Jake Gyllenhaal's "SUDDENLY" Behavior

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Overview

Jake Gyllenhall's "SUDDENLY" Behavior refers to a report from January 2024 that the erratic behavior of actor Jake Gyllenhaal on the set of an indie film called SUDDENLY caused the film to cease production. Gyllenhaal's behavior included allegedly stripping and jumping into the ocean while saying, "When I see the sea, I swim in the sea," and doing takes in a Pepe Le Pew accent. The story delighted social media users as it spread online, many of whom poked fun at Gyllenhaal's reported behavior.

Background

On January 23rd, 2024, the French film website Technikart^[1] published a piece called "4 Days To Bury a Film." The piece is an oral history of the brief filming period for a movie called SUDDENLY, directed by Thomas Bidegain, which would star Jake Gyllenhaal and Vanessa Kirby as a couple stranded on an island in the Arctic. In four days, Gyllenhaal was said to read a scene like the Looney Tunes character Pepe Le Pew, demand script rewrites, take a dive into the Arctic Ocean despite the freezing temperature and demand set builders sleep in their cars for fear of COVID-19.

At the end of four days, the project was reportedly scrapped, and Bidegain eventually made the film, only it came to be called Suddenly Alone and starred French actors Mélanie Thierry and Gilles Lellouche. It was released in December 2023.

Developments

On January 31st, 2024, the Twitter / X account @DiscussingFilm^[2] posted a tweet about the story, including the relevant tales of Gyllenhaal's antics. It gained over 3,900 retweets and 16,000 likes in a matter of hours (shown below).

DiscussingFilm 4 @DiscussingFilm An indie movie 'SUDDENLY' fell apart after Jake Gyllenhaal showed erratic behavior, including: • Stripping to his underwear & diving into the freezing ocean, saying "when I see the sea, I swim in the sea" Constant script rewrite demands ... • Doing his rehearsal in a Pepe Le Pew-like accent • Saying set builders should sleep in their cars to prevent COVID spread (via: filmstories.co.uk/news/suddenly-...) 11:23 AM Jan 31, 2024

The post was widely joked about on social media, as many found Gyllenhaal's reported antics humorous. For example, on January 31st, Twitter user @DonQuixote616^[3] paired Gyllenhaal's "sea" quote with an image of director James Cameron, gaining over 50 retweets and 960 likes in a matter of hours (shown below, left).

Also that day, Twitter user @Bolverk15^[4] reposted the Discussing Film tweet but added a picture of Gigachad, gaining over 50 retweets and 880 likes in a similar timeframe (shown below, right).