“You’re such a faker”: Jake Gyllenhaal’s Career-Defining Role in Donnie Darko Drove the Actor “F***king Nuts” Due To His Sister’s Constant Harassment
One of the best performers in the business, Jake Gyllenhaal has excelled in portraying a variety of personalities on screen and winning over viewers with his acting prowess. In addition to Spider-Man: Far From Home from the MCU, his list of well-known roles also includes Jack Twist in Brokeback Mountain, Zodiac, Love & Other Drugs, Prisoners, Nightcrawler, and many others.
Gyllenhaal comes from a distinguished family; his mother, Naomi Foner, is a screenwriter, his father, Stephen Gyllenhaal, is a director, and his older sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal, has chosen to pursue both acting and directing. In terms of employment and everything else, the siblings have always been the strongest supporters of one another, but in the past, Jake Gyllenhaal had a different opinion.
Jake Gyllenhaal admits to having a hard time working with Maggie Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal appeared in 2001’s Richard Kelly-directed science fiction psychological thriller Donnie Darko in which he portrayed a troubled teenager who inadvertently escapes a bizarre accident by sleepwalking. In his dreams, a mysterious figure, Frank in a rabbit costume, informs him that the world is going to end in 28 days. A director’s cut was also released in 2004 and, in 2021, the director announced that he is working on the sequel, now considered a cult movie.
Maggie Gyllenhaal played Jake Gyllenhaal’s sister Elizabeth Darko in the movie and during one of the interviews, the actor, shared as quoted on IMDB,
“It was hard for me and my sister. I was nineteen years old and she was twenty-three. I would always say, ‘What are you doing? That’s acting to you?’ and she would say ‘Oh you suck’. So then I would say ‘you’re such a faker’. It was very “sibling-esque”. But my sister is probably the reason why I do this, she’s somebody I admire more than anybody in the world and drives me f**king nuts sometimes.”
Maggie, on the other hand, shared with Vanity Fair back then via People,
“I was doing a lot of auditioning and my brother was doing Donnie Darko, and I went and auditioned for it. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go play a little part in the movie that my brother was starring in, but I did it. It was really cool.”
Jake Gyllenhaal says he would love to work with Maggie Gyllenhaal again
In an interview with InStyle, the actor revealed that he has been working on something with his sister, adding;
“We actually talk about it more now than ever, and I would love to work with her. We are working together on something right now, just creatively, not as actors, which I’m enjoying so much.”
Talking about her sister’s 2021 directorial debut, The Lost Daughter, starring Dakota Johnson and Olivia Coleman, which earned Maggie Gyllenhaal an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, Jake said,
“I don’t think I can say yet. But, she’s an incredible writer, and she’s an incredible filmmaker, and I’ve known that for a long time. And now the world knows it. I would love to work with her. I’d love to act in one of her films or wherever she needs me”
In an interview with People, Jake Gyllenhaal shared that when someone asked him about Maggie’s possible Oscar win and he would cry, he replied with a no and then started to tear up. He mentioned that he was just amazed and beyond proud of what his sister had made and the response that came along was just extraordinary and he was proud.
Jake Gyllenhaal says Donnie Darko changed his life and career
On the 20th anniversary of the movie, Jake Gyllenhaal reflected on the movie that changed his life as he shared via GMA,
“Pulled out my script and some artifacts from Donnie Darko… It was released 20 years ago today. It’s a film that changed my life and my career, and it’s been unreal to watch this story find afterlives with new audiences and new generations, and yet, what Donnie said to Roberta Sparrow is still true: ‘There is so much to look forward to’.”
The actor thanked every fan who he said had come up to him with a confused look on their faces and asked him what the movie was about. The movie, which was eventually not a success at the box office, went on to become a cult classic over the years and various outlets have named the movie as one of the greatest Independent films of all time.
