31 Unbelievable Facts About Jake Gyllenhaal You Probably Didn’t Know Before

The heartthrob with the boy-next-door charm and looks, Jake Gyllenhaal has a very impressive career that has earned him a myriad of awards. He had literally grown up in the big-screen, having made his debut at the young age of 11. Still, there’s a lot to know about this talented actor. Keep scrolling to find out few facts about his career and personal life:

1. While filming the scene in which his character Louis Bloom screams at the mirror in “Nightcrawler,” he had gotten so much into the scene that the mirror broke. The entire scene, filmed over a nineteen-hour day, was fully improvised by him.
2. The broken mirror had cut his hand, following which he was taken to the nearby hospital, where he had 46 stitches in a four-hour long operation. Within six hours from being discharged, he was back to the set, and performed the scrapyard scene. This is the reason he has his hand behind his back in that particular seen.
3. According to producer Amy Pascal, the entire team of “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” was discussing only the practical ways of his character Quentin Beck / Mysterio, like his powers. But when Jake was cast, he reportedly brought an unexpected level of humanity, unpredictability and humor to the character.
4. Director Dan Gilroy claimed in an interview with Vanity Fair that the character of Morf Vandewalt in “Velvet Buzzsaw,” was written specifically with Jake Gyllenhaal in mind.
5. He and his co-star Michael Peña, for their respective roles as Brian Taylor and Mike Zavala in the “End of Watch” movie, reportedly spent five months doing the 12-hour ride-alongs with on-duty LAPD officers. In fact, during his very first ride-along, Jake witnessed a murder.
6. In the movies, “Nightcrawler,” “Donnie Darko,” and also the 2013 “Prisoners,” his characters would very rarely be seen blinking. He is known to use this method in some of his movies, particularly for important scenes.
7. While filming a kissing scene from the movie “Brokeback Mountain,” his co-star Heath Ledger is said to have almost broke Gyllenhaal’s nose, and that it was a very close escape for him.
8. His movie “Accidental Love,” was in the production stage for years, due to financial problems. In fact, the production was shut down several times, due to insufficient fund. Gyllenhaal and his co-star Jessica Biel even reportedly walked off the set, when the producers failed to get enough money to pay them.
9. “Spider-Man: Far From Home” isn’t the first Spider-Man movie to have Jake associated with it, as he was in talks to replace Tobey Maguire as the superhero Spider in “Spider-Man 2,” due to Maguire’s injuries. However, Maguire was able to perform and Jake didn’t have to replace him.
10. During the first U.K screening of the movie “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” at the Disney Roadshow, director Mike Newell revealed that he had always wanted Jake to play the part Dastan in the movie. The director had been in a close relationship with Jake since the star was seven years old.
11. It was while filming for the 2009 movie “Brothers,” that Gyllenhaal learned about Heath Ledger’s death. He reportedly walked off set in the middle of shooting a scene.
12. He returned after two days to complete just that scene, after which he took a longer bereavement leave. It was after this long leave that he was ready to continue with rest of his scenes.
13. The scene in “End of Watch,” in which his character Brian and the character Janet played by Anna Kendrick, sing in the car during a road trip was totally unscripted.
14. In fact, they were not at all aware of being filmed, and did not know that the moment was filmed and used in the movie, until they watched a screening.
15. It was reported that both the stars and the director David Ayer, were driving around filming different scenes. At one point between takes, “Hey Ma” by Cam’ron came on the radio and both the actors started to sing along. The director who was in the backseat began filming it secretly.
16. His character Detective Loki’s tattoos, Freemason ring and facial tics from the movie “Prisoners,” were all reportedly Jake’s idea of how his character would look and fancy.
17. As a part of the preparation for his role as Jamie Randall in the “Love & Other Drugs” movie, Gyllenhaal is said to have sent some time with Jamie Reidy, the author of the book, the movie is based on.
18. Even after the wrap party of the movie “Donnie Darko,” he and his co-star Seth Rogan admitted in an interview that they had no idea what the movie was all about.
19. In the 2019 movie “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” he can be never seen wearing anything other than his full superhero suit. Although, the director was fine with him wearing something else for certain scenes, he genuinely liked his superhero suit and refused to wear anything else.
20. Director Dan Gilroy claimed that Jake Gyllenhaal was very instrumental in formulating the character of Morf Vandewalt. Gilroy had only given the script, and all the others like the look, mannerisms, how he talks, walks, the place he lives, the car he drives, etc, were all decided by Gyllenhaal himself.
21. In fact, it was actually Jake’s idea that Morf must be using a flip phone. He had simply approached the director with the idea that his character must be a traditionalist. He had even picked Mini Cooper Clubman as the car that Morf drives.
22. As a part of his research for the role of Brian Taylor, he was given taser electro-shocks, as it is required in police training. Although rumor has it that the entire cast was tased, Anna Kendrick claimed to have abstained and that she thinks even Jake should not have agreed.
23. For the role of Louis Bloom in the “Nightcrawler,” Gyllenhaal is said to have lost 30 pounds, though the script did not require him to do so. He had visualized Lou as a hungry coyote and pitched the idea to the director. He had insisted on losing weight to get that look.
24. To achieve the gaunt appearance he envisioned, he reportedly worked out hard for 8 hours a day and either came to the set by running or cycling, everyday throughout the filming period.
25. However, for his role as Billy Hope in his movie “Southpaw,” he just had to gain 15 pounds of the lost weight, by training twice a day, seven days a week.
26. “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” was supposed to be the first movie in a franchise, similar to the Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies. However, the film’s underperformance, combined with Ubisoft’s attention on Assassin’s Creed video games, resulted in the abandoning of sequels.
27. However, the final nail which is said to have been the end of any sequel plans, was Jake expressing regret in being a part of this movie, and disowning the movie in a 2019 interview with Yahoo! Entertainment.
28. The forearm pieces called vambraces of his superhero suit in “Spider-Man: Far From Home” reportedly restricted his arm movements, which Gyllenhaal would often joke as feeling like a T-Rex wearing the armor.
29. For his role as Detective Loki in “Prisoners,” director Denis Villeneuve is said to have cast him even without an audition, having enjoyed working with him in the 2013 movie “Enemy.”
30. During the filming of the train sequences, Gyllenhaal is said to have had an ear bud, into which the director Duncan Jones would play some random music, or even just “static buzz,” at any point of time, in an effort to get his character look disoriented.
31. Jake Gyllenhaal Net Worth: $65 Million