Jake Gyllenhaal Quotes

1. I would really like people to know how to pronounce my last name. Correctly. Everywhere.


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've never really been attracted to men sexually, but I don't think I would be afraid of it if it happened.

3. (on his new niece Ramona) I wanted to see what it was like. So she handed me my niece and I put her down on the changing table and I un-knotted her organic diaper. I really never knew, and I am naive, of course, but I never knew that it was orange. I have a very short gag reflex. So when I saw it I started gagging. I was gagging and handed her back!

4. I love to cook, I obsessed with cooking magazines.





5. Sometimes what I actually love to do is go to a farm and get fresh milk or watch a pig get slaughtered.

6. I have and abstract mind. It doesn't fit everywhere, but it fits in the world of performing.

7. I promise that, one day, everything's going to be better for you.







8. Heath almost broke my nose in a kissing scene. He grabs me and he slams me up against the wall and kisses me. And then I grab him and I slam him up against the wall and I kiss him. And we were doing take after take after take. I got the shit beat out of me.

9. If you're going to spend seven months of your life - for me seven months, for Roland Emmerich, 3, 4, 5 years of his life - doing something, I think you have to have something to say.



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

11. I love "Training Day" - that's a great movie.



12. I play a mathematician, which is ridiculous because I am horrible at math.

13. 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?"

14. My father directed a lot of movies and my mom wrote and produced. Get us at a table and all we do is talk about the "the artist's way" like we're f...ing Uta Hagen and her family.


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

16. It bothers me when people say: "Oh, you're so down to earth - for an actor." Even when they don't say "for an actor," I feel like that's the implication. Why are the standards so low for performers?

17. It's funny to me that people find other people getting coffee really interesting, or walking their dog in the dog park.

18. Take a movie like "Donnie Darko", which I always believed in. I just always f...ing believed in it, the collaboration and the process of making it, and it completely paid off for me.

19. 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.

20. The best thing that I got was rehearsing with my father. It was always about the process of figuring things out, and trying something new, and having another take on something and keeping it alive.



21. Crazy people don't sit around wondering if they're nuts.

22. The accent definitely. It's daunting trying to do any kind of service as an American to such a beautiful, fluid speech pattern that you all have. We are just barbarians in comparison.

23. The reason why most video games movies haven't been successful up until now is the fact that most of the action that takes place is stuff that weve seen before (in the game), but hasn't had a reason in the story line that makes sense. So, in this movie we decided that everything the prince did in the movie had to have a reason. If he were going to jump on a wall and run over to get away from somebody, or he's going to jump from building to building, there had to be an obstacle. It had to be based on something that he had learned, or based in the story line. Most of the time you just see really cool stunts and people doing really cool things, but you don't know why. Our action all ties back into the ultimate story.

24. (on "Brokeback Mountain") We use lines like " Love has no bounds," but that's become bulls***. For me, this is a story where that might actually be true. Hopefully.



25. I think my strength is to do a take all the way through. I am definitely not someone who can do a sprint. Maybe I am not that smart, but it takes me a while to find the moment, and I like to be pushed toward it.

26. Some movies you fall a step behind, and some you stay in the same place, make the same choices. And then sometimes there are people who know more than you but show you, and that's the maximum you can hope for - doing that with someone who says: "I like you for what you are, and I want you to be in my picture."

27. My mum raised us on classic movies and a lot of musical theatre.

28. I never did anything this intensive before to change my body. Its a physical role. And when I commit to playing a part, it's 110 per cent.

29. (on "Love & Other Drugs") Annie (Anne Hathaway) and I already had sex on film in "Brokeback Mountain", so I wasn't too nervous. There's something about the way Annie and I both work which is inherently very musical. It's all about rhythm. There's a rhythm to writing, there's a rhythm to sports and there's a rhythm to sex.

30. The idea of competition, particularly in a creative atmosphere, is always there. And, if you don't acknowledge that, you are doing yourself and the process a disservice.




31. (on training for the police movie, "End of Watch") We were all Tased. The whole cast. We decided that we thought it would be a sort of semi-bonding experience. When we had a choice between between pepper spray and being Tased, we were told by the professionals that Tasing was probably the preference because pepper spray lasts for a long time after. And a Tase is done in moments. Se we decided to go for quick and painful.

32. I hope I'm a spiritual person. I'm trying to be a spiritual person.

33. If you have a real relationship with someone in real life they will call you out on it if you are being fake. I have worked with my sister in movies before and I can't pull anything with her. She knows when I'm faking and when I'm not. She has caught me out before...in real life too. That is all my sister does! That is her primary job in my life.

34. (My parents) were relatively progressive in their spiritual beliefs: my father is Christian and my mother is Jewish. On my 13th birthday, they thought it was important for me to experience a rite of passage, an entrance into manhood, and the consensus was that we would do something for the good of the community, some charitable work - a bar mitzvah-like act, without the typical trappings. So we went to a homeless shelter and we did some work there and then I had the party - the celebration - there.

35. The last name is pronounced Jill-en-hall. It's spelled with two l's, two a's. We have a song in my family; G-Y-Double L - EN - HAAL spells Gyllenhaal. It's a Swedish name. It's a family heirloom set to music.

36. My mum and dad are pretty amazing chefs and they spent most of my childhood cooking really extravagant things for my sister and me.

