Gyllenhaal, Fuqua on the van that made 'The Guilty' possible
ABC News
The coronavirus has forced Hollywood to adapt in countless ways to keep productions running through the pandemic
NEW YORK -- Jake Gyllenhaal was driving when a COVID-19 supervisor called and told him to pull the car over.
This was in November 2020, when U.S. cases were skyrocketing and Gyllenhaal was days away from starting shooting on “The Guilty,” a thriller about a demoted Los Angeles police detective (played by Gyllenhaal) who takes a kidnapping call while working at the 911 dispatch center. The whole point of the very contained production was to minimize COVID-19 disruptions. Gyllenhaal is almost the only on-screen actor. There’s one setting. The entire shoot would take 11 days.
“So I pulled over and I was like: ‘Oh no.’ I had already had COVID so I sort of knew it might not be me, but I didn’t know,” says Gyllenhaal.
No one on the production had the virus, but director Antoine Fuqua had been in close contact with someone who tested positive. Tests were negative for Fuqua, but regulations at that time required him to quarantine.
