STACK NZ March 2017 Issue 82

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16 MARCH 2017
J ake Gyllenaal likes
to see himself as
a man of action,
so one of the biggest
challenges for him in
Nocturnal Animals was
playing a passive character.
“This movie was a
difficult one for me because
it was one about ‘non-action’,
which meant resisting all of my
normal instincts,” the US actor
admits. “I’m a very physical person
– in my own self and in terms
of creating characters. It’s a very
important part of what I do, but
in this film, I couldn’t use any of
that. I had my hands tied behind
my back, sitting there, incapable
of doing what I would normally
want to do.”
To complicate matters further,
in Tom Ford’s multi-layered drama,
Gyllenhaal actually plays two
characters: the aspiring author
Edward, who has just sent a copy
of his novel to his ex-wife Susan
(Amy Adams), and Tony, the lead
protagonist in the book, whose
story also unfolds on screen in the
mind of Susan.
It’s a dark and twisted tale,
and Gyllenhaal was hooked as
soon as he read the script. “I
remember reading it starting at
night, actually, and it was probably
one of the best scripts I had ever
read,” he recalls. “To me, this was
a story about love – love lost, the
unrequited sense of it,
and the violence that
heartbreak causes
internally.
“We all spend
most of our lives
doing our best to present
something to the outside
world. We don’t want to put
all of our feelings on other people,
we don’t want to have to make
other people go through the pain
that we might be experiencing.
"Amy’s character presents
that outside world, that projection
she wants to put out there. The
book and the story of the book
is the internal world, the internal
heartbreak of the relationship,
and what she sees she’s done to
someone else. That’s what was so
moving about the screenplay.”
Nevertheless, coming off the
back of physical roles in Everest
and Southpaw , Gyllenhaal
knew he would have
dial things down for
Nocturnal Animals .
“It was an interesting
journey for me, and a difficult
one, because he’s a character that
doesn’t act initially. He does ‘act’
in that he’s pretty much a deer
in the headlights, but he doesn’t
know his physical self, he does not
believe in using a gun or violence
at all, so he doesn’t really know
how to protect his family.
"I had just come off of a
number of films where I was really
expressing myself physically. So, I
really tried to whittle myself down
physically, if that makes sense. I
really tried to find the weaknesses
in myself and try to be curious
about them, those moments in
which I wouldn’t speak my mind,
or I would hesitate.”
Ever the perfectionist, Gyllenhaal
relished the preparation involved in
preparing for such a complicated
role. “The thing I love most of all
is the preparation, the time before
you even begin shooting,” he says.
“It’s my favourite time. I guess
people would call it the ‘rehearsal
period’ if you’re doing a play, but
in movies you usually just have
your alone time – whether you’re
exploring the world in the character
you’re going to create, or meeting
people that do the same job, or
experiencing some experience that
they may in the movie. I take
that with me and it never
goes away, along with the
friendships that I make
along the way. “
It was probably one of
the best scripts I had
ever read
ANIMAL
INSTINCT The Adventures Of
Baron Munchausen (1988)
In Terry Gilliam’s dazzling fantasy,
an old man interrupts a stage
production about the adventures of
Baron Munchausen, claiming to be
the dashing aristocrat himself. He
proceeds to set the record straight
– is it all in his mind or is he the
real deal?
Jake Gyllenhaal on navigating the multi-
layered storylines of Tom Ford’s acclaimed
psychological thriller, Nocturnal Animals.
Words Adam Colby
What’s real and what’s
not – four other films
where fact and fiction
become blurred.
STORIES
WITHIN
STORIES
Mulholland Drive (2001)
David Lynch is the master when it
comes to multi-layered storylines and
this splendidly bonkers concoction is
one of his best. Naomi Watts is the
aspiring actress who comes to the aid
of a woman (Laura Harring) suffering
from amnesia, only to begin to question
her own grip on reality.
Adaptation (2002)
In the weird and wonderful world of
writer Charlie Kaufman nothing is ever
what it seems. In Spike Jonze’s witty
surreal meta-tale, Nicolas Cage plays a
fictionalised version of Kaufman, whose
attempt to adapt a bestseller for the
screen is hampered by the arrival of his
brother Donald (also played by Cage).
The Singing
Detective (2003)
This musical fantasy isn’t in the same
league as Dennis Potter’s original
BBC masterpiece, but Robert Downey
Jr. is terrific as the pulp crime writer
who ends up drifting in and out of the
noirish world of his private eye hero
while in hospital.
• Nocturnal
Animals
is out
on March 1
Tom Ford