In Source Code, Jake Gyllenhaal plays a man who has traveled back in time (kind of; it's complicated) and has eight minutes to stop a bomb from exploding on a commuter train bound for Chicago. Which probably leaves you thinking: Wait, when did Jake Gyllenhaal become an action star? How did the former child actor and indie darling transform himself into the hero who saves the day?
You can always trace a direct line through a handful of important roles -- not necessarily his best, mind you -- to illustrate what led to an actor's current success. So, let's look at eight performances -- including his first-ever movie appearance -- that trace the evolution of one Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal.
City Slickers (1991)
Jake Gyllenhaal's first film or television appearance. In this delightful Billy Crystal romp, Jake plays Danny, son to a bitter, bitter man named Mitch, who temporarily leaves his family to go on a cowboy adventure with Jack Palance. (As you'll recall, Palance would win an Oscar for playing Curly Washburn.) Even at a young age, Gyllenhaal was wise enough not to appear in City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold.
Homicide: Life on the Streets (1994)
Hey, remember that Jake Gyllenhaal/Robin Williams project from 1994? Yes, this actually happened in the form of a fairly heartbreaking episode of Homicide. A mustachioed Williams plays Gyllenhaal's father who is at the police station after Williams' wife was murdered in a botched holdup.
Donnie Darko (2001)
Cult classic alert! Seriously, what an eclectic cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Seth Rogen, and Noah Wyle. After a near death experience, Jake Gyllenhaal's Donnie sees visions of a human size rabbit named Frank, which... you know what, you either know this movie or you don't. Regardless, this is the male Gyllenhaal's breakout role. For what it's worth, his sister Maggie's breakout would come a year later with Secretary.
Bubble Boy (2001)
After the critical success of Donnie Darko, Gyllenhaal branched out -- quite unfortunately -- into comedy with the biggest misfire of his career, Bubble Boy. Also, Danny Trejo is somehow in this movie, too. Basically this one just features Gyllenhaal out and about in America wearing a portable bubble outfit. Not surprisingly -- to date -- we've never seen Gyllenhaal do an outright comedy again.
The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
And here's where the action begins. After starring opposite Jennifer Aniston in 2002's The Good Girl -- and opposite Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon and Ellen Pompeo in Moonlight Mile -- Gyllenhaal took the lead role in The Day After Tomorrow, one of Roland Emmerich's 20 or so efforts to destroy the world. The film grossed $544 million worldwide, after which perhaps Gyllenhaal realized that his financial destiny lay not in cult indie classics or terrible comedies.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Six years later (really?), it's kind of amazing the amount of controversy that this movie produced. Especially when you realize that the most controversial thing about Brokeback Mountain today is that Randy Quaid somehow played a major role. Regardless, Gyllenhaal built on what audiences already witnessed with his performance in The Good Girl. Here he played Jack Twist, a rancher who falls in love with fellow rancher, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger). Gyllenhaal would receive his first and -- to date -- only Oscar nomination. (On a related note, Brokeback Mountain wins the YouTube award for "hardly any clips, but has the most homemade montages set to popular love songs"... so, here's the trailer.)
Zodiac (2007)
Gyllenhaal portrayed San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist Robert Graysmith in this underrated thriller from David Fincher. Just don't expect to see Gyllenhall and Fincher ever work together again, after Gyllenhaal's now-somewhat-infamous quote about Fincher: "You get a take, 5 takes, 10 takes. Some places, 90 takes. But there is a stopping point. There's a point at which you go, 'That's what we have to work with.' But we would reshoot things. So there came a point where I would say, well, what do I do? Where's the risk?" Regardless, this is the type of role that Gyllenhaal is made for.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)
When one thinks "big budget blockbuster, based on a video game, set during the Persian Empire," Gyllenhaal's name is not exactly the first one that comes to mind. Yet, here it is! I can actually picture Gyllenhaal sitting at a table, being asked how he wants to proceed into action films. "Do you want to take baby-steps, Jake?" Gyllenhaal, with that wry smile, looks up and stoically announces, "All in" -- then he pushes every last chip in front of him to the middle of the table. (There are chips in this fantasy; deal with it.)
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