Jake Gyllenhaal had two pretty big wins this year. Road House, despite Sarah’s hesitations about it prior to the release, turned out to be a good movie (you can read her review here) and at the time became Amazon’s biggest streaming debut. Presumed Innocent was also well received and became Apple TV’s most watched series even before the final two episodes dropped. And still, didn’t it feel like 2024 was quiet for Jake G?

 

That might change, because Presumed Innocent is presumed to be nominated for multiple awards over the next few months, including the Golden Globes and the SAGs, with experts predicting that Jake will also earn individual nominations in the Lead Actor category. He likely and quite rightly won’t win – because SHŌGUN – but there is a very, very good chance that he’ll be invited. 

So the Gothams might just be the beginning of a run of award show appearances for Jake, who was there last night to honour his good friend Denis Villeneuve, who directed him in Enemy. And he kicked off his remarks with a very good joke: 

 

This works on a number of levels. That whole lookalike contest, of course, with Timmy in the building, but also their career trajectories aren’t that dissimilar. Both started out doing smaller, more offbeat films when they were in late adolescence early adulthood. Donnie Darko for Jake, a cult hit, and of course Call Me By Your Name for Timmy. And both had aspirations of bigger box office projects. Jake tried it with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and it did not go how he’d hoped. Timmy’s sand adventure, however, went much better with the two Dunes. 

 

The joke, then, lands even if you know nothing about the industry and their careers, and it’s even better when you do. 

Jake is now wearing his hair buzzed, and I wonder if it’s in preparation for his next role. He’ll play Iago opposite Denzel Washington’s Othello on Broadway and performances begin on February 24 so, presumably, if they haven’t already, they’ll be going into rehearsals soon. And what’s interesting about that is award season. We’ve already talked about Jake’s repping Presumed Innocent at the Globes, SAGs, and maybe Critics Choice and since he wouldn’t be the frontrunner, it’d be no surprise if he skipped. 

 

But Denzel very much is in the race for Best Supporting Actor for Gladiator II. We all, by now, know how revered he is in the industry. Denzel is not a longshot. So it’ll be interesting to see whether or not he stays off the campaign trail to immerse himself in Othello. The Oscars themselves are just a few days after the first show on Monday 24 February. There is no performance on the schedule right now on March 2, 2025, but he’d be coming off a grueling first week, if he’s nominated, with two shows on the calendar the night before the Oscars. All of this, of course, is dependent on the nominations but it’s something to keep an eye on as the race takes shape.