A French Director Claims Jake Gyllenhaal's Alleged Bizarro Behavior Caused A $30 Million Dollar Movie To Shut Down After Just 4 Days
*NOTE this is all very much alleged. There is no response from Jake G's camp at the time of me writing this. I have no clue how legit the source is as, believe it or not, I am not a connoisseur of french mags.*
For context, this article is about French writer/director Thomas Bidegain's efforts to make the movie 'Suddenly Alone' back in 2021 with Jake Gyllenhaal and Vanessa Kirby. He had sent the script to Jake G, who signed on and was heavily involved with retooling it for him to star in it. They started shooting in Iceland, and the whole thing fell apart in 4 days. It's very worthwhile to read the article, but here are the highlights I pulled out.
Day 1
Vanessa arrives by plane the same day, but Jake – who is very afraid of Covid, even though there is no Covid in Iceland – refuses to fly to Reykjavik and decides to drive to the hotel . He demands a car that is "neither red nor white," and makes the six-hour drive...
He “summons” Thomas and his co-writer to the terrace and launches into a long monologue: “Everyone in this room is extremely talented, but we’re going to have to work. And keep an open mind. With David, we considered many changes…” And he launches into vague things like “We have to find the truth."
The idea was to start the film with the ending of a romantic comedy. It was supposed to be a very moving love scene, but the two actors read their dialogues ironically, like the cartoon character Pépé the putois.
So far, this is just sort of regular actor weirdness, right? They all have weird behaviors & COVID only multiplied those for everybody on the planet so demanding the color of the car isn't that weird. Reading a moving scene written by a French writer in a mocking French accent sounds pretty insulting but the French typically like edginess so who cares.
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Day 2
Jake talks a lot about the TRUTH, insisting that his character be a former GI, used to survival… For example, for a scene on the boat, he sells us the idea that he slaps a fish.
Ok so this is where having an actor signed on as a producer can def run into some trouble. Nothing worse than the actor thinking they understand the material better than the author.
Day 3
In the morning, Jake goes for a walk alone in nature and comes across a mare. Back in the writing room, he talks about the communion with nature he felt at that moment and suggests focusing the film around this subject: the love of nature. “He soon put a speech by Greta Thunberg on his computer, with rock music in the background,” Thomas remembers. It lasts a quarter of an hour.” While listening, he lets himself cry and comments on his emotions. “I'm crying, I'm crying, it's real tears! » Under her mask, Valentine bursts out laughing. “It was the biggest laugh of my life. Jake tells us that this is not a film about love, but a film about the love of nature. He declares that everything must be rewritten, all declarations of love must be declarations to nature. I see Thomas saying to himself that he is losing his 26 million. He then leans towards me and says: “How do you say get fucked in Iceland? Because that’s exactly what just happened…”
This is where it really loses me. Bringing in your entire crew of frenchman to listen to a 15 minute Greta Thunberg speech because you saw a horse? Retooling the entire nature of the script because of it? I can't imagine many things that could lose you the entire cast and crew faster than that. I know Jack Mac is reading this and steam is coming out of his ears like a cartoon animal.
Day 4
Thomas Bidegain decides to take everyone to see the sublime landscapes of the film to make them smell the telluric force of Iceland, the wind, the sea, the mountains, the black sand… Against all odds, Jake decides to swim in underwear while the water in the Atlantic Ocean must be at three degrees…
When I see the sea, I swim in the sea.” Quite exhilarated, Jake Gyllenhaal undresses and, in front of a stunned technical team, goes to swim in the icy waters of the Icelandic coast.
But, after dinner, while the sun still hasn't set, Jake goes into a tailspin, confronts Thomas again, returning to the truth of the film, the deep meaning of this adventure… Soon, he explodes with rage when he learns that the builders of the whaling base arrive at the hotel the next day. Terrified of Covid, Jake says they have to sleep in their cars. He screams, insists that he doesn't want a set, demands to see the building plans, calls everyone incompetent and finally declares that if it's like that, he'll leave the project. Exhausted by these days of negotiations, Thomas gives him a “Go ahead!”
Doing a polar plunge is also pretty standard weird actor shit but quote is batshit crazy. Dude is on-sight with the sea. Buddy, you live in LA. Is he just soaking wet 24/7? And the ending of this whole saga is even crazier. Abandoning a $30 million dollar project that you and a whole crew have slogged to Iceland for just because they're building a set that is part of the script????
Again, this is all alleged and I can't vouch for the source. And, regardless of if it is true or not, I still love me some Jake G. I think people under-appreciate his actual skill as an actor because of how hot he is which is shame cause he has some serious juice. So if he allegedly pissed off a bunch of Frenchman by acting like a weirdo, what do I care. I'll go get some freedom fries and watch 'Prisoners' for the 50th time.