I’m like, ‘What world am I living in?’ Aren’t movies made to have something to say? Why make a movie if you don’t have something to say? What are you doing it for? Are you doing it because you want to make a lot of money? – Jake Gyllenhaal
I think that we all have within us the potential for almost anything. If we play close attention to our lives, then we can get at it somehow. – Jake Gyllenhaal
Chris Cooper once told me to never have any regrets. After Chris said that to me, I walk into every scene thinking, ‘exhaust every possibility.’ Once you get to a certain place, it’s like you just deliver everything you’ve got. Don’t have any regrets. It pops up in my mind over and over and over again. – Jake Gyllenhaal
I want, overall, to trust what I know is right. There have been many times when I haven’t. – Jake Gyllenhaal
I don’t think you can approach any piece of art with boundaries or rules. I think respect is a very important thing, but I also think what we discover along the way is really important. – Jake Gyllenhaal
We were talking about the kissing in the movie just recently. Clearly, it’s pretty challenging material, but Ang said two men herding sheep was far more sexual than two men having sex on screen. – Jake Gyllenhaal
I think you hear a lot of people say ‘I support the troops’ and all of that, but I really feel deeply that I do. – Jake Gyllenhaal
It bothers me when people say, ‘Oh, you’re so down to earth – for an actor.’ Even when they don’t say ‘for an actor,’ I feel like that’s the implication. Why are the standards so low for performers? – Jake Gyllenhaal
I can’t make a movie unless I believe in the themes behind it. I mean, that’s the first question I ask myself, always, is, ‘What is this movie about?’ – Jake Gyllenhaal
I don’t think my approach to acting is all necessarily in service of the character. I think, selfishly, I’ve put it in service of myself, my perspective on the world and helping my life. – Jake Gyllenhaal
Don’t listen to what anybody says except the people who encourage you. If it’s what you want to do and it’s within yourself, then keep going and try to do it for the rest of your life. – Jake Gyllenhaal
‘Brokeback Mountain’ takes all your conceptions of America, and the Western, and cowboys, and sexuality, and love, and it stirs them all up. – Jake Gyllenhaal
It’s funny to me that people find other people getting coffee really interesting, or walking their dog in the dog park. – Jake Gyllenhaal
If you’re going to spend seven months of your life – for me seven months, for Roland Emmerich, 3, 4, 5 years of his life – doing something, I think you have to have something to say. – Jake Gyllenhaal
I’m going to continue doing what I want to do. And if it means I want to go and make a big movie, if it has something to say, I will want to make it. I don’t want to spend my life wasting my time. If it’s a big movie, I want to do it. If it’s a small movie, I want to do it. – Jake Gyllenhaal
When I was young, before school, my father would wake me up and we would go running together. A love of being physical, being active and being outside was something he instilled in me. – Jake Gyllenhaal
I would really love to direct one day. I think there are certain actors who love the character and the performance and that’s all they want to be a part of. – Jake Gyllenhaal