Jake Gyllenhaal enjoyed being under pressure during the making of 'The Guilty'.

The 40-year-old actor stars in Antoine Fuqua's crime thriller as LAPD officer Joe Baylor – who is in a call centre dealing with crimes in Los Angeles. Jake is heavily featured in the movie and admits that he liked the challenge of making the project across 11 days in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.

Jake said: "After years of making films, I'm always thrilled by a different way of doing things. With more challenges, it gets more interesting."

The actor argues that 'The Guilty' is different from a typical film and believes that audiences will enjoy it as it makes them use their imaginations.

The 'Brokeback Mountain' star told Variety: "I think 'The Guilty' is for people who love movies because it strips away all of the things we're used to in movies and it forces us to use our imagination.

"Now in films we're shown everything, but implication and mystery are so important and this movie is filled with them. A lot of movies are overt, and 'The Guilty' is all subtext."

Gyllenhaal explained how the movie became a red-hot property following the death of George Floyd last year and the star felt it was the perfect time to tell the story which centres on crime in a US city.

He said: "Everyone was looking for a contained movie with few characters. It seemed well on its way but then George Floyd was killed.

"All the movie's undercurrents made everyone think, 'Maybe we shouldn't tell this story now.'

"These are the moments when you should tell stories like this, not run away from them."

Jake added: "I think it's a special film. I don't think it's what people expect. I really hope people see it."