Survivor’s tale zeroes in on the character
Playful Jake Gyllenhaal sees himself in immature man put to the test in Stronger
Jake Gyllenhaal laughs and gives the OK to swipe a scented candle from the downtown hotel room during our interview at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month.
“Jake said I could.” Tempting, but it stays on the table.
Gyllenhaal is a funny guy and his good-natured suggestion that, “you can take that,” underlined the 36year-old actor’s mischievous side. It’s something he has in common with Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman, whom he plays with powerful realism, conviction and occasional dark humour in Stro+nger.
The drama, which opens Sept. 22, is based on Bauman’s book, about his life after the terrorist attack at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. Both his legs were blown off below the knee. Bauman’s difficult recovery was marked by personal struggles and his discomfort with being dubbed a hero and made the public face of “Boston Strong” as a wounded city stood up to terrorist threats.
Directed by David Gordon Green ( Our Brand is Crisis, Pineapple Express), Stronger is the first movie from Gyllenhaal’s fledgling Nine Stories production company — and the creative team goes for the unexpected with the narrative.
Rather than focusing on the bombing, it centres on its aftermath and the on-and-off relationship between Bauman and his ex-girlfriend, Erin Hurley.
Played by Canadian actor Tatiana Maslany ( Orphan Black), Hurley struggles with guilt following Bauman’s accident.
They’d broken up because of his immaturity and unreliability, yet he was at the marathon finish line to surprise her, holding a sign to cheer her on in a gesture he hoped might win her back.
Gyllenhaal, who was nominated for an Oscar for his role in 2005 drama Brokeback Mountain and a Golden Globe for Nightcrawler, once again shows his ability to fully inhabit a character with Bauman. The Costco employee seen at the film’s start is something of a lovable screw-up, able to talk himself out of tight situations. Bauman is familiar; he’s that guy in your class who handed in work late, yet who could earnestly finesse a better grade.
Is there anything of Bauman in him? Gyllenhaal laughed.
“Um, yeah, obviously. Ask any of my high school teachers,” he said. “For- tunately — and unfortunately — we share a lot of similar qualities. I don’t think when I, looking at his strength in getting through what he had to go through, I don’t think I have that strength. He would say to me that I could, but I don’t know that I could.”
Gyllenhaal spent considerable time with Bauman prior to shooting to make his portrayal authentic. The two grew close in the process. They frequently teamed on interviews and appearances during TIFF, sitting together at the drama’s Toronto premiere on Sept. 8. They even look somewhat similar.
“I really want people to see this movie and I want people to see it for him,” Gyllenhaal said of Bauman. “His story is so important and I know it means a lot to him. I constantly think of him.”
He praised Bauman as empathetic and intuitive, with a capacity for gratitude that Gyllenhaal finds humbling.
“As much as he is that guy we all know, he is a lot more than that and I think that’s why this movie needed to be made,” Gyllenhaal said.
Special prosthetics, makeup and computer wizardry allowed Gyllenhaal to portray a double amputee. He spent hours with the team at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, which made Bauman’s prosthetics and helped him through the agonizing process of learning to walk.
The role was physically challenging for Gyllenhaal, known for physically transforming for a character. “It was exhausting, I’ll say it, but nothing compared to Jeff,” Gyllenhaal said.
Maslany was “extraordinary” as Hurley, Gyllenhaal said. Onscreen, she reconciles with Bauman for complex reasons, helping him recover in his mother’s cramped apartment. Miranda Richardson is outstanding as tough Bostonian Patty Bauman, who finds she enjoys her son’s new-found celebrity.
In real life, Hurley and Bauman married, had a child and have since split.
Gyllenhaal said Maslany, who he calls by her nickname “Tat,” was “extraordinary” as Hurley.
The two did an improvised scene for her audition. Gyllenhaal and the film team were delighted.
“We were so excited,” he said. “And she left the room and I was just, ‘Oh! That’s going to be so much fun.’ That’s how you feel as an actor working with someone who has got their side and more. She’s amazing.”