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Jake Gyllenhaal returns to the big screen this coming December in the new film ‘Stronger,’ which tells the true story of a man who was severely injured in the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.

Gyllenhaal plays Jeff Bauman, a young man who lives with his alcoholic mother Patty (played by Miranda Richardson) and is in an off and on relationship with Erin (Tatiana Maslany). On the day of the Boston Marathon, Jeff goes to cheer on Erin near the finish line when he, along with several other people, becomes victims of the bomb attacks by brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who planted two bombs along the route. So ‘Stronger’ details Jeff’s injuries, both physical and emotional, and his relationship with Erin in a film that is both touching, sentimental, very dramatic and inspirational.

It’s just another role in which Gyllenhaal excels in playing; a man who has to deal with adversity in the wake of tragic events, and who has to overcome a lot just to get to the other side. Gyllenhaal was brutal, buffed and mean in the boxing film ’Southpaw,’ making us almost believe that he was a real-life boxer. Gyllenhaal convincingly played a soldier in ‘Jarhead,’ a soldier caught in the chaos that was Operation Desert Storm. And Gyllenhaal was superb, and creepy, as a Los Angeles photographer in the acclaimed film ’Nightcrawler.’ But it was Gyllenhaal’s performance in 2005’s ‘Brokeback Mountain’ that brought Gyllenhaal a multitude of fans, and awards (and his sole Oscar nomination), in his role as a cowboy who falls in love with another cowboy. His performance was so nuanced and textured that it made it extremely hard to accept what happens to his character in the end. Gyllenhaal can take roles on, and be successful, dramatically changing, when he needs to, his appearance, or by just being himself. It’s the Gyllenhaal way.

‘Stronger’ opens in UK cinemas on December 8, 2017.