Controversy has plagued Jake Gyllenhaal after allegedly causing the cancellation of a film due to his difficult character on set. However, the director of the film has explained his point of view.
Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the most popular stars in Hollywood and most loved by fans, unless he supports Taylor Swift. There is no project of the actor that does not go unnoticed and he recently made an impact with the trailer for Road House, showing off muscles against Conor McGregor, as you can see in the video above.
He is not the only one, since films with Guy Ritchie and Henry Cavill or about the story of The Godfather, with Oscar Isaac, appear on his horizon. Along with these, there was another film that the actor had on his agenda and that he was going to star in with Vanessa Kirby in 2021, called Suddenly.
This film was released in 2023 under the direction of Thomas Bidegain, but without a trace of both actors. In their place, it was headed by Gilles Lellouche and Mélanie Thierry. But why did Gyllenhaal and Kirby leave the project?
According to the French magazine Technikart, the 43-year-old performer was the main culprit of this, after causing trouble on set with his erratic behavior, derogatory comments towards the French and constant demands and script rewrites.
This medium interviewed the director of the film, who assured that those who were going to be its stars read the scripts imitating the accent of Pepe le Pew, the skunk from Looney Tunes: "It was a little humiliating, but I thought they did it to lose their shyness between them."
After countless disagreements with his colleagues, the production was canceled, resulting in losses of 26 million dollars. The film is now titled Soudain seuls, like the novel on which it is based, and was released last December in France.
After all the controversy that arose, Bidegain spoke to Variety, clarifying that the project did not go ahead due to "creative differences," rather than due to unprofessional behavior on Gyllenhaal's part.
"They wanted more and more changes. It's normal for there to be changes in the script before shooting, but this was different. Each of us had our own idea of what the message of the film was. I tried to smooth things over several times, and then I realized it wasn't going to work, so I had to stop," he explained.
He has also claimed that, contrary to what the French article suggests, the company he financed Suddenly, Studiocanal, did not lose $26 million as it was not in production when the actors left.
"People don't understand how a movie is made. We weren't shooting and we weren't in pre-production. We were eight weeks away from the shooting date."
Regarding the script rewrites, the French filmmaker said that Gyllenhaal "sent the updated script every week and had a pleasant exchange with David Lindsay-Abaire, who was working with Jake on development." The performer had become the film's producer.
"It's a very strange experience when you work with an actor-producer who doesn't have the same vision as the director," he said, unlike in France and European film culture.
