Is Jake Gyllenhaal going to be our next A-Lister?

For Blogomatic3000 - http://www.blogomatic3000.com/2010/09/09/is-jake-gyllenhaal-going-to-be-our-next-a-lister/

Using the films Donnie Darko, Brokeback Mountain, and Prince of Persia as stepping stones to fight your way through Hollywood’s fierce sea of talent is quite an impressive move from Jake Gyllenhaal. He’s gone from Indie Goodness to Heroic Mainstream appealing a varied audience, and considering he’s only 30 I think we’ve got a lot to see from him yet.

If you look at the other films he’s participated in such as Jarhead, The Day After Tomorrow and The Good Girl, he knows how to recognise the blockbusters. But they’re usually demanding characters that have substance to them, rather than playing the soppy lead to make all the girls swoon. Although, that is exactly what he’s doing in this latest feature to be released on DVD, playing the Prince of a incredibly popular computer game. He beefed up for the role and transformed himself, much like Taylor Lautner or Tom Hardy for roles in films they knew would get them noticed. But although he’s playing the good looking, strong prince, he’s also an action role model enticing men to look up to him and want to battle like he does. See? He’s quite the clever actor…

To have such a varied amount of characters in his acting history means producers and directors are going to be very open for him trying new roles. In films currently in post-production or filming now, he’s playing a Senator (Nailed), a free-spirited lead in a romance aside Anne Hathaway (Love and Other Drugs) and a commuter in a Sci-Fi film (Source Code). They couldn’t be more different , unless he was playing a woman which still could happen. He’s really proving himself to be the next big thing, and although some might already see him as that, you don’t get the same reaction to his name like when you say “De Nero” or “Al Pacino”. Why is that?

Maybe because he hasn’t had a scandal in the newspaper which will attract attention to him. Or maybe because he doesn’t have a Hollywood Star as his wife. But doesn’t that make him all the more great? He’s playing these huge, challenging roles that demand so much attention from the film world, yet he still remains pretty grounded. He’s almost like a minor version of Johnny Depp keeping his film world separate from his personal world. It worked out well for Depp, so Jake’s sticking to the right thing.

Lets wait and see until we start naming him Gyllenhaal without the Jake. Then he’s made it big!