The iconic 2005 role Jake Gyllenhaal felt validated in not getting: “There’s a real legitimacy”As the son of a director father and screenwriter mother, Jake Gyllenhaal was always destined for a career on the big screen. “When you get that far, there’s a real legitimacy to you potentially getting something,” he explained to GameSpot in 2024, “It’s not like they’re going, ‘Oh, thanks so much’. The actor explained that sometimes things like hair colour or height can play into a casting director’s decision. If Gyllenhaal had been cast, this would have created a bit of a dilemma down the line. The superhero boom that Batman Begins partially sustained would come for Gyllenhaal in the end.