37. Depends on what you call beating up. She performed the musical "Cats" for our parents, and she made me lick milk from a bowl while she sang, which was, in a way abuse.

38. My dad descends from the Swedish Gyllenhaal family, a noble lineage that my ancestor Nils Gunnarsson Haal established in the 17th century and which has been very influential in Sweden for a long time. My great-grandfather emigrated to the USA. But I see myself as a Jew since my mother is a Russian-Jewish New Yorker.

39. We were talking about the kissing in the movie just recently. Clearly, it's pretty challenging material, but Ang said two men herding sheep was far more sexual than two men having sex on screen.

40. 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.

41. When I was young, before school, my father would wake me up and we would go running together. A love of being physical, being active and being outside was something he instilled in me.



42. Really, contrary to popular belief, I like to have a good time and not take myself too seriously.

43. When you have a lot of opportunities, which I am blessed to have had in terms of my work, you get into the habit of not paying attention to certain specifics. And as we get busy, anything we do is the same thing.







44. For a month I did a crazy circuit: running five miles, swimming for 20 minutes, riding a bike for 35 miles, and lifting weights without resting. Then we went to boot camp. On-set we would all work out together and do push-ups between scenes.

45. I think it's important for every man to find the right woman and every woman to find the right man.


46. Theater has given me a different perspective on the way I approach films.

47. Working on a movie like "Prince of Persia" was awesome. It was great fun to be an action hero and to jump around, running off walls and fighting and having great quippy lines.

48. As much as I am one for real human interaction, I also want to make a show that's entertaining and that people want to see.

49. Romance is important, but to have a friend you can use as a mirror, who can give you an objective response, that's what's really important.

50. I think you hear a lot of people say "I support the troops" and all of that, but I really feel deeply that I do.






51. 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.

52. Chris Cooper once told me to never have any regrets. After Chris said that to me, I walk into every scene thinking: "exhaust every possibility." Once you get to a certain place, it's like you just deliver everything you've got. Don't have any regrets. It pops up in my mind over and over and over again.

53. "Brokeback Mountain" takes all your conceptions of America, and the Western, and cowboys, and sexuality, and love, and it stirs them all up.

54. (on the one role that got away) 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.

55. I am inherently a little brother - that's just my nature. It has to do with my sister being very strong and wanting to protect me. It's the natural order of things.

56. I admire actors and artists who devote just as much time to their life as they do to their work.




57. I'm a harsh critic, you know? I am.

58. I don't think you can approach any piece of art with boundaries or rules. I think respect is a very important thing, but I also think what we discover along the way is really important.

59. Do I take care of my body and take conditioning seriously? Yes.

60. I grew up on movie sets, so it was something I just found familiar. When I was growing up also, in high school, I would audition for things and my parents let me audition for things - with the thought that I wouldn't get them. And then I would get them…sometimes, and it would surprise them.

61. I want, overall, to trust what I know is right. There have been many times when I haven't.






62. I liken movies to playing a piano: Sometimes you're playing the chords and different notes with unresolved cadences and playing all major chords that are all over the place, and you're enjoying yourself with a great, simple melody.

63. In a perfect world, I would love to do one play for every three movies.

64. Even as an actor, I think like a storyteller. My parents raised us to look at the script.

65. I remember being in college knowing I didn't want to go anymore. I wanted to try and become an actor. There is a something in me, with a risk of sounding cliche, that I just had to do it. I knew from an early age that acting was my path.

66. I think that we all have within us the potential for almost anything. If we play close attention to our lives, then we can get at it somehow.





67. I think as an actor you have to be open to your emotions - that's how you tap into other characters. Besides, by being so open I've come to terms with how screwed I am!

68. Every journey starts with fear.

69. I think family is the most important thing in the world. I think your own family is the most complicated thing in the world, and I think it's the most beautiful thing in the world.

70. I'm open to whatever people want to call me.

71. 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.



72. I think that more and more there's a sense that the best performances I can give are the ones that are the truest to who I am. The further I move away from who I am, the worse they are.

73. I grew up in a family where many of our close friends were gay couples. As well as that, every man goes through a period of thinking they're attracted to another guy.




74. I would really love to direct one day. I think there are certain actors who love the character and the performance and that's all they want to be a part of.

75. I have a mentor. I have…guides. I have a lot of guides. Not a lot, but people whose opinions I really respect and who I will turn to.

76. Coming from a family where my mom is a writer, I just respond to how people speak.






77. I'm going to continue doing what I want to do. And if it means I want to go and make a big movie, if it has something to say, I will want to make it. I don't want to spend my life wasting my time. If it's a big movie, I want to do it. If it's a small movie, I want to do it.

78. My experience on "Jarhead" was life changing.

79. Comedy is really what I enjoy the most. And it's what I find hardest. Finding the comedy in a situation is always the hardest thing, and I think as an actor you should always try and find the hardest thing.

80. (on the stages of fame in Hollywood) 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.

81. I'm like: "What world am I living in?' Aren't movies made to have something to say? Why make a movie if you don't have something to say? What are you doing it for? Are you doing it because you want to make a lot of money?"






82. I didn't have to fake it or put on a mask - all the resources I had inside me were more than adequate. I don't want to pretend to be something…I'm not pretending any more to fit somebody's mold. That's a long-winded statement but - why not do what you really think, even if it's a mistake?


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