Jake Gyllenhaal names his five favourite movies of all time
Many people consider Jake Gyllenhaal to be one of the most underrated actors in contemporary cinema, and we would tend to agree. Having worked with such esteemed names as Dan Gilroy, Ang Lee, Denis Villeneuve, Sam Mendes, David Fincher, Duncan Jones, Bong Joon-Ho and even Michael Bay, with the Oscar-nominated Hollywood star being deserving of the utmost respect in the industry.
Bringing a vibrant energy to each and every role he takes up, it’s an utter joy to see Gyllenhaal light up the silver screen, often taking exciting, unique and challenging supporting roles. He showed this off perfectly in 2017 with the release of Joon-Ho’s Okja, where he starred as an eccentric wildlife presenter in the South Korean filmmaker’s modern environmental protest, which also featured the likes of Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano and Steven Yeun.
As well as a fan favourite and established movie star, Gyllenhaal is also a fan of the very industry that made him famous, sitting down with Rotten Tomatoes in 2014 to discuss his five favourite movies of all time.
First on Gyllenhaal’s list is the classic 1985 favourite The Goonies, by director Richard Donner, starring Sean Astin, Josh Brolin and Corey Feldman. “I have no words for how awesome Goonies is,” Gyllenhaal says of the iconic ‘80s film, adding: “My first crush was in Goonies too: Kerri Green. She was in Lucas. She was in Summer Rental”.
Taking the second spot is the Tom Cruise movie Jerry Maguire by director Cameron Crowe. “It’s just something I can never turn off whenever it’s on the television, and I think that has a power of its own,” Gyllenhaal says of the movie that follows a sports agent who has a moral epiphany and gets fired for expressing it. “I feel like it’s a quintessential ’90s movie. You know what I mean? I would actually put Jerry Maguire and Fast Times at Ridgemont High right up there with each other, in the same spot,” Gyllenhaal adds, throwing the coming-of-age flick into the ring too.
Expressing his European tastes, his third choice is the Federico Fellini movie La Strada from 1954. An iconic Italian arthouse movie, Gyllenhaal’s love for the film he explains as “sort of self-explanatory,” adding, “Like Giulietta Masina, I mean every performance, but particularly the last scene in the movie, with Anthony Quinn and just being on the beach, and everything about that movie is beautiful”.
Searching for Bobby Fischer, the lesser-known docu-drama, takes the fourth place on Jake Gyllenhaal’s list of favourite movies, calling the movie “a beautifully, beautifully shot and acted movie”. Continuing, the actor adds, “I mean, the screenplay is brilliant, but more than anything, Conrad Hall shot the movie, and it’s one of the best performances I’ve seen by an actor of any age in a movie”.
Jake Gyllenhaal’s favourite films:
- The Goonies (Richard Donner, 1985)
- Jerry Maguire (Cameron Crowe, 1996)
- La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954)
- Searching for Bobby Fischer (Steven Zaillian, 1993)
- Woman of the Year (George Stevens, 1949)
The last spot on the actor’s list of all-time favourites goes to the George Stevens movie Woman of the Year from 1949. “There are scenes in those movies together that could be when you’re watching them today, in this moment,” Gyllenhaal says of the classic.
Adding: “I remember those movies and my mother would always love those movies, and I would watch those movies with her, particularly Woman of the Year. I remember feeling very specifically about that movie that I love so much, which is how Spencer Tracy cracks his eggs while he’s making an omelette”.
