How Jake Gyllenhaal Wooed Duncan Jones to Direct ‘Source Code’
Plus, Gyllenhaal tells THR about bouncing back from an on-set injury, and Michelle Monaghan opens up about their chemistry.
LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 28: Director Duncan Jones (L) and actor Jake Gyllenhaal attend the after-party following the premiere of Summit Entertainment's 'Source Code' at Boulevard3 on March 28, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.
Charley Gallay/Getty ImagesJake Gyllenhaal lobbied forDuncan Jones to direct action thrillerSource Code, in theaters today up against thePG-13 re-release ofThe King’s Speech.
“He had seen my first filmMoon, and I very much wanted to work with him, and we met and he said, ‘I got this script,Source Code, [that] I think could be a good thing for us to collaborate on,’ Jones toldThe Hollywood Reporter at a special screening of the film at NYC’s Crosby Street Hotel Thursday. The film hasreceived mixed reviews; readTHR’s here.
“So I read it, got very excited, and thought yeah, I could so something with this,” added Jones. “The script just incredibly fast-paced — it literally starts with a bang and goes 100 miles per hour. It’s just really fun.”Watch the trailer.
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A second read made him more excited to get on-board the Summit Entertainment film, whichopened SXSW. “There were all sorts of challenges and puzzles and I kind of like solving puzzles, so it was kind of fun for me to work out how to achieve all these difficult things that were set up in the script byBen Ripley,” he said.
Working with Gyllenhaal (who plays a soldier who wakes up in the body of an unknown man and realizes he’s on a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train),Michelle Monaghan,Vera Farmiga andJeffrey Wright was “amazing” too, he said.
“In particular with Jake and Michelle, they have a great chemistry and they’re also a lot of fun, so it was amazing for me. They’re both also very brave actors,” said Jones.
Especially Gyllenhaal, who injured his shoulder jumping off a train for a stunt.
“It’s a weird sort of thing when you watch a stunt back on film and it works and it looks really awesome,” Gyllenhaal toldTHR. “There’s a moment where you say, ‘Wow, that looked pretty good. Maybe I’ll try and do something again. And if you enjoy the thrill of it, you want to do it again.
“I was scared maybe at first, but you get over that,” he continued.
Monaghan called Gyllenhaal “such a pro. From a professional standpoint, he cares so much about the integrity of the script and the story. He puts his best foot forward every single day.”
“And on a personal note, I had so much fun. He’s super nice, he’s fun, he’s charming, and he doesn’t take anything too seriously and that’s like ace in my book,” she added. “I promise all the girls out there: He’s a dream.”
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