Quotessence
Home / Authors / Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal

Jake Gyllenhaal Quotes

Actor

Filter quotes by topic

AllThinkingKnowsPeopleActorsWayTryingWantFeelsIdeasIfsWorldDifferentMenFilmI CanMadeMeanPlayBelieveCertain

Famous Jake Gyllenhaal Quotes

“I was trying to figure out where my intellect, if I really have one, where it fit. And so I was searching. I really didn't know who I was or what I really wanted to be, and in that search, like I think you do as an actor, you end up trying to define whatever that is, and I sort of said, "Oh well, searching spiritually in a way is interesting, and Eastern religion seems to be about a search."”

IfsThinkingKnowsWayTryingWellsSaidEndsSeemsWantedActorsInterestingFiguresFitIntellectEasternOh Well
Author:Jake Gyllenhaal
Create image

“I understand the opposite side of the camera. I have a profound respect for that. I have worked with people who, when you hit that mark, are doing 50 percent of your work for you. So, you know, it's a balance. When you walk into a mark and you're lit a certain way or something's happening so often you don't know what's behind you... And that's what's so strange about being a movie actor.”

PeopleKnowsWayCertainActorsSidesWalksBehindsStrangeBalanceHappeningsPercentOppositesMarkCamerasProfoundLitBehind YouMovie Actors
Author:Jake Gyllenhaal
Create image

“As Uta Hagen would say, there's the representational actor and the presentational actor. My sister [Maggie Gyllenhaal] came up to me recently after she saw this movie, Southpaw, the movie I did, and she thought there was this exploration of that type of presentation, and a bit of representation as well, if I could be totally honest, where she was deeply moved.”

IfsWellsActorsBitsSawsHonestTypeMovedIf I CouldExplorationMy SisterRepresentationPresentationMaggie
Author:Jake Gyllenhaal
Create image

“We are all from different cultures. Heath's [Ledger] Australian, really. I'm from here. Ang's [Lee] from China. But I think Ang gets very close in preproduction and rehearsals. And then he allows his actors - I don't think scared of actors, but I think he's scared of getting in on the scenes he's watching. The space he's watching. So he just totally disconnects from you while you're shooting.”

ThinkingDifferentCultureActorsSpaceSceneScaredChinaShootingRehearsalAustralianDifferent Cultures
Author:Jake Gyllenhaal
Create image

“Ang Lee just allowed me to make what we would call mistakes and had no judgment of them. He also empowered me. You know, he's like, "You're my actor. I chose you. Whatever you do is right." Right? "I made the decision, I'm complicit in choosing you. And I went through everything I could to choose you, so I feel good and whatever you're going to do I'm going to give you this space." And so it was very empowering.”

KnowsGivingFeelsMadeActorsSpaceDecisionMistakeLike YouJudgmentFeel GoodEmpoweringEmpoweredI Feel Good
Author:Jake Gyllenhaal
Create image

“I remember Chris Cooper saying to me - I was doing October Sky with him - and he said, "You know, you're just yelling at me." He's like, "You're just yelling. You need to listen." We were in a fight, and you know, oh you'd get so excited as an actor, you're like, "We have a fight, oh, I get to get mad." And he just said, "You need to listen." And I started listening - and then all of a sudden where I was listening was where, I don't know, anger became something else.”

KnowsNeedsSaidRememberFightingActorsSkyLike YouListeningMadExcitedOctoberYelling
Author:Jake Gyllenhaal
Create image

“I don't think I had any idea at the time how to work with someone as masterful as he is. And I don't think at the time I really understood what was happening. I think I was in a space where I was like: there are all these things. I was shooting all these takes with David, and I was just confused, as a person, and as an actor feeling a little too big for my britches and that this thing was happening and then also not having enough skill yet, and technique to know exactly where I was, and know about the character.”

ThinkingKnowsLittlesPersonsIdeasEnoughCharacterFeelingsBigsActorsSpaceSkillsHappeningsUnderstoodTechniqueShootingConfused
Author:Jake Gyllenhaal
Create image

“The amount of preparation I saw from someone like [David] Fincher, and how aware he is of everybody else's job on the set, and how much respect he has for every aspect of the film, and every aspect of the frame - that's the type of actor I am now; it's not the type of actor I was then. But without understanding his process, and then coming to learn it later on, I would never be the actor I am now.”

JobsFilmActorsProcessUnderstandingSawsTypeAmountAspectPreparation
Author:Jake Gyllenhaal
Create image

“Working with Robert, Robert [Elswit] is a storyteller. He's not a cinematographer, he's a storyteller. And to me, that's the graduation I hope to get to in my profession. That I'm not just an actor, I'm a storyteller. And I think that takes a long time in, when you have one job on a movie set. Makeup artists, actor, whatever. To graduate from just that to storyteller.”

ThinkingLongJobsArtistActorsLong TimeProfessionMakeupGraduatesStorytellerMovie SetsCinematographersMakeup Artist
Author:Jake Gyllenhaal
Create image