Greatest Hits

cause the tide is high

On July 11th, 2016, The Off Camera Show posted a string of short videos interviewing Jake Gyllenhaal. He was in-between promotions of his films Demolition and Nocturnal Animals, and clearly more relaxed in this YouTube channel hosted by Sam Jones, whoever that is.

In one video, Jones asks Gyllenhaal about his process, citing the film Nightcrawler as an accomplishment in Gyllenhaal’s career. Gyllenhaal responds to the question about his commitment with a wonderful little anecdote about his father:

“My father is incredibly disciplined. Almost prolific in how he does work. I remember as a boy he’d be up at like 4:30 in the morning and he would write. Even if he was writing in his diary or something like that, he’d be up. He was constantly, sort of, always very prepared like that... I think there’s part of it in me where I kind of recognize the absurdity of what I’m doing and the only way I can move past the absurdity of it, is to commit to it in a place where no one can say it’s absurd anymore.”

Then, in order to prove what he just said about absurdity, Gyllenhaal dives deep into nonsense:

“I have this strong belief in the unconscious, that it’s driving us, it’s this massive river that we’re floating on and we’re sort of unaware, obviously, of sometimes where we’re going — I don’t believe we have much control over it because that brings in the question of fate and destiny and free will. But I believe that there’s a way that you can kind of hop on, as a performer or an actor, onto another river a little bit if you work hard enough. You kind of, like, move your unconscious into a space, but that takes grinding at the world you know normally and pushing it into a place that’s filled with the molecules of all the things you’ve collected along the way. Meaning, like, my preparation for something like Southpaw was five months; around boxers all the time, going to any fight that I could, researching the history of my character had gone through, going to orphanages, talking to people in the system, and being there and picking up that energy. Picking it all up. And trying to sort of exist in it. And then putting that into…After enough time, I feel like your molecular structure changes a little bit and then you put that onto the screen. And I think that translates to an audience. I find joy in that process.”

One of the comments found below the video reads “he sounds real nutty” which is followed by a separate comment saying “but like he a good actor.” Both by the same user. Yeah, I agree.