Jake Gyllenhaal Reveals 2 Big Roles That He Nearly Booked, Including an Acclaimed Musical

Jake Gyllenhaal recently reflected on two big roles that got away.

The 43-year-old Road House star has appeared in many iconic movies over the years. However, no Hollywood actor books every part that they audition for.

In a new interview, Jake explained how it felt to find out that a director was going in another direction. He shared two specific instances where that happened to him. One was for a fan-favorite musical movie. Another entailed playing a popular superhero.

Read more about the roles that Jake Gyllenhaal did not book…

While on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show, Jake revealed that the roles in question were Christian in Moulin Rouge and Batman in Christopher Nolan‘s Dark Knight trilogy. Ewan McGregor landed the musical, which Christian Bale was selected to play the Caped Crusader.

In regards to Batman, Jake said that he knew that Christian “and a few others” were all vying for the role. He got all the way to screentests and even tried on the costume.

For Moulin Rouge, the final three actors in consideration were him, Ewan and his Brokeback Mountain costar Heath Ledger. He said that it was “where [he] first heard of Heath.”

“What I felt was disappointed when I didn’t get it,” he said. “In the end, you have to… you learn to go, ‘There’s another one.’ Like, I can try and go in and audition for another one. I’ll get something else. I mean, that’s the thing. You keep that attitude.”

Jake revealed that he learned that he was not cast from Christopher and Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann.

“When you get that far, there’s a real legitimacy to you potentially getting something,” he explained. “It’s not like they’re going, ‘Oh, thanks so much.’ They’re going, ‘I saw these aspects of you that I really wanted in the role and I think are wonderful.”

He added that getting the call from Christopher actually made him realize just how far he’d gotten in the process. That realization inspired him to keep going.

If you missed it, Jake recently revealed an illness that he contracted while filming his new movie.

Press play on Jake Gyllenhaal’s interview below…