Jake Gyllenhaal's erratic behaviour derails Bidegain's drama "Suddenly"

"Suddenly", a project by Thomas Bidegain, focuses on the story of a couple who, during their global travels, end up stranded on a barren island, where they are forced to struggle to survive. Mélanie Thierry, playing Laura, and Gilles Lellouche, representing Ben, took on the leading roles. The film was taped in French, despite the director's original plans to make it in English. The shift in the filming language is reported to be a result of Jake Gyllenhaal's behaviour, who was initially envisaged to star in the film.

As reported by Variety, Gyllenhaal, renown for his performances in films like "Labyrinth", "Nightcrawler", and "Spider-Man: Far From Home", and co-star Vanessa Kirby, allegedly instigated a loss of 26 million dollars to Thomas Bidegain's production. The director revealed the true extent of his collaboration with the actors on set in an interview for French magazine "Technikart".

From the interview, it's evident that issues with "Suddenly" cropped up in the final stage of pre-production, when work shifted to Iceland. Gyllenhaal is said to have behaved unpredictably during this period, requesting bizarre amendments to the script.

Among his supposedly strange demands was a scene where he, performing as a military veteran, would "pat a fish". He also reportedly instructed the production crew to sleep in their cars as a precaution against the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

Furthermore, Gyllenhaal, together with co-star Vanessa Kirby, is claimed to have delivered their lines during tests, imitating the cartoon accent of Pepe Le Pew. His production peer also reportedly attempted to acquire the film script to independently shoot the production with Gyllenhaal, sidestepping Bidegain in the process. It's said that, at this point, the director signalled to the stars that their visions for the film couldn't be harmonised.

"We each had our own interpretation of the film's message. I tried to defuse the tension once, twice, and then I realised it wasn't going to work, so I had to terminate the collaboration"- Bidegain recollected in his Variety interview.