It’s hard to imagine feeling more isolated making a movie than Jake Gyllenhaal did on Netflix’s The Guilty.

From the moment the Oscar-nominated actor saw the Danish original of the same name at Sundance in 2018, he “just felt in my bones” that the “intense, psychological thriller” would translate to an American context. Gyllenhaal quickly acquired the rights, recruiting True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto as writer and Antoine Fuqua, whom he previously collaborated with on the 2015 boxing drama Southpaw, as director. And then came the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent Hollywood shutdown — but Gyllenhaal soon realized that he actually had the ideal movie to be made during this unique time.

The Guilty takes place completely over one day in a 911 dispatch call center and features the main character, demoted cop-turned-operator Joe Bayler (played by Gyllenhaal), mostly interacting with a deep bench of recognizable actors that both he and the audience hear but never see.

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In 2019, film and stage stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge joined forces to present two separate stand-alone monologues, Sea Wall/A Life at Off-Broadway’s The Public Theater before quickly transferring to Broadway’s Hudson. The limited run ended just a few months before COVID-19 forced the closure of all Broadway theatre.

More than a year later, both find themselves Tony Award nominees for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, even as Broadway remains in an unprecedented shutdown that has left the industry and its audience hungry for the return of live performances. The two actors recently reconnected to discuss their experiences working on these deeply personal monologues and to reflect on a year without theatre.

JG: I’ve heard you speak about this before, but maybe you can start by talking about why you wanted to do Sea Wall in the first place?

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Jake Gyllenhaal knows he has a great job as a celebrated film actor. But the thing that brings him true joy is bursting into song as part of a stage musical. Jake talks with Marc about his love of theater, which ended up landing him three Tony Award nominations this year, one for acting and two for producing. They also get into why Broadway needs to evolve when it returns, why Jake was in awe of Heath Ledger, and why he was completely surprised by Marc after this episode started. Take a listen below:

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Jake Gyllenhaal is nominated for three Tony Awards, one as an actor in the play “Sea Wall / A Life” and two as a producer (with his company Nine Stories) of “Sea Wall / A Life” and “Slave Play.” Currently in production on Michael Bay’s action thriller “Ambulance,” he talked with Variety about why he wants to make theater an even bigger part of his life and work.

“Sea Wall / A Life” played on Broadway in the summer of 2019, which feels like an actual lifetime ago. What do you remember about the Broadway run?

Thinking about it makes me miss Broadway so intensely. It really became an example for me of why I make art, which is the interaction with an audience, particularly a live audience. The show was two monologues but we thought of it as a dialogue with the audience, and whoever wanted to speak to us afterwards, in talkbacks or backstage or at the stage door, got to tell us their story.

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Team Deakins had the opportunity to sit and talk with long time friend, actor Jake Gyllenhal for this episode. Jake spoke about his relationship with directors and with cinematographers, about his work in Donnie Darko and Prisoners, as well as Jarhead and Wildlife. He spoke about how, as an actor, the final result is always in other people’s hands. He also shares how important the collaboration between actor and cinematographer is and the importance of creating a “safe place” for the actor in front of the camera. Take a listen below:

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