Jake Gyllenhaal to Star Opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in Indie Thriller An Enemy
Posted 03.20.12 by BrentJS
People always say that they are their own worst enemy, but the expression could be true for Jake Gyllenhaal if he signs on to star in Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve's new movie, An Enemy. The movie is an adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning author Jose Saramago's novel The Double about a man who embarks on a quest to find an actor who appears to be his exact duplicate. According to Variety, Gyllenhaal is in negotiations for the "dark and edgy" dual-role lead. Javier Gullón (Hierro) is writing the screenplay adaptation.
Here's the synopsis of The Double from its listing on Amazon:
Tertuliano Máximo Afonso is a divorced, depressed history teacher. To lift his spirits, a colleague suggests he rent a certain video. Tertuliano watches the film, unimpressed. But during the night, when he is awakened by noises in his apartment, he goes into the living room to find that the VCR is replaying the video. He watches in astonishment as a man who looks exactly like him—or, more specifically, exactly like he did five years before, mustachioed and fuller in the face—appears on the screen. He sleeps badly.
Against his better judgment, Tertuliano decides to pursue his double. As he roots out the man's identity, what begins as a whimsical story becomes a "wonderfully twisted meditation on identity and individuality" (The Boston Globe). Saramago displays his remarkable talent in this haunting tale of appearance versus reality.