There’s no denying Jake Gyllenhaal is a heartthrob, but meeting the actor in person, it’s clear that the 33-year-old is first and foremost an artist. It’s evident in his recent choice of roles, and in the passionate and thoughtful way he speaks about his craft.

Gyllenhaal has always been one to take on challenging roles in provocative fare, dating back to his breakout role as a troubled teen in “Donnie Darko.” In the years that followed, the actor worked with a series of notable directors including Sam Mendes (“Jarhead”) and David Fincher (“Zodiak”). After experiencing a minor setback with “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” his first bid at a blockbuster franchise, Gyllenhaal returned to the dark character studies he made his name on. His latest, “Enemy,” from his “Prisoners” director and good friend Denis Villeneuve, opens March 14 and is currently available to view on DirecTV.

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Jake Gyllenhaal is learning how to separate his personal life from his professional life.

The actor opens up about his career trajectory in the No. 7 Hollywood Issue of Man of the World magazine.”It’s taken me a long time in my career to realize that you can’t be good at everything. You sometimes have to give something up. There are limits,” the 33-year-old movie star says. “I do care about the stories people want to tell. But then I want to get back to my honest self for the directors I work with.”

Gyllenhaal believes it’s important to set boundaries at the very beginning. “The movie business is largely just stuffing actors in this place, and this place and this place,” he says, noting that he typically takes time off to regroup between projects. “But it’s time in your life that you can’t have back.”

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Jake Gyllenhaal is pretty much the ideal candidate for a film interview. For what I do for a living, there’s nothing worse than an actor who sleepwalks his or her way through an interview (though, considering how many he or she are often subjected to in a given day, it is at least understandable), not giving any thought to what is actually being said, just spitting out rehearsed line after line of predetermined PR-speak. I’m honestly not sure if Gyllenhaal would even be capable of that. He’s quick-witted, but also puts so much thought into his answers that often I just want to interrupt and tell him that everything will be okay. It’s obvious that Jake Gyllenhaal cares — which is almost unique in a world in which it’s cool not to care.

Gyllenhaal is promoting “Enemy” (which opens theatrically on March 14 and is on VOD through DirecTV as you read this), a psychological thriller that premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Oh boy, this movie. I honestly couldn’t wait to find out Gyllenhaal’s thoughts on this film. “Enemy” is immensely fascinating.

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Jake Gyllenhaal and director Denis Villeneuve can’t get enough of each other, having done two movies in a row: “Prisoners” and now “Enemy.”

“Jake wanted to be cast as a girl [in my next two films] and I said ‘no,'” Villeneuve joked during a recent phone interview with Yahoo Movies. He and Gyllenhaal were inseperable during the filming of “Enemy” — shooting by day, sharing drinks and strategizing the next day of filming by night. “I wanted Jake to improvise a lot,” he said.

In “Enemy”, Gyllenhaal plays a man who is deeply troubled after he discovers he has a doppelganger.

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There’s a bromance going on between actor Jake Gyllenhaal and Quebecois filmmaker Denis Villeneuve.

Last year, they made two films together (Prisoners and Enemy), and both men claim they bonded immediately.

Says Villeneuve, 46, “When we met the first time, we realized we had a lot in common as artists and as men. We became close friends very quickly, and our relationship was born of the will to say the truth and be authentic. We are super-straightforward, like brothers.”

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