Some actors find themselves in one type of role and end up getting typecast as a particular sort of character or making particular sorts of movies. It seems that Jake Gyllenhaal is officially now the guy you call when you want to remake something from the late ‘80s or early ’90s. This week Prime Video subscribers will finally get a chance to see his Road House remake, but that’s not the only project from around the same period that the actor will remake this year for a streaming platform.
This week Jake Gyllenhaal will take on the lead role in Road House, creating a new version of the character made famous by Patrick Swayze back in 1989. Just over a year after Swayze’s action movie opened in theaters, Harrison Ford starred in a legal thriller called Presumed Innocent and Gyllenhaal is set to take on that same role in a new series for Apple TV+ that will debut in June.
Presumed Innocent isn’t one of Harrison Ford’s most popular roles. Still, anything that wasn’t Han Solo or Indiana Jones tended to get overlooked by audiences, and considering Presumed Innocent is one of Ford’s less heroic characters, it’s maybe not a surprise. Still, it showed the actor’s range in a way that other roles did not. Gyllenhaal has shown his ability to play hero and villain in equal measure, so the part shouldn’t be too difficult for him.
The two roles are about as far from each other as they could be. One is an action movie while the other is a legal drama, but it is certainly a surprising coincidence to see Jake Gyllenhaal involved in both projects that will be released even closer together than the original film projects were. If Gyllenhaal wants to create something of a reputation for himself, there are worse things than to be the go-to actor for remakes from a particular era.
Based on the critics' response to Road House Jake Gyllenhaal’s new film is a solid win that will likely be popular with fans. If the Presumed Innocent TV series is embraced by those with an Apple TV+ subscription, then the actor will have successfully shown a significant range with just these two projects. And I’m sure there are plenty of other late ’80s and early ‘90s movies that haven’t been remade recently if Jake Gyllenhaal is interested. It would make for a unique acting niche, but if it works, why not?
And then in 30 years somebody else can come along and make a career out of remaking Jake Gyllenhaal movies, that were all remakes of other movies. At this point, there’s no indication that the needless cycle of perpetual remakes is ever going to end. Unless there is a real revolt and audiences stop showing up. But at the end of the day, if the movies are good, people will show up.
