Despite the mixed reviews for Road House, the viewers and critics unanimously loved Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance in the bouncer role. It’s no wonder that the actor has such a good portfolio and even his rejected roles speak volumes of his skills. Gyllenhaal was in the running to play Batman in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy. While the role eventually went to Christian Bale, Gyllenhaal was not bummed out by the rejection.
The Donnie Darko actor’s positive mindset was influenced by the fact that Nolan personally called him to tell him that he did not get the role. Gyllenhaal went on to land roles in critically acclaimed films like Brokeback Mountain and Jarhead, following his Batman rejection.
Jake Gyllenhaal Was Pretty Cool About His Batman Rejection
Last year, The Dark Knight writer David S. Goyer confirmed on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that Jake Gyllenhaal was his top pick for the Caped Crusader in Batman Begins. He even revealed that Gyllenhaal gave an audition in the Bat suit. However, Christopher Nolan eventually went with Christian Bale over the Spider-Man actor, but not before informing Gyllenhaal about the rejection personally.
During his interview with Howard Stern, Gyllenhaal shared that he was “pretty cool” about losing the role to Bale. The Enemy actor shared that the Interstellar director calling him to inform him about his rejection was an achievement in itself. He shared that Nolan explained his positive traits that suited the character and why he was considered for the role. Nolan also explained why the other person was selected over him.
Gyllenhaal told Stern that when he got the call from the Inception director, he thought to himself that he had come pretty far in his career. He added that it was this confidence, that directors like Nolan wanted him for their movies, that kept the actor going forward in the industry. Gyllenhaal shared with The Howard Stern Show:
“To me, I just go: ‘Look at how far you got! So just try and keeping going.’ That’s what I felt. I remember getting a call from Christopher Nolan and thinking, ‘I just got a call personally from Christopher Nolan. That’s pretty cool. I’ve gotten pretty far. I went from them going they aren’t sure [about me] to a call saying they’re really thinking about you for this movie. So okay, I should keep going. I should just keep going.”
Besides the Batman role, there are other famous roles that Gyllenhaal missed out on. He could have been Frodo in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and also a replacement Spider-Man after Tobey Maguire was briefly reconsidered for the role in Sam Raimi‘s movies.
Jake Gyllenhaal Opened Up About Playing Batman In James Gunn’s DCU
Interestingly, Jake Gyllenhaal revealed to ScreenRant that he would still like to play Batman as it was a classic role made iconic by other actors before him. This news has got fans excited as Gyllenhaal is also a great fit for the Batman whom James Gunn intends to introduce in his universe. He also revealed that he would like to take on roles played by other incredible actors in the past. Gyllenhaal shared with ScreenRant:
“Oh, man. That’s a classic [role]. It’s an honor. Speaking of playing roles that other incredible actors have played in the past … When I think about it, I’m going to play Iago in ‘Othello’ with Denzel Washington, and I think about like the history of actors that have played that role throughout time, and I’m intimidated by that. So that’s the first level. That’s what I’m working on right now. But of course. It would be an honor always. Those types of things and those roles are classics.”
Gyllenhaal is currently plagued with controversies relating to his canceled film, Suddenly. His allegedly erratic behavior disrupted the filming, leading the producers to shut down production. Moreover, his film Road House also was a subject of controversy.
Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy is now available for streaming on Max, while Gyllenhaal’s Road House is now available on Amazon Prime Video.
