Jake Gyllenhaal On His Parents Making Him Turn Down THE MIGHTY DUCKS
Many of you might not know this, but Jake Gyllenhaal was up for the lead role in Disney’s 1992 classic The Mighty Ducks. He would have taken on the lead role in the film had his parents not told him that he couldn’t do it. While appearing on The Howard Stern Show, the actor recalled:
“I definitely remember crying on the kitchen counter. Being like, ‘What? You guys are crazy.’”
He continued:
“My parents were like, ‘Look, you’re about to enter junior high school, you gotta get your education, that’s the most important thing. I promise you, you hate us now, but you’ll thank us later. And I do. I thanked them later because of all the things I learned, and even just being a normal kid at school.”
The part ended up going to Joshua Jackson and look how his career turned out. Gyllenhaal is definitely on a better and more successful path. He most recently starred in the movie Southpaw, in which he gave an incredible performance. When talking about his young co-star in the movie, Oona Laurence, he hopes that she gets same advantages he did:
“I see her, and I go, ‘I want her to have a normal life.’ I want her to have her family and her friends and be in that space, because I think that will grow her up for real. I think all that movie stuff is meant more for adults, and I think it can mess you up.”
Gyllenhaal ended up getting his big break in the 1999 Joe Johnston film October Sky, which is one of my all-time favorite movies. It’s been pretty cool to see how far he’s come since then.
Via: Yahoo