What actually happened between Jake Gyllenhaal and this viral French movie Suddenly?

Last week, the French film website Technikart published a harrowing account of a production involving Jake Gyllenhaal, Vanessa Kirby, and a Pepe Le Pew impression. Told mostly from the perspective of director Thomas Bidegain, known for A Prophet, it recounts Gyllenhaal’s erratic behavior on set, which, depending on who translated the article, means he wanted to write a scene where his character slaps a fish or forced set builders to sleep in their cars out of COVID precautions. Over four days, the director, who reportedly worked with Gyllenhaal and Kirby for 10 months on the script, decided it wasn’t worth the headache and shut the project down.

Today, representatives for Gyllenhaal and StudioCanal are refuting Technikart’s account, claiming that this English-language version of the film was never greenlit and Gyllenhaal and Kirby’s time in Iceland was part of the development process. A Studiocanal spokesperson said:

“Creative differences are very normal, if unfortunate, regularities in film development. In this case, there were concerns which simply could not be overcome despite great efforts on both sides. We greatly value all our relationships at STUDIOCANAL and are happy that Thomas Bidegain was able to fulfill his vision on the French language version of SUDDENLY. We remain deeply committed to our working partnerships with both Thomas Bidegain and Jake Gyllenhaal, with whom we have always enjoyed a very strong creative relationship.”

Bidegain claims Gyllenhaal and Kirby “humiliated” him by reading the script in a “Pepe Le Pew” accent. In his account, he also claims that Gyllenhaal required specific travel requests, including demanding a car that was “neither red nor white” as he refused to fly out of COVID concerns. Strangely, Bidegain also makes note of how concerned Gyllenhaal was about catching COVID in 2021—when the trip occurred—and mocked the actor for refusing to take off his mask, arguing the virus wasn’t an issue in Iceland.

But the real differences Bidegain found with Gyllenhaal were creative. This was Bidegain’s first English-language script, and he and Gyllenhaal disagreed on the overall meaning of the film. Bidegain interpreted the meaning, “This is the end of the world, and, perhaps, love can save us.” Gyllenhaal, however, saw differently. After a walk in the woods and a meeting with a horse, he reportedly returned to the writer’s room to allegedly play Greta Thunberg videos over rock music and cry, saying the film was about “love of nature.”

However, sources close to the situation told The A.V. Club that neither Gyllenhaal nor Kirby were satisfied with the script. Further, our source maintains that this trip to Iceland was part of the development process, which aligns with most of Technikart’s account, and that the film was never greenlit.

Our source asserted that this is all a normal part of the process, which, sure, maybe it is if you’re working with Jake Gyllenhaal. It’s clear that there are a number of issues with this story that are only exacerbated by everyone using Google Translate to dissect Technikart’s report, resulting in diverging accounts across social media. Nevertheless, Bidegain ended up exiting the Gyllenhaal version of the film and made Suddenly in France with Gilles Lellouche and Mélanie Laurent. It premiered in France last month, Gyllenhaal-free.