Jake Gyllenhaal: I’ve seen how much of my life I’ve neglected

Jake Gyllenhaal has said he turned to family and friends after realising how much of his life he had “neglected” by being committed to acting.

The Hollywood star, 39, told British Vogue he now saw life as something “fleeting” and, as a result, was “a little less interested” in work.

He told the magazine: “I’m interested in my life, even more so than my work. I’ve reached a point in my career where I feel hungry in a different way.

“I’ve seen how much of my life I’ve neglected as a result of being committed to that work and that idea.”

He said the change had come with age and “seeing life as something that is, you know, fleeting, and the world being as it is now.

“I’ve turned to my family, I’ve turned to my friends and I’ve turned to love.

“I’m a little less interested in the work I would say, and more interested in that.”

Gyllenhaal also praised his sister Maggie, 42, who he starred alongside in the 2001 film Donnie Darko, as “extraordinary”.

Speaking about his family, he said: “I have been raised by a wonderful father who was always affectionate.

“My mother and my sister are some of the most extraordinary people I know.

“Our vulnerability with each other, our ability to communicate about how tough times can be is what I’m most proud of in my family.

“For everything I hope to pass on, that’s the most important.”

Recalling his starring role in director Sir Sam Mendes’ 2005 war film Jarhead, Gyllenhaal said it was important sensitive men were portrayed on screen.

He said: “It’s very important we’re portraying men in a different way in film, in art. I remember being very young, very sensitive, and someone said I was a doormat.

“I think what they were trying to say, that’s full of its own very interesting complications, was that I cared.

“And things affected me. That potentially I wouldn’t be someone you would picture jumping off a roof into an exploding building. But I don’t agree with that.

“When I did Jarhead, the writer William Broyles said to me, ‘You are like so many of the guys I was in service with.’

“I think that’s important to perpetuate in storytelling.”

Jokingly, he added: “At the same time, that might just be me trying to get more jobs.”

The West End run of Sunday In The Park With George, starring Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford, was recently postponed until 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Read the full feature in the June issue of British Vogue, available via free digital download and on newsstands now. https://www.vogue.co.uk/