F - off!' I didn't really have that style.