--- title: Jake Gyllenhaal Will Stop You From Misronouncing This Word description: Is it too late for Gyllenhaal to be considered for an Oscar for this performance as a pronunciation police officer? canonical: https://time.com/5515318/jake-gyllenhaal-pronounces-melancholy/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-29T15:47:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:57:09.651Z og:title: Jake Gyllenhaal Will Stop You From Mispronouncing This Word og:description: Is it too late for Gyllenhall to be considered for an Oscar for his performance? og:url: https://time.com/5515318/jake-gyllenhaal-pronounces-melancholy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jake Gyllenhaal Will Stop You From Mispronouncing This Word twitter:description: Is it too late for Gyllenhall to be considered for an Oscar for his performance? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Jake Gyllenhaal Is Here to Be an Official Pronunciation Police Officer by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jan 29, 2019 3:47 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jan 29, 2019 3:47 PM UTC As anyone who has ever written anything on the internet knows, the world is filled with Grammar Cops who love to tell you about how you misused the word “whom” (a word that Calvin Trillin noted is a word “that was invented to make everyone sound like a butler.”) Now, Pronunciation Police are joining the Grammar Cops of the world all thanks to [Jake Gyllenhaal](http://time.com/4957107/jennifer-lawrence-mean-tweets/), who just publicly reminded his own director for daring to mispronounce the word “melancholy” in front of him. It all started when the 38-year-old actor was at the [Sundance Film Festival](http://time.com/72411/robert-redford-explains-the-sundance-effect/) promoting his new film _Velvet Buzzsaw_ in an interview with [_The Hollywood Reporter_](https://www.facebook.com/HollywoodReporter/videos/298163150842253/) along with director Dan Gilroy. Gilroy was discussing the performance by Gyllenhaal’s co-star, Rene Russo, and how he wanted to show a new side of the star, because the actress (who is also Gilroy’s wife) has many sides that “haven’t been shown on film.” “I wanted the world to see them: Soulful, spiritual. She has a touch of melancholy once in a while,” he said. However, he pronounced the word as “meh-lank-lee,” which was too much for self-appointed Pronunciation Police Officer [Gyllenhaal](http://time.com/4951501/jake-gyllenhaal-fatherhood-baby/) to abide. “It’s melancholy, Dan,” the star said, cutting off the director. “Oh, it’s melancholy,” Gilroy replied, correcting his pronunciation. “I always get that word wrong.” “That is not the first time today,” Gyllenhaal noted, throwing a little more grammar shade Gilroy’s direction and practically rolling his eyes at the man who also directed him in _Nightcrawler_. The real question arising from this clip, though, is: Is it too late for Gyllenhall to be considered for an Oscar for this performance? > [](https://twitter.com/hunteryharris/status/1089971770386497537) You can watch the entire clip, in all its glory, [here](https://www.facebook.com/HollywoodReporter/videos/298163150842253/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5515318/jake-gyllenhaal-pronounces-melancholy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5515318/jake-gyllenhaal-pronounces-melancholy/"},"headline":"Jake Gyllenhaal Is Here to Be an Official Pronunciation Police Officer","datePublished":"2019-01-29T15:47:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:57:09.651Z","description":"Is it too late for Gyllenhall to be considered for an Oscar for this performance?","url":"https://time.com/5515318/jake-gyllenhaal-pronounces-melancholy/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","Jake Gyllenhaal"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5515318/jake-gyllenhaal-pronounces-melancholy/","name":"Jake Gyllenhaal Is Here to Be an Official Pronunciation Police Officer"}}]}] ```