Jake Gyllenhaal is making the rounds, promoting Nightcrawler—a movie I cannot wait to see this weekend—and last night he appeared on The Tonight Show and was his usual charming self. When Jake G is on, he’s on, and very few can top it. Watching him goofing around with Jimmy Fallon is a delight. Fallon is great at setting up his guests to look good, and when the guest is already as good as Jake G, you end up with super adorable bits like the “water war”. Seriously, I dare you to watch this and not feel joy:
Remind me again why we didn’t let this guy become a movie star? He’s the total package—talented, personable, good on the shill. What was the problem? I know Prince of Persia sucked, but how many sh*tty movies has Channing Tatum made? I will never not be bitter about this, but, to be fair I guess, my bitterness is (somewhat) tempered by the incredible work Jake G has churned out since pulling back on his movie star dreams. End of Watch, Prisoners, Enemy—he’s on a roll. Yet he’s still a second-class Hollywood citizen. He’s an outside shot at best for Best Actor with Nightcrawler, despite the dramatic weight loss and overwhelmingly positive reviews for his performance, meanwhile, Mr. Potato Head is an actual contender with Foxcatcher.
But my Forever Love for Jake G is undimmed. He’s the best, one of the few who, when mentioned in industry company, makes people smile—everyone’s got a fun Jake G story. The talent, yes, of course, that’s a big part of it, but it’s also just HIM. He’s built to be The Guy, the way RDJ is The Guy. Someone should really let him be The Guy. Someone should really get on that like soon.
