Jake Gyllenhaal may have a serious film/indie film reputation in his professional life. But the guy likes to break a sweat, literally, and really wants to do that in his “dream project” — a movie about brash, womanizing “Broadway” Joe Namath, whose glory days were with the 1960s and 70s New York Jets.
“It’s been a dream of mine, always, ever since I got into the movies, this Joe Namath film biography,” he told me. ” I care about this project a lot and I would be truly honored to get the chance to do that. That’s why I keep answering questions about it, even though it isn’t ready to go. Yet. It’s important to me.”
“I know I could pull it off. I think his story’s incredible. I’m in a hurry t get that one up and going, while I still have better knees than he ended up with.”
At 29, Gyllenhaal is still young enough to do it, and he has just enough of a a hint of leading man dash about him to pull it off. And he’s athletic — into martial arts and cycling (Lance Armstrong is among his famous friends). He could play Namath from college (You need to cast a good Bear Bryant to cover the Alabama years, maybe a good Howard Schnellenberger, too) to the Super Bowl.
He was quarterback in America’s greatest sports city during the height of the sexual revolution. Does Jake G. ooze enough testosterone to pull that off? Would he cover Namath’s downhill slide from that 1969 high?
Gyllenhaal also wants to test out his pipes. The musical Damn Yankees “is still in development and I’m still hoping to do it. That’s a tough nut to crack.”
What? How so? You train to play baseball, hire a vava-voom to play Lola, get yourself a decent devil (John Malkovich, Hell-oooo) and you’re set.
