Jake Gyllenhaalis teaming with Conde Nast Entertainment to produce the true-crime filmGilded Rage, which will be based on a series ofVanity Fairarticles from April 2015 by investigative reporterBenjamin Wallace, Collider has exclusively learned.
Charlie McDowell(The One I Love) is set to write and direct the movie, which Gyllenhaal andRiva Markerwill produce via their Nine Stories banner along withJeremy Stecklerof CNE. The producers are aiming to start production later this year in New York, but that will depend on casting, of course.
It’s unclear whether Gyllenhaal himself would star in the film, but if I had to wager a guess, I’d say he’ll stay behind the camera for this one, though the story is certainly intriguing. It’s based on a true crime – the infamous murder ofThomas Gilbert Sr.by his son,Thomas Gilbert Jr.
The elder Gilbert was a wealthy investment banker, so his son was born with a silver spoon and “raised in an environment of extreme privilege,” perVanity Fair. The young man was 6'3" with blonde hair, blue eyes and a Princeton education, though it took him six years to graduate. He had a strained relationship with his father, whom he thought of as mean and controlling. The younger Gilbert felt like nothing he ever did was good enough for his father, whom he worried would cut him off. Consumed by family dysfunction and financial anxiety, he began to spiral, and it wasn’t long before he was arrested for violating an order of protection filed by an old friend and former roommate, whose home burned to the ground under mysterious circumstances.
A few months later, police would find Gilbert’s father dead of a gunshot wound to the head, a gun still in his hand. Even though it looked like a suicide to the untrained eye, police strongly suspected Gilbert Jr. and arrested him, finding hollow-point bullets, handcuffs and 21 blank credit cards in the process. He eventually pled not guilty to second-degree murder and has resisted subsequent plea deals, while his mother is footing the bill for his defense, which continues to this day. I could certainly see that making for one hell of a movie, that’s for sure!
Gyllenhaal recently starred inDan Gilroy’s Netflix movieVelvet Buzzsaw,Paul Dano’s directorial debutWildlifeandJacques Audiard’s English-language debutThe Sisters Brothers. He next stars as Mysterio oppositeTom HollandinSpider-Man: Far From Home. Gyllenhaal will also be seen on Broadway inSea Wall / A Life, which opens at the Hudson Theater on July 26 and was also produced by Nine Stories.
On the feature side, Nine Stories is developingHelicopter Heistat Netflix, for whom Gyllenhaal and Marker are also producingAntonio Campos' star-studded thrillerThe Devil All the Time. The company is also developing an English-language remake ofThe Guilty, an adaptation ofTom Clancy’s video gameThe Division, andTate Taylor’sBreaking News in Yuba County. Gyllenhaal is represented by WME and Goodman Schenkman & Brecheen.
McDowell burst on the scene withThe One I LovestarringMark DuplassandElisabeth Moss, and followed that by writing and directingThe DiscoverystarringJason Segel,Rooney Mara, andRobert Redford. He most recently served as a director and executive producer onKirsten Dunst’s upcoming YouTube Premium seriesOn Becoming a God in Central Florida. He’s repped by ICM Partners and Independent Talent Group.
