Jake Gyllenhaal Exits 'Into the Woods' to Crawl Through the Night and Climb Up a Mountain

Jake Gyllenhaal, long a favorite of film buffs and casual moviegoers, is trading up in the world: one movie (buh, please!) for two movies (now you're talkin'!). While fans will be displeased to hear that the actor is jumping the Into the Woods ship, giving up his role as one of the fairy tale musical's arrogant princes, we'll at least have an additional Gyllenhaal feature as a result: the End of Watch star has freed up his schedule in order to take on an independent crime drama, Nightcrawler, and a mountain climbing epic thriller, Everest, as reported by The Wrap.

Although further disappointment might come in learning that Nightcrawler will not in fact serve as Gyllenhaal's standalone X-Men origin story, the film does sound rather interesting: the story involves a criminal who becomes embedded in the underworld of Los Angeles crime journalism.

In a less Zodiac, more The Day After Tomorrow kind of spin, Gyllenhaal is also undertaking negotiations for Everest, a large-scale climb-for-your-life drama in which he could star opposite Josh Brolin and John Hawkes, both also in talks.

All this, plus Gyllenhaal's upcoming crime film Prisoners, in which he stars opposite Hugh Jackman. So weep not, Into the Woods fans. Yes, Gyllenhaal would have been a fine addition to Rob Marshall's cast, but he's got mountains to climb and nights to crawl. There ain't no time for woods to... go into.