Recently, Apple TV+ released a trailer for Presumed Innocent, a TV series starring Jake Gyllenhaal based on Scott Turow’s novel.
Jake Gyllenhaal is an American actor born into the Gyllenhaal family to father Stephen Gyllenhaal and mother screenwriter Naomi Foner.
Gyllenhaal started acting as a child, debuting in City Stickers in 1991. His breakthrough roles were as Homer Hickam in October Sky and as a psychologically troubled teenager in Donnie Darko.
Jake Gyllenhall’s top 10 movies are listed based on their IMDb ratings.
| Movies | Released Date |
|---|---|
| Donnie Darko | October 26, 2001 |
| Nightcrawler | October 31, 2014 |
| October Sky | February 19, 1999 |
| Brokeback Mountain | December 9, 2005 |
| Zodiac | March 2, 2007 |
| End Of Watch | September 21, 2012 |
| Source Code | April 1, 2011 |
| Nocturnal Animals | November 23, 2016 |
| Southpaw | July 20, 2015 |
| Brothers | December 4, 2009 |
10. Donnie Darko (2001)
| Director | Richard Kelly |
| Writer | Richard Kelly |
| Casts | Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell |
| Release Date | October 26, 2001 |
| IMDb Rating | IMDb |
Donnie Darko is an American science fiction psychological thriller movie whose development started in late 1997 when director Kelly graduated from film school and started writing scripts. Jake played the lead character of Donnie Darko in the movie.
The movie follows Donnie Darko, an emotionally troubled teenager who inadvertently escapes a bizarre accident by sleepwalking.
He has visions of Frank, a mysterious figure in a rabbit costume who informs him that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds.
The movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2001, and was released in limited theatrical theaters on October 26.
Donnie Darko’s advertising featured a crashing plane, and the September 11 attacks had occurred a month and a half before; it was scarcely advertised.
It affected its box office performance and grossed just $517,375 in its initial run. The movie gained a cult following, and after reissues, it went on to gross $7.5 million worldwide and earned more than $10 million in US home video sales.
9. Nightcrawler (2014)
| Director | Dan Gilroy |
| Writer | Dan Gilroy |
| Casts | Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton |
| Release Date | October 31, 2014 |
| IMDb Rating | IMDb |
Nightcrawler is an American thriller movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed, and Bill Paxton in supporting roles. Jake appeared as Louis Bloom in the movie.
Jake Gyllenhaal played Louis “Lou” Bloom, a stringer who records violent events late at night in Los Angeles and sells the footage to a local television news station.
The common theme of the movie is the relationship between unethical journalism and consumer demand.
The movie premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, grossed $50.3 million on a production budget of $8.5 million, and gained a cult following over the years.
Several critics listed Nightcrawler as one of the best films of 2014, and it received various accolades, including a Best Original Screenplay nomination at the 87th Academy Awards.
8. October Sky (1999)
| Director | Joe Johnston |
| Writer | Homer H. Hickam Jr., Lewis Colick |
| Casts | Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Laura Dern |
| Release Date | February 19, 1999 |
| IMDb Rating | IMDb |
October Sky is a biographical drama directed by Joe Johnston. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Chris Owen, and Laura Dem. Jake appeared as Homer Hickam in the movie.
The movie is based on the lives of four young men who grew up in Coalwood, West Virginia.
Principal photography occurred in rural East Tennessee, including Oliver Springs, Harriman, Kingston, Morgan, and Roane counties.
The movie was a moderate box office success and received a very positive critical reception; it continues to be celebrated in the regions where it was set and filmed.
It is an anagram of Rocket Boys, the little of the 1998 memoir upon which the movie is based.
7. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
| Director | Ang Lee |
| Writer | Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana |
| Casts | Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams |
| Release Date | December 9, 2005 |
| IMDb Rating | IMDb |
Brokeback Mountain is an American neo-Wetsern romantic drama movie adapted from the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx. Jake appeared as Jack Twist in the movie.
The movie’s plot depicts the complex romantic relationship between two American cowboys, Ennis Del, and Jack Twist, in the American West from 1963 to 1983.
Brokeback Mountain premiered at the 2005 Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion and was released to theaters on December 9.
The film gained widespread critical acclaim, with high praise for the performances of Ledger And Jake Gyllenhall.
It was one of the commercial successes at the box office, grossing over $178 million worldwide against a budget of $14 million.
6. Zodiac (2007)
| Director | David Fincher |
| Writer | James Vanderbilt, Robert Graysmith |
| Casts | Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo |
| Release Date | March 2, 2007 |
| IMDb Rating | IMDb |
Zodiac is an American neo-noir actual crime thriller movie based on Robert Graysmith’s nonfiction books Zodiac and Zodiac Unmasked. Jack plays the lead role of Robert Graysmith.
