Jake Gyllenhaal to Star in "Jarhead"

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., Oct. 21, 2004 - Jake Gyllenhaal ("The Day After Tomorrow," "Donnie Darko") has been cast in the lead role in Universal Pictures' "Jarhead", the adaptation of Marine Anthony Swofford's bracing memoir that took readers into his disorienting firsthand experience in the Gulf War. "Jarhead" is directed by Academy Award(R) winner Sam Mendes ("American Beauty," "Road to Perdition") and the producers are Oscar(R) winner Douglas Wick ("Gladiator") and Lucy Fisher (upcoming "Memoirs of a Geisha"), partners in Red Wagon Entertainment. The screenplay is by Academy Award(R) nominee William Broyles, Jr. ("Cast Away," "Apollo 13").

Joining Gyllenhaal will be a number of talented young actors as the unforgettable characters who make up Swofford's platoon. Swofford (Gyllenhaal) and his fellow Marines sustain themselves with sardonic humanity and wicked comedy on blazing desert fields in a country they don't understand against an enemy they can't see for a cause they can't fully fathom. The film is a coming of age story laced with dark wit, honest inquisition and episodes that are at once surreal and poignant, as well as tragic and inspiring.

"Jarhead" is expected to begin production later this year.

Jake Gyllenhaal will next be seen starring in Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" and "Proof." His list of credits includes "The Day After Tomorrow," "The Good Girl," "Lovely & Amazing," "Donnie Darko" and "October Sky."

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY UNIVERSAL PICTURES