This Viral Clip Of Jake Gyllenhaal Surprising Owen Cooper With A Meaningful Gift Before The Emmys Is The Most Wholesome Thing You’ll See All Week
Meeting your idol and winning an Emmy within the space of 48 hours? At 15 years old? What a life.
Right now, everyone is obsessed with Owen Cooper, the breakout star of Adolescence, who just became the youngest male Emmy winner in history. But do you wanna know who Owen Cooper is obsessed with? Jake Gyllenhaal.
For context, throughout the Adolescence press tour this year, 15-year-old Owen has made no secret of his love for Jake, repeatedly describing him as his number one inspiration and “favorite actor of all time.”
In fact, even with all of the hype surrounding his Adolescence Emmy nomination, Owen confessed that he was most excited about the prospect of meeting Jake, who also received a nom for his lead performance in Presumed Innocent.
“He’s my number one,” Owen said during an interview with Jimmy Kimmel last Thursday, listing Jarhead, Prisoners, and Donnie Darko as his favourite performances from the actor. “If I’m sat next to him, he’s not gonna have a good night [because] I’m just gonna be talking to him the whole night…I could go on forever talking about him, honestly.”
Well, Owen didn’t have to wait long to cross paths with his idol, as two days later, he received a very exciting surprise visit — and yes, the whole thing was caught on video.
While taking part in a “fake” interview, Owen was asked: “If you were to meet Jake, what would you say?” and just as he began to reply, the man himself walked around the corner, prompting Owen to do the double-take of a lifetime.
This reaction is EVERYTHING.
Once the shock wore off a little, the two shared a big hug, and Jake — who notably started out as a child actor, too — presented Owen with a very meaningful gift.
“I have a present for you. I made this movie, and I got nominated for an Academy Award,” he said, referring to his Oscar nomination for Brokeback Mountain back in 2006. “A friend of mine sent me this before. Something just like this. It’s just a Lucky Duck to keep in your pocket. To give you a little bit of luck.”
“Wow,” Owen said as he unwrapped the little gold duck, which had been engraved for him. “Thank you. That means a lot.”
And while the Lucky Duck may not have worked for Jake in 2006, its magic certainly came through for Owen, whose history-making win on Sunday was one of the standout moments of the night.
Adorably, while speaking to Entertainment Tonight on the red carpet before the show, Owen showed off the Lucky Duck in his pocket and recalled his surreal meeting with Jake.
“It was one of the best days of my life, really,” he said, alongside his Adolescence co-star Ashley Walters. “I did a fake interview, and everything was set up. Everyone else knew except me, and my mum, and my dad…It was just mindblowing.”
Get your week off to a wholesome start and watch the full video here. Something tells me Owen’s gonna have plenty to talk about when he returns to school on Wednesday.