Jake Gyllenhaal Accused of Erratic Behavior on Movie Set: 'He Explodes With Rage'

Jake Gyllenhaal's behind-the-scenes antics surprise and exasperate a writer-director on the set of a failed $26-million film. In a recent article from the French magazine Technikart, Thomas Bidegain recounts the dissolution of the first version of his movie Soudain seuls (a.k.a. Suddenly Alone) and the wildly unpredictable behavior of Gyllenhaal, its star.

After completing the first version of the film's screenplay in English, then a second version just before the pandemic, in March 2020, Bidegain was contacted by the Brokeback Mountain star, who asked him to co-write Alexander Payne's next screenplay. Bidegain, who had already begun thinking about casting the film (then known as just Suddenly), sent him the script.

"He finds the scenario wonderful, touching," and for more than a year, the script was revised and polished for the actor, who was "extremely" involved in the project, so much so that he became co-producer. The film, in search of its second and final actor, adds Vanessa Kirby, Gyllenhaal's co-star in the 2015 movie Everest, to its cast.

Bidegain then flew to Iceland in July 2021 to meet with Kirby and Gyllenhaal to read the script together, eight weeks before filming began. Despite COVID-19 rates being extremely low in Iceland, Gyllenhaal refused to fly to Reykjavik on his first day and drove to the hotel — demanding a car that was "neither red nor white."

After a six-hour drive along with revered screenwriter and playwright David Lindsay-Abaire, who is polishing the English dialogue, Gyllenhaal is described in the piece as "distant" and chose not to ever take off his face mask. He then "summoned" Thomas and launched into a long monologue: "Everyone in this room is extremely talented, but we're going to have to work. And keep an open mind. With David, we considered many changes..." The star also says vague things like, "We have to find the truth."     

Gyllenhaal lost his temper on the second day because he didn't know whether the appointment was at 9:30 a.m. or 10 a.m. After that, the actors are taken to the set, a black sand beach where a whaling base will be built. 

However, the Donnie Darko actor seems unimpressed. According to Bidegain, the actor didn't think the mountains were high enough and the present nature wasn't threatening enough. Together with Valentine Monteil, Thomas took the script and rewrote scenes on the boat, with Gyllenhaal insisting on heavy alterations.

"For him, there is no need for a whaling station, no shelter, everything is too comfortable, we don't feel the danger!" Bidegain recalled to Technikart, adding "I had already argued with directors, but never with such intensity. But I remain convinced that things will work out."

Monteil was less certain. Things continued to disintegrate, with the Nightcrawler star insisting his character be a former GI with survival skills. He also pushes to add a scene where he slaps a fish. He also is said to keep repeating the mantra that the team has to find "the truth." Gyllenhaal threatened to leave Suddenly during this back-and-forth, but ultimately seemed to make peace with the director.

On the morning of the third day, Gyllenhaal was apparently inspiredd after taking a walk and encountering wildlife. He returns to the Suddenly team and suggests the film be centered around this theme: the love of nature. He then subjected everyone to "a speech by Greta Thunberg on his computer, with rock music in the background," that lasted 15 minutes, according to Bidegain.  Gyllenhaal then became emotional and cried, while declaring, "I'm crying, I'm crying, it's real tears!"

"It was the biggest laugh of my life," Monteil told the outlet. "Jake tells us that this is not a film about love, but a film about the love of nature. He declares that everything must be rewritten, all declarations of love must be declarations to nature. I see Thomas saying to himself that he is losing his 26 million. He then leans towards me and says: 'How do you say 'get f—ed' in Iceland? Because that's exactly what just happened…"'      

On the fourth day, Gyllenhaal chose to swim in his underwear in the three-degree Atlantic Ocean as the team was taking in scenery. "'When I see the sea, I swim in the sea," he said before undressing down to his underwear and getting into the ice-cold water. 

The actor's mood soon swung again. After dinner, Gyllenhaal went "into a tailspin" and confronted Bidegain again, pushing for "the truth" and the deep meaning of the film. After learning that the builders of the whaling base will arrive the following day at the hotel, he "explodes with rage." 

Gyllenhaal says these crew members must sleep in their cars due to his fear of COVID-19. He allegedly started screaming, insisting that he did not even want a setpiece to be built. According to the Technikart piece, he then demanded to see the building plans for the set, called everyone incompetent and declared that he would leave the movie over the issue. Bidegain eventually tells him, "Go ahead!"

Bidegain soon informed producer Alain Attal of the outburst. Attal decided to just pull the plug on this initial version of Suddenly altogether. "We (Jake and I ) agree that there's no point in persisting, our visions diverge too much," Bidegain said, going on to add, "I phone the financiers, my American friends who tell me new things about Jake. With him, maybe I wasn't firm enough, I think he wanted a stronger confrontation, but I don't work like that... Anyway, it's all over, and the $26 millions' fly away!"

Several weeks after all prospects for the film had evaporated, Kirby contacted Bidegain and offered to buy the script, intending to make it with Gyllenhall — but without Bidegain. However, he decided against that and made the movie without the Hollywood stars. 

Bidegain said, "I talk to Alain Attal about it and suggest selling it to them. He answers me: 'Never in life, we're pissing them off, you're going to rewrite it in French and we're going to shoot it with great French actors.'" As a result, over two years later, Suddenly Alone (Soudain seuls) with Gilles Lellouche and Mélanie Laurent was finally released in December.