Jake Gyllenhaal explains why he took on role in Spider-Man: Far From Home

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

The new movie SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME may have Spidey’s name in the title, but as soon as that first trailer dropped it became the Mysterio show, and all thanks to an epic arrival by Jake Gyllenhaal in the role – donning some sweet armor and a cloak, to boot. The internet lost its marbles when he landed on screen in a cloud of green smoke, and he looked right at home in the costume, and it begs the question, “Why is he just entering the genre now?”

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While promoting his new movie VELVET BUZZSAW at Sundance recently the actor sat down with the LA Times to talk about his Spider-Man role, explaining that people have been asking him for years to if he would ever take on a role in a comic book movie. He’s been in talks for certain roles in the past (including that of Spider-Man himself years ago), but he said with Mysterio that character just felt right to take on.

It's great. He's a great character. It's one of those things, people have asked me for a number of years, 'You wanna do a movie like that? If you were asked to, would you?' And my response has always been, particularly since being at Sundance, so many of the stories have always been – for many years since I've been coming here – character-driven. And that has always been my desire, is to find something in that space, that seems to match my skill and also my own honesty. And it just so happened that it does with that part, so I'm glad that people feel excited about it.

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Gyllenhaal plays Mysterio/Quentin Beck, a visual effects guru who has been one of Spidey’s biggest adversaries in the comics. In FAR FROM HOME, his character’s role in the story has been fueling much speculation around his role as a good or bad guy, given that he helps Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland) out with a giant water creature and has been recruited by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to assist in matters involving the Elementals (hence the big creatures). The theory is he may be simply playing the part of a good guy, with his real intentions much more nefarious. I mean, you can never really trust a guy who wears a fishbowl on his head, can you?

Turns out, a lot of people can, and aren't stopping there. Once visuals of Gyllenhaal in the role hit the web (heh) after the trailer dropped fans on social media where left wanting much, much, much more of his character, probably because of both the love for him as an actor and because he looks like a badass in that costume. We will be seeing tons more as new pictures and trailers drop in the coming months, even if we may have to wait a bit as promotion ramps up for CAPTAIN MARVEL and then AVENGERS: ENDGAME. 

SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME hits theaters July 5 and you can catch Gyllenhaal in VELVET BUZZSAW on Netflix this Friday (read our review here!)