If Jake Gyllenhaal had just eight minutes left to live, it's safe to say the media-shy actor probably wouldn't spend that precious time with a journalist. "I think if I was in that situation, I would call my family and it wouldn't be to apologise but it would be, hopefully, to have a good laugh. To hear them laugh because I love that with my family. And if that eight minutes came right now, I'd be, 'Sorry I got to go. I'm gonna have to cut our interview short'," he laughs.
If it seems like a curious conversation to have with one of Hollywood's most sought-after young leading men then it's because it's pertinent to the many questions posed by Duncan Jones's thought-provoking sci-fi thriller, Source Code.
Portraying an injured US helicopter pilot whose dying brain is enabled by scientists to rewind at eight-minute spans, this isn't Gyllenhaal's first look at time-travel theories, a decade earlier starring as sleep-walking teen Donnie Darko in the time-travel cult classic.
"I'm fascinated by the concept of time. I really love mining that stuff," says the actor. "For me, this movie, philosophically, is a representation of the idea that we have little births and little deaths every day. If we pay attention to them we can grow."
Born and raised in Hollywood to director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, drama was in his DNA, he and older sister, Maggie, both beginning their careers while still at school.
Just 11 years old when he won a minor role in Billy Crystal's City Slickers, he went on to star with Debra Winger in A Dangerous Woman, directed by his father. Appearing in a further film directed by his dad, the pot comedy Homegrown, by 1998 he was ready to strike out alone, starring as Chris Cooper's science geek son in October Sky. His performance resulting in a huge teenage following of love-struck girls known as Gyllenhaalics.
With his striking big blue eyes and chiselled leading-man features, he could have easily been just another pretty boy but, determined to escape type-casting, he took on a string of diverse roles with The Good Girl, Moonlight Mile, Jarhead, Zodiac and Proof, also trying his hand at big-bucks blockbusters Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time and The Day after Tomorrow.
Perhaps the most defining moment of his career, thus far, was his role as Jack Twist in Brokeback Mountain's tale of forbidden love between two cowboys. He was nominated for an Oscar together with co-star Heath Ledger in what would become one of the most celebrated films of 2005.
In his private life, he's dated Kirsten Dunst and Reese Witherspoon, followed by a brief fling with country singer Taylor Swift late last year, although he prefers to discuss love in the abstract offering instead. "What I believe about love is that, whether it's with your family, whether it's with somebody you fall in love with and have a relationship with, your partner or whatever, it's all about being seen. It's all about someone saying, 'I see you. I see who you are. I love who you are. I appreciate who you are'," says the actor whose status is currently single.
At just 30 years old, Gyllenhaal has already made more than 20 films compared to Source Code director Duncan Jones, marking only his second time in the director's seat after his dazzling debut, Moon, wooed the collective heart of Hollywood.
"Bottom line is that, as a director, Duncan feels like a contemporary but at the same time he's just as in charge as somebody like Ang Lee or David Fincher or Sam Mendes or anybody I've worked with which is a rare quality for a young film-maker on a second movie."
Having carved out a reputation as an actor who takes his job seriously, he is today in the luxurious position of no longer having to take work to pay the rent. "When I was first working, I would just take whatever I was cast for. But now, it's like I have to have 'that feeling'. I've done movies where I didn't have that feeling and I knew the audience didn't either. So every time I have that feeling, I know that I'm taking the audience along with me and they're gonna say, 'What's this about?' because I've made enough consistent choices that they go, 'It may be interesting what he's doing, let's check it out'. I just feel the responsibility to people who might go see it that there is something new in it. I respect the audience so much and I think it comes from growing up with storytellers. I watch movies a lot, I get feelings from movies, I love watching trailers, I love hearing directors, actors and everybody whose job has to do with movies".
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