Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Jake Gyllenhaal is a ridiculously nice guy. I've had the pleasure of interviewing him a few times over the years, for good movies he's been in (Source Code) and not so good ones (Prince of Persia), but he's always an intelligent, thoughtful conversationalist.
Our interview for his upcoming drama Demolition is no different. Joined by director Jean-Marc Vallee we had a nice talk about the framing of the story, which is about a man who faces apathy in the face of his wife's untimely death instead of overwhelming grief and his journey through that. We also spend a whole lot of time talking about young Judah Lewis, who plays the son of Naomi Watts' character, which turns into a talk about the process involved with working with child actors.
The talk was casual and fun. Hope some of that shows through in the below interview. Enjoy!
Quint: So, what interview number is this for you guys today?
Jake Gyllenhaal: Not that many. It's a somewhat easy day.
Jean-Marc Vallee: Yeah, we've done crazy schedules. This is a reasonable one.
Quint: I just want to make it sound like it's such a tough job for you guys because...
Jake Gyllenhaal: “You guys must be so tired...”
Quint: Well, if you guys are worn out it makes me feel better for being so tired.
Jake Gyllenhaal: No, this is really tough for you guys. The numbers of movies you see, the numbers of things you have to write... I often think you guys are masochists.
Quint: Seeing a lot of movies in a day isn't the big deal, it's just finding the time to write about them and also sleep... that's the trick.
Jake Gyllenhaal: That's what I mean!
Quint: But seriously, I can't complain. It's a hell of a job. I'm not digging ditches for a living.
Jean-Marc Vallee: Do you use this and that (Holds up pen and paper)?
Quint: To write reviews? No, all computer.
Jean-Marc Vallee: Keyboard? You aren't the old-fashioned type, like (Demolition lead character) Davis Mitchell?
Quint: (laughs) No, I don't pull a Tarantino and write out everything long hand. So, I really liked the movie. Something that really stuck with me a few days after watching was that it was a story about grief, or the lack of grief, and that wasn't typical. Grief factors into a lot of movies, but there aren't a whole lot of movies actually about that process. I like that every choice you guys made in the film wasn't the stereotypical choice about that subject.
Jake Gyllenhaal: Yeah, it's about apathy more than it is about mourning. I think, also, movies have a tendency, especially if they're about grief, to not have the courage that Jean-Marc had to say “how do you sit in it?” and “what does it feel like?” The first 30 minutes of the movie is like, “Dude, what's going on with guy? Feel something!” You're not used to seeing that in a movie.
I think at the same time there's not this huge catharsis that you see normally in a conventional film where the character comes to. There's a small change in this guy and he says I realize I love this person. That was the realization. Now he can move on with his struggle trying to actually get at his feelings. That's what Jean-Marc always said. That's what he was going for.
Jean-Marc Vallee: You said it well. You captured well what (screenwriter) Bryan Sipe tried to do with his writing. This is a very rare piece of material and you responded the same way I did. When I read it, I said “I want to spend the next year of my life in service of this thing. I want to do this.” It was beautiful. To talk about grief like this, in an irreverent way sometimes? You don't make fun of someone dying and talk about getting your money back from a vending machine. Your wife just died! I'm not sure I want to make this film. What the fuck? This guy!
But it touches something true inside of you. I like to respond to life like this. The tone of it was just above reality. It's not really a realistic story. I mean, who goes into the woods with a kid and lets him shoot them? It's bigger, but it's possible. The whole thing, with the demolition and “let's smash things” looks fun. It's made in a way where I want to believe in it. I want to serve that thing that is so original. And all this to talk about grief and loss in order to talk about yourself. “How did I fuck it up?”
Jake Gyllenhaal: I think there's also something really interesting in terms of the capitalist world we live in and there's this guy who made all the supposedly right moves to live a life that is the ideal kind of capitalist life. You're successful and you're living in this space where your house is very nice and your life is very nice and there's not very much to want for, but the thing that he wants more than anything is connection and he doesn't even realize he had it because he was so...
Jean-Marc Vallee: He was so busy, in his world, wrapped up in his system.
Jake Gyllenhaal: Yeah, trying to be successful in that parenthetical kind of way.
Jean-Marc Vallee: Forgetting how precious life is. The funny thing is underneath the guise of being a film about studying grief it celebrates life. “Come on, get out there, kid. Run fast. Do something!” He runs with kids and you feel like this guy is going to try to do something.
Quint: My favorite relationship in the movie is your friendship with Judah Lewis' character. That really connected with me, that kind of paternal relationship without being fartherly, if that makes any sense. Was that relationship exactly there on the page for you guys or did you really have to work with Judah to form what we saw in the movie?
