Hollywood actors or filmmakers often go to great lengths to bring a story to life on the screen. However, sometimes these measures take an unexpected turn, as it did when it came to Jake Gyllenhaal’s hands in the 2007 crime thriller movie Zodiac. Based on a non-fiction book by Robert Graysmith, the movie follows the investigation surrounding the Zodiac Killer.
Directed by David Fincher, it featured an ensemble cast alongside Gyllenhaal, including Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo. However, it was actually the protagonist of the film who needed some extra work done on his knuckles as the filmmaker believed they did not fit his character.
David Fincher Added Extra Details to Jake Gyllenhaal’s Hands
Jake Gyllenhaal joined the cast of David Fincher’s 2007 film Zodiac as the true crime author Robert Graysmith, who is known for his work on the Zodiac Killer case. Gyllenhaal has shared that he reached out to Robert Graysmith to prepare for his character and shared that he learned a lot from working on the movie.
Talking about the filmmaker, Gyllenhaal has said that he is “incredible” and has admitted that his movies are “some of the best ever made,” as per Vanity Fair. However, as he opened up about his experience working with the director, he shared that it was not very pleasant.
And the Prisoners star was not the only one, as Fincher had some issues with the actor as well, specifically with his hairless and pretty knuckles. As per IMDb, the filmmaker digitally added hair to Gyllenhaal’s hands as he found them “too hairless and pretty.” The edit was done in every close-up scene of his knuckles, in which he draws or holds letters.
Jake Gyllenhaal Says David Fincher is an Incredible Filmmaker
Jake Gyllenhaal has opened up about the issues he had while working with David Fincher on Zodiac. During an interview with the New York Times, he shared his experience, saying that the filmmaker “paints with people” and “it’s tough to be a color.”
However, during a 2022 interview with Vanity Fair, the actor shared that he finds Fincher incredible and praised the filmmaker for his work. He said,
“David Fincher is incredible and his movies are some of the best ever made. There was focus and intention, that was, I never experienced before.”
The Jarhead actor reportedly had issues with having several takes for a single scene. However, in his conversation with Vanity Fair, he shared how Zodiac was one of the first films shot digitally, “so he was in the process of making a film with a whole another technique.”
He also said that it would have been quite tricky for a very detail-oriented filmmaker like David Fincher to work with a new medium. Fincher had worked with digital cameras before Zodiac, but it was his first feature film that he worked on with a digital camera.
Zodiac is available on Paramount+.
Source: IMDb
