Jake Gyllenhaal is an expert on those little blue pills.
But while the actor, who plays a early-era Viagra salesman opposite Anne Hathaway in the romantic dramedy “Love and Other Drugs,” admits he knows the erectile dysfunction drug’s selling points backwards and forwards, he’s keeping mum on whether he put his research into practice.
“I'm probably the wrong actor to ask,” Gyllenhaal tells PopcornBiz with a grin. “I know all the chemical components and all the side effects and all the issues having to do with it and how to sell Viagra. I think that I could probably sell it very well to a doctor. In terms of my experience with the drug itself, I choose to keep that under wraps. Some things you have to keep to yourself.”
Gyllenhaal understands the curiosity about the drug and its effects on sexual performance, especially as it pertains to his randy character, a lothario learning to love based on real-life pharmaceutical rep Jamie Reidy.
“As soon as that was in the backdrop we knew that it was a funny movie,” says Gyllenhaal. “It's fascinating, because of the time that it was invented, it was sort of stumbled upon. And I was 16 – I knew about it. It was a word that I understood. I somehow knew it was connected to Bob Dole, but I didn't really get it! So it was funny to see, particularly in doing the research, what a phenomenon it was and how probably 98% of the people using it didn't really have erectile dysfunction. Those are my percentages, so you can blame me for that, but I did a lot of research.”