Jake Gyllenhaal: He's at an age where there's that pre-adolescent kind of energy, a sense of freedom and also this sort of inability to express, but he's very articulate in other forms without even knowing. Like his choice in music or style. I think that relationship was the most interesting in terms of how it read on the page. It was unlikely. You sort of see him as just a kid who's dealing with his sexuality, but that's really not what he is. That doesn't go in the places you think it's going to go. Like, he holds a gun up and you're like “Jesus, it's going to be that movie?!?” But it isn't.
To me, when you're working with someone who is a younger actor you're guided by them. He's a wonderful, wonderful actor. He's present and charismatic and easy to work with. But yeah. That relationship is everything. I think he kind of starts to see that he's the kid inside of Davis, that piece of us we all loose trying to follow connection.
Jean-Marc Vallee: It's funny because he's not trying. He's not trying to be a father figure. He's not trying to give great advice. He does. “What do you think about this thing? Do you think I'm gay?” “I don't know, let's figure it out. Do you like girls? Do you like boys?”
Jake Gyllenhaal: I also loved... what does he say? “Sometimes I look at that guy when he's changing in gym class.” I was like “You know, that's fine.” And then you cut a line out... it was my favorite. Didn't you?
Jean-Marc Vallee: A line? No...
Quint: Do you mean his follow up when he's like “Sometimes I think of his cock in my mouth.”
Jake Gyllenhaal: It was “his cock in my mouth while I'm jerking off.”
Jean-Marc Vallee: Oh, I cut out that part.
Jake Gyllenhaal: Yeah, that's when I go “Well... then you're probably gay.” The first part seals it, but that reallllly seals it. (laughs)
Jean-Marc Vallee: It's nice how they help out each other. It's like three lost souls helping each other without wanting it or realizing it. Naomi Watts' character, Judah's character, (Jake's) character and how they interact. They are so much in the moment and that's what's refreshing. That's what we'd all like to do, live in the moment, and that's what the kid is attracted to. This guy tells the truth all the time? He even says it. “Hey, Davis. Is it your thing, telling the truth?” “Yeah, it's my thing.” That was ad-libbed, but it worked so beautifully. He's such a kid, too. Jake has this thing of abandoning and trying stuff and he's with a kid who's so natural.
You talked earlier today about playing with a kid and how they're just so much into it. It's trying to follow them, it's not trying to show the kid how to act.
Jake Gyllenhaal: It depends on who's cast, but Jean-Marc casting Judah and I worked with this girl, Oona Lawrence in this movie Southpaw, and the thing that you realize is that when they're not “acting,” when they're really present kids who have talent you realize that we're looking to do what they do. If you give them freedom a child will explore much more easily than an adult will, so if you follow them you're always going to find the more interesting corner, you're always going to find the more interesting angle and you're going to find the more interesting feeling.
Jean-Marc Vallee: And the kid had a rock star quality in the auditioning room. I wanted the kid to have this rock star thing with music, not be into what kids are in to. Not into rap and hip-hop, but old rock and roll. He needed to be different. He's a different one.
Jake Gyllenhaal: He's like you, too.
Jean-Marc Vallee: Like me?
Jake Gyllenhaal: Yeah, like you. That's your music. That's the music you love.
Jean-Marc Vallee: Yes, I love this music. I'm everywhere, but old rock and roll touched me when I was a kid, that made me dream. I love it so much and Bryan's script had this spirit of being rock and making some noise. Be loud and tell your parents “Fuck off!” That's what the kid does and he's influencing (Davis) with his music tastes and starts changing him slowly, but surely. “Oh, I forgot to put music into my life. I danced maybe when I was a kid...” but now he's dancing because he watched the kid. They're influencing each other and it's so nice to see that.
Quint: You chose to show love in interesting ways here. It's not the big, swelling music romantic love with Naomi, it's not “I need to adopt little orphan Annie” with Judah's character.
Jake Gyllenhaal: We do some pretty violent physical stuff together, which is also really interesting. It's what little boys do! They shoot guns off and destroy a house and bang things and dance around. There's a real physical boyish quality to their relationship. There's that thing, like in Parenthood where Keanu Reeves and Joaquin Phoenix... that relationship. They get each other. There's something of a man in a boy and there's definitely something of a boy in a man. I think that relationship is one of the most beautiful ones in the movie and that's something, I think, we discovered as we were moving through it.
That's the chat. Hope you had a good time with it. A fun anecdote before I leave you. After our interview, Jake asked the publicist if he could use the bathroom before the next interview. I laughed and said “Watch out for paparazzi,” referring to a scuffle he had when someone took his picture during the premiere of his last SXSW movie, Source Code. He looked confused for a half second and then his face lit up and he said, “Oh, yeah. This is SXSW. You guys have a problem with that here” and then laughed and went to do his business.
I thought that was funny, anyway.
Demolition comes out this weekend and it's pretty darn good. Go give it a watch, why dontcha?
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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