A movie director is claiming that his film ‘SUDDENLY ALONE’ fell apart after Jake Gyllenhaal displayed strange and erratic behaviour on set, ultimately causing the $30 million movie to shut down after 4 days.

French writer/director Thomas Bidegain explained his attempts to make the movie in 2021 with Jake Gyllenhaal and Vanessa Kirby. He sent the script to Jake Gyllenhaal, who signed up and seemed happy with everything. They started shooting in Iceland, but the whole thing soon fell apart. The whole article is pretty mental, but here are a few highlights I pulled out:

Day 1 : Vanessa arrives by plane the same day, but Jake – who is very afraid of Covid, even though there is no Covid in Iceland – refuses to fly to Reykjavik and decides to drive to the hotel . He demands a car that is “neither red nor white,” and makes the six-hour drive… 

He “summons” Thomas and his co-writer to the terrace and launches into a long monologue: “Everyone in this room is extremely talented, but we’re going to have to work. And keep an open mind. With David, we considered many changes…” And he launches into vague things like “We have to find the truth.”

The idea was to start the film with the ending of a romantic comedy. It was supposed to be a very moving love scene, but the two actors read their dialogues ironically, like the cartoon character Pépé the putois. 

Day 2 : Jake talks a lot about the TRUTH, insisting that his character be a former GI, used to survival… For example, for a scene on the boat, he sells us the idea that he slaps a fish.  

Day 3 : In the morning, Jake goes for a walk alone in nature and comes across a mare. Back in the writing room, he talks about the communion with nature he felt at that moment and suggests focusing the film around this subject: the love of nature. “He soon put a speech by Greta Thunberg on his computer, with rock music in the background,” Thomas remembers. It lasts a quarter of an hour.” While listening, he lets himself cry and comments on his emotions. “I’m crying, I’m crying, it’s real tears! » Under her mask, Valentine bursts out laughing. “It was the biggest laugh of my life. Jake tells us that this is not a film about love, but a film about the love of nature. He declares that everything must be rewritten, all declarations of love must be declarations to nature. I see Thomas saying to himself that he is losing his 26 million. He then leans towards me and says:  “How do you say get fucked in Iceland? Because that’s exactly what just happened…”      

Day 4 : Thomas Bidegain decides to take everyone to see the sublime landscapes of the film to make them smell the telluric force of Iceland, the wind, the sea, the mountains, the black sand… Against all odds, Jake decides to swim in underwear while the water in the Atlantic Ocean must be at three degrees…

When I see the sea, I swim in the sea.” Quite exhilarated, Jake Gyllenhaal undresses and, in front of a stunned technical team, goes to swim in the icy waters of the Icelandic coast.

But, after dinner, while the sun still hasn’t set, Jake goes into a tailspin, confronts Thomas again, returning to the truth of the film, the deep meaning of this adventure… Soon, he explodes with rage when he learns that the builders of the whaling base arrive at the hotel the next day. Terrified of Covid, Jake says they have to sleep in their cars. He screams, insists that he doesn’t want a set, demands to see the building plans, calls everyone incompetent and finally declares that if it’s like that, he’ll leave the project. Exhausted by these days of negotiations, Thomas gives him a “Go ahead!” 

And that was that – 4 days in, Jake Gyllenhaal caused absolute chaos on set, and the film had no choice but to shut down. $30 million down the drain!

Now some of what the director describes in those quotes just sounds like standard actor weirdness/eccentricity, and I guess that increase ten-fold when you’re paranoid about COVID which many people were at the time. But demanding constant script rewrites? Blaring Greta Thunberg speeches? Making people sleep in their cars? Doing a script read in a Pepe Le Pew-style accent? Pretty rude/insulting behaviour but also hilarious, some might say.

It’s worth noting of course that Jake Gyllenhaal and his PR people have yet to respond to any of this, and so it’s all alleged at this point. Regardless of whether it’s true or not, Jake Gyllenhaal is an elite level actor so let’s hope that (allegedly) acting like a weirdo on the set of a French director’s film doesn’t tarnish any future opportunities for him.

To watch the first trailer for ‘IN VIOLENT NATURE’, a horror film told from the perspective of the killer, click HERE.