With the ever-evolving landscape of online media, promoting movies is a very different affair than what it was less than five years ago. Still, big, established, “serious” actors like Jake Gyllenhaal still get old-school features in print magazines.
The March 2022 issue of Esquire is featuring a very old-school profile of Jake Gyllenhaal, meant to drum up interest for Ambulance, his latest movie, from director Michael Bay. The association between Gyllenhaal and Bayhem creator Bay alone is enough to warrant an interview like this one, the kind the actor has never done before. But the goal here is to sell an image: Gyllenhaal might be a “serious” actor with some comedic chops, but he’s also one of the guys.
In Ambulance, Gyllenhaal plays the seemingly-unhinged ring leader of a gang of robbers whose spectacular planned job shows signs of also becoming their last ever. Gyllenhaal is perfectly capable of transmitting this kind of intense energy, having already proved it in masterpieces like Nightcrawler, Enemy, Southpaw, and Donnie Darko, to name just a few. So the surprising part is perhaps that there’s a wild streak to him in real life, as well.
For the interview, Gyllenhaal took the reporter to the Monticello Motor Club, a 4.1-mile (6.5-km) race track located 90 minutes away from New York City. During the day “date,” the two went cross kart racing on the offtrack rallycross course, did laps in a BMW M5, and then tagged along for the ride as Chris, the “director of fun” at Monticello, showed them how to drift a car.
“I’m a good driver, you’ll see!” Jake promised the reporter as he commandeered his Jeep for the ride out of NYC. Not much space in the actual profile is used to prove he spoke the truth, but fans do get to learn interesting things about him. For example, that Paul Newman taught him to drive, or that he is a perfectionist who constantly learns by watching others, like when he drives the M5 down the track, tailing Chris and studying how he drives.
At one point, Jake is “hurtling” down the track at 130 mph (209 kph), the fastest he’s ever driven. Despite an earlier invitation to “Paaaarty!,” he can’t tell if he likes how the car is handling, and he’s definitely not comfortable, he says “with glee.” If anything, you can’t fault Gyllenhaal for not challenging himself.
While Esquire failed to include some photos from what was most likely a fun outing with Gyllenhaal, below is the trailer for Ambulance, which also stars Eiza González and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and will be out in theaters on April 8. This one is bound to deliver plenty of satisfying car content – and even more Bayhem.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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