It only took over a decade of films, but now Marvel Studios can check off Jake Gyllenhaal as an actor they’ve managed to put front-and-center of one of their MCU films, as the thespian is set to play Mysterio in the upcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home. This is especially fitting since the actor was once rumored to be in the running for the original Sam Raimi Spider-Man film as Peter Parker — a role that eventually went to Tobey Maguire.

But over the past 10 years or so there have been a ridiculous number of movies Gyllenhaal could have been in. What is it about Spider-Man: Far From Home that makes it especially special for him to take on, and what is it about Mysterio that finally brought him to don the ridiculous (yet amazing-looking) cape and fishbowl helmet? Here’s what he said to the New York Times.

RELATED – Does The Spider-Man: Far From Home Trailer Support Theory That Avengers Will Prevent The Decimation In Endgame?

“It’s great. He’s a great character. It’s one of those things, people have asked me for a number of years, ‘You wanna do a movie like that? If you were asked to, would you?’ And my response has always been, particularly since being at Sundance, so many of the stories have always been, for many years since I’ve been coming here, character-driven, and that has always been my desire, is to find something in that space, that seems to match my skill and also my own honesty. And it just so happened that it does with that part, so I’m glad that people feel excited about it.”

Super-duper vague, indeed. This is something that could literally have been said about any character and any film. That being said, it is pretty nice that he seems to have a real high regard for his own selection process in characters, and that this character managed to sort of meet his criteria.

Thus far, response to him as Mysterio has been overwhelmingly positive, and I think many of us are simply waiting to see the more villainous side of him not shown off in that first trailer. When’s that next trailer due again?

Don’t forget to share this post on your Facebook wall and with your Twitter followers! Just hit the buttons on the top of this page.

SOURCE: LA Times