During a wide-ranging interview with Esquire UK, actor Jake Gyllenhaal revealed he believes human behavior is impacted by the moon.
While discussing his meteoric rise to Hollywood’s A-list with the magazine’s Sanjiv Bhattacharya, the 34-year-old described acting as “absurd,” but he said that doesn’t stop him from taking his craft seriously and immersing himself in his surroundings in order to better understand the characters he plays.
“I believe deeply in the unconscious. That you literally accumulate the molecules of the space that you’re in. We’re like 90 percent water, so naturally we are going to be affected by the moon when it’s full: if the sea is, why wouldn’t we be? That seems scientific to me,” Gyllenhaal said, while talking about his preparation for the role of a police officer in the 2012 film End of Watch.
“If you spend enough time in whatever environment your character would exist in – the way I spent six months with police officers – then the molecules of that environment must transfer somehow,” he said. “And then you put it on screen, and people go, ‘I feel something that I don’t normally feel.’”
The actor also stated his role in End of Watch brought him closer to his hometown of Los Angeles.
“I have never felt so good about being in Los Angeles as when I was in East LA working with police officers,” he said. “Just being in that culture, especially the Hispanic culture. It was amazing.”
He concluded: “There were times, when I was taking cover, wearing a Kevlar vest and thinking, ‘Come on, we’re making a movie!’ You know?”
To read Jake Gyllenhaal’s full interview, click here.