Jake Gyllenhaal is getting Oscar buzz for his turn as a boxer spurred on by a tragic backstory in Southpaw. Yet he cried when his parents didn’t let him participate in the The Mighty Ducks franchise. At least, that’s the story Gyllenhaal told radio show host Howard Stern.
As US Magazine reports, Gyllenhaal’s parents both worked in the business, and didn’t want acting to get in the way of their son’s schoolwork:
A working child actor at the time, Gyllenhaal, 34, auditioned for one of the main roles in the 1992 classic and presumably got it. But his parents, director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, didn’t let him accept the new gig.
“I definitely remember crying on the kitchen counter,” Gyllenhaal told Stern, 61. “I was like, ‘You guys are crazy.'”
Gyllenhaal claims that his parents had a good reason for this:
“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,'” Gyllenhaal said. “And I do.”
Sure, Jake, you’ve since starred in Donnie Darko and have been nominated for an Oscar for Brokeback Mountain. You might even win that little gold man for Southpaw, but is that really going to erase the regret you once felt over missing out on being part of a childhood classic?
Will it really take back the tears? I bet not.
(Via US Magazine)
