Now That 'Southpaw' Is Out, What Should Jake Gyllenhaal Do Next?

Jake Gyllenhaal is in a strange spot in his career right now. Since he came on the scene, he's taken on roles more challenging and varying than most A-list actors do in their entire career-spans. He's always been great, but after a truly stellar run in 2013-2014 starting with Prisoners and concluding with the unholiest of Oscar snubs, Nightcrawler, respect for the man's talent hit an all-time high. He doesn't quite have the juice just yet, but all eyes are on his every move, as a straight-up thespian who will drop a zillion pounds for one role and then gain them right back for the next. Which brings us to the boxing drama, Southpaw. It's his latest, dropping today. And it's pretty fucking basic. Of course, Jake himself isn't. He puts the entire movie on his impressively-broadened-just-for-this-role shoulders and once again completely throws himself into a character on a super committed level. It's just too bad the film around him isn't deserving of said commitment.

At this point in his career, he should be choosing much more wisely. Jake is only 34. He's an A-lister with real clout and an impressive filmography already, for sure, but with the right picks, he can be the next Leo if he wants. After this he'll star in Everest, based on the 1996 death of several mountain climbers, and then another Serious Drama opposite Naomi Watts. But personally, I'd like to see him switch it up and really capitalize on all the buzz he accrued back in '13/'14. Here are a few ideas as to how.

First and foremost, Jake needs to solidify his run with an honest to goodness blockbuster. No, not another blatant blunder like Prince of Persia. And not a superhero, 17-film commitment franchise either. (As great as JG would've likely been in Suicide Squad, things lowkey worked out for the best in that regard.) Imagine Jake in something fire, a movie that would be huge but also not a monotonous comic-book film or easily begetting a sequel. Something that would garner more attention than Source Code and more respect than Persia. Basically, he should be the lead in the next Christopher Nolan film.

The last A-list director Jake worked with was David Fincher in 2007's Zodiac. Working with newbies and helping up-and-coming auteurs establish themselves is cool—Nightcrawler was a directorial debut. But if Jake wants to hit Leo levels, he needs to find his Scorsese. Or, imagine him cribbing a few beats from Joaquin Phoenix, leading the next Paul Thomas Anderson opus while alternatively doing artsier, medium-pushing shit like Spike Jonze's Her.

Horror is one of the only genres Gyllenhaal's yet to try his hand at and for obvious reason. The genre is bogged down with negative stigmas and trashy associations, but if he were to work with one of its maestros, like Guillermo del Toro? Assured fire, and a rare legitimate horror film that's worth more than cheap scares with cool teens. Helping to re-upholster a wavering genre, definite legend behavior.

Take a page out of one-time co-star Heath Ledger's book and go big by playing bad. I have no clue what the hell dude is doing in that 3-minute blockbuster Jay and Beyoncé made last year but he sure does look like he has the Charismatic Maniac steez down and that's just from three or four .03 second scenes.

He's done several plays and most recently, a super-limited stint in Little Shop of Horrors has the theater streets buzzing. Choosing a film that would make good use of his pipes and penchant for grand theatricality is tricky and runs the risk of say, catching a Baz Luhrmann Brick. But the right project would just be another step in demonstrating his insane versatility in a more visible manner.

Jake's big sister Maggie is off doing her own hardcore thespian-ing, albeit on a lower-scale. I may be mistaken but the last time these two powerhouses shared the screen together was damn near 15 years ago in the classic Donnie Darko. So what kind of film should they star in now? Oscar-bait drama, something more fun? Does it even matter?

Stay far, far away. As this season proves, it's not quite the one-and-done actor wonderland that it seemed to be. I think it's pretty obvious to Jake and everyone else that as cinematic as TV has become, he should have no designs on a small-screen stint any time soon. But the fleeting commitment to HBO might seem tempting, especially since the man clearly loves a challenge, and there's nothing more challenging in Hollywood right now than morphing Nic Pizzolatto's writing into something genuine. Don't do it, breh.