The bizarre story of Paul Newman teaching Jake Gyllenhaal how not to drive
Having carved out hugely successful and respected careers in their own right over a number of years, Jake Gyllenhaal and his sister, Maggie, more often than not, tend to be overlooked when the never-ending ‘nepo baby’ debate rears its head.
Their father Stephen Gyllenhaal is an established poet and Primetime Emmy-nominated filmmaker; his mother Naomi Foner is an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter; their lineage can be traced back to Swedish nobility, and Jake’s A-list godparents are none other than Oscar-winning scream queen and fellow ‘nepo baby’ Jamie Lee Curtis, and the legendary Paul Newman.
That’s quite the collection of talents, then, but considering both of the Gyllenhaal siblings are Oscar nominees in their own right with decades of experience under their belts in everything from intimate, hard-hitting dramas to effects-heavy blockbusters, they’ve worked hard to distance themselves from any lingering suggestions they had an easier time breaking into their chosen profession.
Having Curtis and Newman on deck for family gatherings would have resulted in quite the upbringing, though, especially when one of them decided that 15 was more than old enough to take a crash course in how to drive a car. Unfortunately for Gyllenhaal, it wasn’t the Halloween and Everything Everywhere All at Once star who opted to teach him the fundamentals of operating an automobile.
At the time, the iconic actor was working with his mother on a screenplay, which seemed like the perfect time in Newman’s mind for throwing an unprepared and teenaged Jake behind the wheel. As he told Susan Sarandon when they interviewed each other for Interview, “We went out to the racetrack and he threw me in a race car.”
At first, Newman was in control driving the car, but Gyllenhaal recalled how “he threw me in the passenger’s seat and with his glasses dangling from his ear, he started driving on the track towards a brick wall.” For a 15-year-old, there must have been some seriously mixed emotions to stem from hurtling towards a solid surface at high speed with one of the most famous names in Hollywood putting pedal to the metal.
As it turned out, rather than teaching him how to drive, Newman was instructing Gyllenhaal on how not to drive instead. “We’re 100 feet from a wall, going 60 miles per hour, and he hits the brake and turns the wheel and the car spins three times,” the Donnie Darko star explained. “So then he turns to me and goes, ‘That’s what you don’t do.'”
Obviously, even people who don’t, can’t, or won’t drive are fully aware that speeding directly towards a brick wall, slamming the brakes, and then spinning out doesn’t come recommended, but only Gyllenhaal is able to say it was Newman who turned it into a life lesson for them.
