Spider-Man: Far From Home's Jake Gyllenhaal Says Marvel Role Changed His Outlook on Acting

Jake Gyllenhaal has starred in many iconic movies throughout his career ranging from Donnie Darko to Brokeback Mountain, which earned him an Oscar nomination back in 2006. Currently, he's promoting his new movie Ambulance, which was helmed by Michael Bay and co-stars Watchmen star and Emmy-winner, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Of course, over the past couple of years, Gyllenhaal has become known best for his role as Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home. During a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Gyllenhaal revealed that the Spidey flick changed his outlook on acting. 

"What was interesting, when I went into Spider-Man: Far From Home... I think I was taking myself too seriously. In fact, I'm sure of it. I think I had really lost that sense of play and fun that I am. That sort of, that class clown that I talk about that found that idea of just popping a shoulder and making a funny face. It was such a cathartic thing to be able to throw away all that seriousness and really become the actor that I think I've always wanted to be in a lot of ways," Gyllenhaal explained.

He added, "And find the play and the fun and the gratitude that I'm here and I get to do this. And, oh my god, like it's all about the family of making a movie. It's all about the experience that you have with the people you're making that film with. And, I think that we go through journeys in our life where we're finding ourselves and, in the case of Spider-Man, I think I realized, 'Hey, you know, acting is really fun. You know? Enjoy it! And the people here are fantastic! Enjoy them and enjoy the life around you cause life goes by super fast.'"

Last night, Gyllenhaal hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time since 2007. Gyllenhaal specifically mentioned some of the problematic jokes that were made in his monologue at that time, while also referencing some of the outdated sketches that happened in the episode, and he even poked fun at Marvel. 

"I am so, so excited to be back at SNL," Gyllenhaal's monologue began. "The last time I hosted was the year 2007. You know how long ago that was? That was like 400 Marvel movies ago. To give you an idea of what it was like in 2007 in the show I hosted there was a George W. Bush sketch, there were jokes about the first iPhone, and this is a photo of me...in full drag, singing a song from Dreamgirls, to promote a movie where I play a gay cowboy. That was actually the least problematic thing in that episode." 

Ambulance is now playing in theatres.