Brokeback Tears, Rendition Truffles and Caviar and Batmobiles

We've been chatting here in recent days about our own experiences of watching Brokeback Mountain with those we love - not something anyone would do without a handful of hankies - or one would have thought. In the August edition of Marie Claire, Anne Hathaway reminisces about the time she watched Brokeback : "I didn’t stop [crying] for an hour. And Kirsten Dunst, who was going out with Jake, was like two rows behind me, and [Jake Gyllenhaal’s sister] Maggie Gyllenhaal was right behind me, and we were all crying so hard; my boyfriend offered Maggie his handkerchief, and she was sharing it with Kirsten. And I’m thinking, That’s my boyfriends–can I have my Kleenex that you bitches are using?” I'm surprised that Jake's ladies didn't think to bring some tissues with them - but it's slightly more disturbing that Anne should want the rag back...


In Times Online, in December 2005, Jake remembered with tears in his eyes about the time he saw the film with his parents: 'Gyllenhaal arranged a special screening of Brokeback for his parents recently, and by the end of it they were in a heap, like a collapsed scrum. "They were both in tears," he says, looking decidedly glum again, before immediately brightening up. "Hey, maybe they were crying out of embarrassment."' I doubt that, Jake - and thanks to a good friend for reminding me and us of the link for this favourite interview.


In Marie Claire, Anne also discusses her pride in being part of Brokeback Mountain: “I had such a cool experience. I Was like, Hells to the yeah. If this is possible once, it is worth striving for the rest of my life–to be part of something that is so beautiful and smart, that is the best this medium can be.”

Rendition

As the Canadian media prepares itself for an influx of stars at the Toronto Film Festival this September, the Vancouver Sun has published an interview with the producer of Rendition, Bob Shaye, who is founder, co-chairman and co-CEO of New Line Cinema. It's an interesting interview and allows Shaye the opportunity to describe the pressure of having been the producer of the hugely successful Lord of the Rings trilogy - the problem being, you don't want to clog your audience's arteries with too rich a diet. I like a man who thinks in terms of food analogies.

'"You don't want to put too much caviar and truffles into the mix," he says, explaining that it may cost too much and not taste good. By the same token, no one wants an endless hamburger diet... Right now, Shaye says he's got a truffle and caviar movie called Rendition that just wrapped, but he's not worried about box-office or the menu price. The movie stars Meryl Streep, Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon, which practically guarantees an audience of erudite movie fans and a nomination during awards season.'


Meanwhile back in Gotham City

The good people of Chicago have been warned off the streets by my old favourite The Chicago Sun-Times. It seems Heath Ledger and Christian Bale will be in hot pursuit of each other and, possibly, one of them at least will be in the secret Batmobile. So if you live around Chicago you might want to avoid or seek out (depending on whether you're a fan or not) 'Lower and Upper Wacker drives over the next several weeks [where scenes will be filmed] involving dozens of squad cars, fire trucks, SWAT vans, helicopters and pyrotechnics. The filming will last from dusk to dawn and cover miles of roadway.' The script for these scenes is strictly under lock and key so speculation is rife as to whether everyone ends up in the river.


Sounds like a lot of fun to me - I can see why Maggie Gyllenhaal wanted to be a part of this project. As she told the Living Scotsman this week: "The part came up and something about it just appealed to me," she says. "It was just well-written and fun. And the opportunity to work with [director] Christopher Nolan and an actor like Christian Bale was just to good to pass up."

Pictures from IHJ.