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?
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Actors face fewer questions about role preparation because their identity absorbs the professional inquiry, masking the specific challenges.
- In plain terms
- People focus on my identity as an actor rather than the work I do.
- What can you take from it?
- Public persona can overshadow professional craft.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Do people see your work?
- Does fame help or hinder?
Another view
Fame does not erase the actual labor of preparation.
More from Jake Gyllenhaal
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…
Permalink to quote #18 I fooled around with Heath Ledger, and Michelle Williams got pregnant.
Permalink to quote #20 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 so…
Permalink to quote #17
Related quotes
Mel [Gibson] will always be Mad Max, and me, I will always be a number.
Patrick McGoohanPatrick McGoohan quote #3 'I am in so many movies that are on TV at 2:00 a.m. that people think I am dead.'
Michael CaineMichael Caine quote #3 I was never the kind of painter or sculptor who kept a shop.
Michelangelo BuonarrotiMichelangelo Buonarroti quote #4