Jake snaps over Taylor question

They may be ancient history, but Jake Gyllenhaal still doesn’t want to talk about his relationship with Taylor Swift!

The 36-year-old is doing the promo rounds for his new flick Life, and one particularly ballsy reporter, from UK publication The Guardian, made the mistake of asking him about his famous ex, who he dated from October 2010 until January 2011.

The journo, Tim Jonze, eases into things by asking vague questions first.

He writes that he asked Jake if he “considers himself intensely private”, to which the actor shoots back: “Well, aren’t you?”

“I have a firm belief that I enter space with an open heart and a mind that’s strong enough to protect it,” the actor continues. “I’m not necessarily guarded, but I consider intimacy to be very important and I don’t think everybody needs to know about my family or my personal details. I’m old school in that way.”

Either missing or deliberately ignoring this very big warning sign to back off, Jonze continues pressing the point, bringing up Jake's ex Taylor, 27.

“One of his former girlfriends, Taylor Swift, is renowned for using past relationships as source material in her songs,” he writes in the Guardian story. “For someone so intensely private, wasn’t it playing with fire a little to start dating her?”

Jake comes back with: “I think when you’re in a relationship, you are constantly scrutinised, your friends are scrutinised, but…” before “shrugging”.

But Jonze is like a dog with a bone and goes in for one last try, boldly asking whether Jake has listened “to any of the many songs rumoured to be about him”. We’ve gotta applaud this guy’s guts!

The question is met with silence before Jake says, “I would love to not talk about my personal life.”

“I would love to talk about the movie,” he continues with a “cold smile”.

Struck a nerve then Jake?!

He’s the second Taylor ex to get cranky in an interview, with Tom Hiddleston also clamming up in a recent interview.

While appearing on US breakfast show Today, the 36-year-old made clear what was for public consumption and what wasn't when it came to his career and love life.

RELATED: Tom gets 'testy' about Taylor
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“You know, I make a clear distinction between my work, which I absolutely dedicate myself to, which is for the public...,” Tom told host Savannah Guthrie.

“I really believe in that relationship between an actor and the audience; you can’t call yourself an actor without the public, and my private life is private.”

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