The movie tells the story of the search for the Zodiac Killer, an assassinator who terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area during the late 1960s and early 1970s, taunting police with letters, bloodstained clothing, and ciphers mailed to newspapers.
Director David Fincher and producer Bradley J. Fischer spent 18 months researching the Zodiac murders.
The movie received largely positive reviews, with praise for its writing, directing, acting, and historical accuracy.
Zodiac grossed over $84.7 million worldwide on a production budget of $65 million. A 2016 BBC critics poll voted it the 12th greatest movie of the 21st century.
5. End Of Watch (2012)
| Director | David Ayer |
| Writer | David Ayer |
| Casts | Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Anna Kendrick |
| Release Date | September 21, 2012 |
| IMDb Rating | IMDb |
End Of Watch is an American action thriller movie that focuses on their day-to-day police work, their dealing with a particular group of gang members, their friendship with each other, and their relationships.
Jack Gyllenhaal has appeared as Brian Taylor in the movie. He played the LAPD police officer and Mike Zavala’s best friend.
Director and writer David Ayer wanted to focus more on the friendship between partner and daily police work and subordinate the contextual elements of the drug trafficking story.
End of Watch premiered on September 8, 2012, at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released in American Theatres on September 21.
The movie received positive reviews and grossed over $57 million at the box office against a budget of $15 million.
4. Source Code (2011)
| Director | Duncan Jones |
| Writer | Ben Ripley |
| Casts | Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga |
| Release Date | April 1, 2011 |
| IMDb Rating | IMDb |
Source Code is a U.S. science fiction action thriller movie that stars Jake Gyllenhaal as U.S. Army Captain Colter Stevens.
Colter is sent into an eight-minute virtual re-creation of a real-life train explosion, tasked with determining the identity of the terrorist who bombed it.
The movie premiered on South by Southwest on March 11, 2011, and was released by Summit Entertainment on April 1, 2011, in North America and Europe.
It was a box office success, grossing over $147.3 million against the budget of $31.9 million.
3. Nocturnal Animals (2016)
| Director | Tom Ford |
| Writer | Tom Ford, Austin Wright |
| Casts | Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon |
| Release Date | July 20, 2015 |
| IMDb Rating | IMDb |
Nocturnal Animals is an American neo-noir psychological thriller movie based on the 1993 novel Tony and Susan by Austin Wright. Jake appeared as Tony Hasting/Edward Sheffield in the movie.
The movie’s plot follows an art gallery owner as Amy Adams reads the new novel written by her first husband and begins to see the similarities between it and their former relationship.
Nocturnal Animals premiered at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival on September 2, 2016, and was released by Focus Features in North America on November 18, 2016.
The movie received positive reviews, praise for the performances and Ford’s direction, and grossed over $32 million worldwide.
Moreover, Nocturnal Animals earned a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 89th Academy Awards.
It also received nine BAFTA Award nominations, Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Director and Screenplay, and a Best Supporting Actor win for Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
2. Southpaw (2015)
| Director | Antoine Fuqua |
| Writer | Kurt Sutter |
| Casts | Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Oona Laurence |
| Release Date | November 23, 2016 |
| IMDb Rating | IMDb |
Southpaw is an American sports drama movie directed by Antonie Fuqua, written by Kurt Sutter, and starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Billy Hope.
The movie follows a boxer who sets out to get his life back on track after losing his wife after a gunshot and later his young daughter to child protective services.
It was set in New York City but filmed in Pittsburgh and the nearby town of Indiana, Pennsylvania.
Southpaw received mixed reviews from critics, while Gyllenhaal and Oona Laurence’s performances received positive reviews.
The film grossed $95 million worldwide against a production budget of $30 million.
1. Brothers (2009)
| Director | Jim Sheridan |
| Writer | David Benioff, Susanne Bier, Anders Thomas Jensen |
| Casts | Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Tobey Maguire |
| Release Date | December 4, 2009 |
| IMDb Rating | IMDb |
Brothers is an American psychological thriller movie. It is a remake of the Danish film.
In this movie, Captain Sam Cahill, a presumed dead prisoner of the War in Afghanistan, deals with extreme PTSD upon his release from captivity and reintegration into society.
The movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Cahill’s brother and Natalie Portman as his wife. It is inspired by Homer’s epic poem, the Odyssey.
The movie received a mixed response and grossed $43 million against the production budget of $26 million.
Conclusion
The review team of The Departurefilm found that Jake Gyllenhaal is a multi-talented and versatile actor.
His diverse filmography spans various genres, from science-fiction to thriller and neo-Western romantic, each showing his ability to act.
If you are a fan of Jake Gyllenhaal’s movies, then the above-listed movies might be perfect for you.
