An “awakening”: the unexpected movie that changed Jake Gyllenhaal’s life
There’s a remarkable versatility to Jake Gyllenhaal that so many of his contemporary actors could only ever dream of detailing. Regardless of the kind of character the Los Angeles-born star has taken on, he’s always delivered them with an unrivalled intensity while scratching beneath the surface of their psyches.
From his breakthrough roles in the likes of October Sky and Donnie Darko, the latter of which saw him play a troubled teenager in a surreal mind-bending narrative, to his later efforts as a repressive homosexual cowboy in Brokeback Mountain and a strange journalist in Nightcrawler, it’s fair to say that Gyllenhaal has always brought his A-game.
Having portrayed such contrasting characters in a wide range of films with differing genres and tones, Gyllenhaal has been afforded the opportunity to embody different kinds of people and experience more about their worlds. As such, the actor has invariably gained a deeper understanding of human life.
It looks as though few films have had an impact on Gyllenhaal, quite like the 2012 action thriller film End of Watch, directed by David Ayer. Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena play two Los Angeles Police Department officers who work in South Central LA, with the film focusing on their friendship, personal lives, and dealings with the gang members of the area.
In an interview with The Guardian, Gyllenhaal said that working on End of Watch provided him with an “awakening” of sorts, seeing as he was raised in a very different area of LA. “Domestic violence, chasing stolen cars, family disputes… growing up where I did in Los Angeles, I didn’t see anything of this kind of violence,” the actor noted. “Nor this sort of culture. South-east LA is 95% amazing culture, fantastic food, and it was great to be immersed in that world.”
Perhaps what was most important for Gyllenhaal to learn was the kind of work that policemen have to do, and when asked an arbitrary question about his appearance at a press conference, he just stated, “It’s very hard for me to talk about hair when I feel like the police officers I worked with have much more important things to talk about. I feel I’d be doing them a disservice.”
While the research and actual making of the film certainly taught Gyllenhaal a lesson or two about the harsh realities of police work and life in South East Los Angeles, it was the chances he got to meet new people in the film that also made a big impression, with the actor noting, “The film changed my life. I have three really close friends from the production process. The movie, to me, almost feels like an afterthought.”
Gyllenhaal didn’t state outright who the people he met on End of Watch were and how they impacted his life, but it’s clear to see that he holds the time he spent on the film close to his heart. Ayer’s movie is a film about friendship and fraternity and how our bonds with other people can help us through the most difficult periods of our lives.
“I think respect is a very important thing, but I also think what we discover along the way is really important,” the actor admitted. While End of Watch might not be the first film with which we associate Gyllenhaal, it’s certainly an important one for the actor from a personal perspective.
