Jake Gyllenhaal on how Denzel Washington changed his approach to acting

Jake Gyllenhaal has recently revealed how Denzel Washington changed his approach to acting.

The actor, who appears alongside Denzel in Broadway play Othello, told Variety, “One of the millions of things that I’ve learned from Denzel is freedom onstage.”

Jake opened up that he was “insecure” about his turn onstage in the role, saying, “I struggled in the first few previews.”

“To fall back on techniques makes me feel insecure. I’m used to doing 10 takes on movie,” remarked the 44-year-old.

The Road House actor mentioned, “If you go home and your voice is shot, you’re like, ‘At least they got it.’ So, I do vocal warm-ups before the show.”

Jake shared how he even almost turned down the show but “director Kenny Leon and Denzel came to me, and I was like, ‘I can’t do this’”.

However, Denzel helped him make “calmer” on stage, as he noted, “When things change and move, or he doesn’t remember, he’s flowing with it. I set boundaries for myself, and Denzel is just pushing them. It has made me calmer onstage”.

“I find Iago is different every night. Sometimes it veers into mustache-twirling more than it should, and sometimes he’s just brokenhearted,” explained the Ambulance actor.

Jake mentioned, “What’s most interesting about Denzel is he’s not the guy who’s killing people right and left.”

“He’s saying, ‘There’s a knife over there,’ and then somebody else goes and stabs the person with it. It’s very prescient in that way,” added the actor.