Jake Gyllenhaal gave what sounds like a rather difficult interview where he made it very clear that he's not a fan of questions about ex-girlfriend Taylor Swift.

The actor, who is well-known for remaining guarded about his personal life, made it clear he had no intention of opening up about details of his past relationships when promoting new film Life.

Speaking to Tim Jonze of the Guardian, Gyllenhaal sounded as though he was on good form at the beginning of the chat, but things quickly went downhill.

Gyllenhaal first appeared to feel that the journalist interviewing him was not giving enough respect to the "craft" of acting, after the pair spoke about the lengths he goes to transform himself for a particular role.

The actor, who is set to appear in the sci-fi/horror film Life about a six-person crew on the International Space Station that discovers life outside Earth, is known to go to extreme physical and mental lengths when preparing for a character.

But when the interview touched on his personal life and whether he felt there was some irony in him wanting to keep certain aspects of it private when he dated Taylor Swift - who infamously uses her personal life for her work - things got noticeably chilly.

"I think when you're in a relationship, you are constantly scrutinised, your friends are scrutinised, but..." Gyllenhaal began, before apparently trailing off and just silently staring at Jonze until the latter asked if he had heard the songs by Swift said to be about him.

"I would love not to talk about my personal life," he responded, and the interview was moved on... not without a few more digs from Gyllenhaal.

You can read the full interview here.

The awkward moment recalls a recent interview with Tom Hiddleston, who also dated Swift, where he implied that he would really like it if the press stopped asking him about her.