Jake Gyllenhaal says it was ‘pretty cool’ when Christopher Nolan personally called him to say he lost Batman role

Jake Gyllenhaal is opening up about losing roles after going through the last rounds of auditions for films like Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! The actor was on The Howard Stern Show where he revealed that he got a personal call from both the directors after he lost the parts. (Also read: Road House movie review: Jake Gyllenhaal pulls all the punches in this surprisingly fun remake)

What Jake said

During his appearance on the show, Jake was asked about the time period when he went to audition for these parts and did not get them, and whether it broke his confidence in some way. In response, Jake said that for Moulin Rouge! it came down to Heath Ledger, Ewan McGregor and him. The role ultimately went to Ewan. Jake added, "What I felt was disappointment when I didn’t get it. Both Heath and I were disappointed. But that’s Ewan McGregor’s part. You learn to go, ‘There’s another one. I can try and go in and audition for another one. I’ll get something else.’ You keep that attitude.” Interestingly, both Jake and Heath went on to star in Brokeback Mountain, for which they were nominated for Academy Awards.

‘There’s a real legitimacy…'

Meanwhile, Jake also added how he received calls from the directors after he lost the parts. "To [Christopher Nolan’s] credit and to Baz [Luhrmann’s] credit, both of those directors called me personally to tell me [I didn’t get the role]. And they will tell you why. When you get that far, there’s a real legitimacy to you potentially getting something. It’s not like they’re going, ‘Oh, thanks so much.’ They are going, ‘I saw these aspects of you that I really wanted in the role and are wonderful, but in the end I ended up moving this way because it matches better with this person who is opposite you or would be opposite you… I remember getting a call from Christopher Nolan and thinking, ‘I just got a call personally from Christopher Nolan. That’s pretty cool,” he added. “I’ve gotten pretty far. I went from them going they aren’t sure [about me] to a call saying they’re really thinking about you for this movie. So OK, I should keep going. I should just keep going.”

Jake was last seen in the Prime Video release Road House, which is a remake of the 1989 original, He will be next seen in Guy Ritchie's upcoming untitled action movie. He also stars in the adaptation of Othello opposite Denzel Washington. The production is set to hit Broadway in 2025.

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