Remember the ol' internet nickname for Gyllenhaal fans circa 2004-2006, "Gyllenhaalics"? We never stopped using the term because it never became irrelevant for us. Both Jake and Maggie have continued to do amazing work well past their initial breakthroughs in the early to mid Aughts. Let's check in with what the wonder siblings are up to after the jump...
JAKE
Jake is on Broadway at the moment playing the painter Georges Seurraut in the Stephen Sondheim classic "Sunday in the Park with George." Unfortunately the production has opted out of the Tony Awards (despite rave reviews at the City Center staged reading for this same cast which suggested Tonys were very possible if the show transferred). They opted out because of the very limited run and all the free tickets they'd have to hand out to voters. We hope this doesn't become a trend in the future and we're quite sad because Jake keeps winning strong reviews on stage but he has yet to be Tony nominated. This week a Cary Fukunaga directed continuous shot of Jake performing "Finishing the Hat" hit the web, reminding everyone that Jake has an amazingly beautiful voice and really should be doing a movie musical, since he's also, you know, a movie star. The excuse Hollywood used to always use about casting actors without song & dance chops in musicals is "bankability" but that was always kind of a lame excuse because a lot of actors train in song & dance. It's just a matter of caring about the form enough to find the right ones. Sunday in the Park with George will surely sell out its entire run (if its not sold out already) but a limited number of front row seats will be sold for $41 each, when the box office opens for the first two weeks of previews.
Here's an idea for Hollywood. Though people hated the movie Love & Other Drugs when it premiered, nobody thought Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal's chemistry was anything but its strongest element. Why these two aren't yet signed for a movie musical together is beyond comprehension. Is anyone in Hollywood paying any attention? They look superb together, they have chemistry, and they both can sing so beautifully that people would weep listening to them declare love in song. If the success of La La Land doesn't convince Hollywood to make more romantic musicals with gorgeous movie stars, what will?
But back to Jake's actual, non-fantasy movie slate. He's already completed four movies which will all probably arrive this year. First up is the ensemble cast of a sci-fi film called Life (that looks suspiciously like Alien) opening March 24th; After that comes three movies without release dates which are Bong Joon-Ho's curiousity Okja, the leading role in Stronger about a victim of the Boston Marathon bombing, and Paul Dano's directorial debut Wildlife in which Jake's marriage to Carey Mulligan is on the rocks; And finally. After he's done on Broadway he'll be co-starring with Joaquin Phoenix and John C Reilly in The Sisters Brothers, which is a comic story about brothers in 19th century Oregon who are hired to kill a prospector. The most exciting part of this news is that the director is French master Jacques Audiard of Un Prophete and Rust & Bone fame. Jake is also attached to the biopic The Man Who Made It Snow and the ecoterrorism movie Division but those are merely announced so anything could still change including not being made at all.
MAGGIE
Maggie's career wierdly seemed to nosedive right after her Oscar nomination for Crazy Heart (2009) though the miniseries Honourable Woman reminded people of what a spectacular actor she is. Next up is the HBO crime series Deuce about crime ridden Manhattan of the late 70s and early 80s which co-stars James Franco as twin pornographers. It comes from David Simon and George Pelecanos of The Wire and Treme fame. Maggie plays a prostitute named Candy and she's in every episode so we'll assume it's a large role.
And so no one ever forgets, let's also point out that Maggie's baby brother isn't the only Gyllenhaal who can sing.
P.S. Happy Endings (2005) is still your host's favorite Maggie Gyllenhaal performance. Totally should've been Oscar nominated.