Jake Gyllenhaal on being roommates with brother-in-law Peter Sarsgaard
Jake Gyllenhaal says the unexpected opportunity to become roommates with his brother-in-law and co-star Peter Sarsgaard, is a moment he will always cherish.
Fresh from dominating the UFC octagon in Road House, the Oscar-nominated actor has swapped his mouthguard for the courtroom in the Apple TV+ series Presumed Innocent.
Peter Sarsgaard with wife Maggie Gyllenhaal – Jake’s older sister. Pic: AP
Based on the 1987 novel of the same name, and made into movie starring Harrison Ford in 1990, it follows a criminal lawyer accused of killing his co-worker and lover.
Despite the challenging theme, the filming process gave Gyllenhaal a moment in time for which he is forever grateful.
“We got to live together through a majority of it”, he tells Sky News.
“Most of the time, we both live in the same city but he’s with his family and I’m in my life and we see each other but we don’t live together, so it was a very special time in both of our lives that we got to really be like roommates.”
He adds: “It’s not a normal situation in that way, but man, did I cherish it and we got so much closer as a result of it”.
Sarsgaard married Gyllenhaal’s sister, fellow actor and filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal, in 2009 and they have one child together.
The 43-year-old says he has only known “wonderful things” to come from working with people he knows away from the screen.
‘The most powerful note I was ever given’
“There’s an honesty there, I think, really it’s amazing.”
He says already being past the “introductory moments” allows actors a space and environment where you can reach a new level of connection in a shorter length of time.
“In our case, with my brother-in-law and I, we’re really devoted to our work and acting and storytelling and stuff so I think we also understand it as a craft, so we can kind of bring stuff from our relationship into scenes that are true in a fictional space, and we have great fun doing it.
“And then we can go home and we can have a beer and we can laugh and enjoy it.”
The Spider-Man star’s appreciation for Sarsgaard doesn’t stop there.
Peter Sarsgaard. Pic: Apple TV+
He even credits his brother-in-law for the most memorable piece of direction he has ever received as an actor.
“He once came to see me in a show that I was doing on stage, and his only note for me was there’s power in stillness, and I remember that so much because I think it’s true.
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“I think particularly as an actor but then generally in life, I think we have a tendency to want to move and express ourselves, and I think that oftentimes the stillness makes people lean in and also makes you focus on listening.
“And it does a lot of really, really powerful things. It was an incredible note and it came from Peter.”
‘People love a crime whodunnit’
Gyllenhaal leads the cast in Presumed Innocent as Rusty Sabich, a Chicago criminal lawyer who finds himself facing murder charges.
Sarsgaard plays fellow lawyer and public prosecutor Tommy Molto in the series.
This is Gyllenhaal’s first outing as a TV lead, and he has thoughts on why people are so attached to crime as a genre.
“It’s the ultimate question mark, right? It’s the ultimate mystery. And I think, thriller, a crime whodunit is always so interesting, particularly when it’s a story that’s unfolding over many different hours.”
Gyllenhaal adds: “It’s great fun, even though the subject matter is very intense, and I also think we’re fascinated in the extremes of human behaviour, that is the nature of us, fascinated by the ‘how is?’ and ‘how is it possible?’ and things like that”.
The first two episodes of Presumed Innocent are available to stream on Apple TV+ now with a new episode released each Wednesday.
Taylor Swift has revealed the release date for her new album, The Life Of A Showgirl.
The pop megastar announced her 12th studio album earlier this week but didn’t give many details.
Now, in social media posts and an appearance on boyfriend Travis Kelce’s sports podcast, Swift revealed just what fans can expect from the new album.
Taylor Swift and boyfriend Travis Kelce on the New Heights podcast. Pic: New Heights
The Life of Showgirl, written during the European leg of her record-breaking Eras tour, will be released on 3 October.
It consists of 12 songs, including the title track that features pop star Sabrina Carpenter.
The full track list is:
1. The Fate Of Ophelia
2. Elizabeth Taylor
3. Opalite
4. Father Figure
5. Eldest Daughter
6. Ruin The Friendship
7. Actually Romantic
8. Wi$h Li$t
9. Wood
10. Cancelled!
11. Honey
12. The Life Of A Showgirl (featuring Sabrina Carpenter)
Long-time collaborators Max Martin and Shellback, two Swedish producers who worked with Swift on some of her biggest hits, joined the pop star for this album.
Within four hours of posting the full podcast episode on YouTube, it had already gathered 4.7m views.
The cover of Taylor Swift’s newly announced album. Pic: Republic Records
The back cover of Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album The Life Of A Showgirl. Pic: Republic Records
‘The hardest-working star in pop’
The album follows last year’s The Tortured Poets Department, which was released during the Eras tour.
That tour, with shows on five continents and in 51 cities, raked in more than $2.2bn (£1.62bn) and was the highest-grossing tour of all time.
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“This album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour, which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant,” Swift said during her podcast appearance.
Sky News culture and entertainment reporter Gemma Peplow said after her globe-trotting tour and a swathe of re-releases over recent years, the new album cemented Swift’s reputation “as the hardest-working star in pop”.
Disgraced US film producer Harvey Weinstein is to be tried for a third time in a sexual assault case.
A jury in New York could not reach a verdict in June against the 73-year-old who was accused of raping actress Jessica Mann, and a mistrial was declared.
Judge Curtis Farber has said he wants the new trial to happen before the end of this year.
The same jury found Weinstein guilty in June of sexually assaulting former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and not guilty of assaulting Polish former runway model Kaja Sokola the same year.
Weinstein will be sentenced for the guilty verdict in Ms Haley’s case on 30 September.
He denied all of the charges. Throughout the retrial, his lawyers insisted the sexual encounters with his three accusers were “transactional” and “consensual,” and labelled the women as opportunists.
Weinstein was originally convicted of rape and criminal sexual act by the same court in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison for the crimes.
Last year, however, New York’s highest court overturned the conviction, prompting Weinstein’s retrial this summer.
Weinstein was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood – the co-founder of film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company, who produced films such as the Oscar-winning Shakespeare In Love, Pulp Fiction, and The Crying Game.
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In 2017, a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him propelled the #MeToo movement.
Some of those accusations later led to criminal charges and his convictions in New York and California.
Before the retrial, Weinstein was also serving a 16-year prison sentence after being found guilty of rape in California in December 2022. He has also denied this charge.
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