Jake - the thinking woman's sex symbol - and MV's Film Festival

Just today I rediscovered a Zodiac interview with Jake Gyllenhaal which contained some familiar answers, alongside other answers which were completely new to me, and one or two of Jake's answers fit in very well with our long-running discussions, including our conversation about music and what it means to us. So it seemed very fitting to put this out there. Another reason would be that this interview contains a couple of my very favourite Gyllenquotes.


And these favourite quotes relate to Jake and intelligent women. Irresistible. For instance, when asked if he is happy to be a gay icon, Jake replies "I'm comfortable with whatever status. I am really happy that people have taken to the movies I've done and I think it's really flattering just as there's supposedly an intellectual female audience that are interested. Someone said to me, 'You’re the thinking woman's sex symbol' and I said, 'Well that would mean every woman, right?' (laughs) I mean, doesn’t everyone think?" And as for what Jake is looking for in a woman: "Hmmm, what do I appreciate in a woman? Obviously there has to be an unknown, untold chemistry that I couldn't really explain to you and that probably has something to do with just something inherent in the way the two of us were brought up. And then also, there's intelligence and sense of humour, and I do have to admit somehow honestly there are times when I do like an audience, so... (smiles) a little bit of that also is not bad."

Form an orderly line. It's interesting how Jake connects that 'untold chemistry' with upbringing.


I do think that Jake is well aware that he is a sex symbol even though his response to being asked that is to laugh and say "I don't know what I am. I really just pick these things. I’m lucky enough to get them." Jake knows that his fanbase is broad, varied and definitely unique: "of course I've had a lot of young girls come up to me and they're so cute and so sweet and I'm so flattered and of course... it happens a lot with them and it's pretty cool that the same day you'll go to a street fair and a guy who has no pants on, like his butt cheeks are coming out of his leather pants, and he says he likes my movie too. So it's a pretty interesting existence (laughs)." I'll bet.


I also wonder if Jake's view of the paparazzi may be changing so that he now feels more strongly about it than just considering it an issue of public safety: "I mean nothing's really happened to me except times when it becomes dangerous for other people like a guy might run over a kid trying to take a photograph. That to me is totally unacceptable. That's what bothers me when it's a public safety issue. But everything else comes with the job and people's opinions come with the job. They're all weird things."


Jake has more than demonstrated an interest in music lately, with the whole Rufus show (definitely backing up his statement above that there are times when he needs an audience) and with the rumours that he is reading for the musical Promises, Promises next month. Here, Jake argues that although every actor says he is also a singer, he really is! "Well, I think every actor says they're a singer. I don't know any actor who doesn't. They claim to be, every actor wants to be a rock star and every rock star wants to be an actor, which is probably true. But I've been singing all my life. My band, which broke up, was called Holeshot, and it was like rock, fusion kinda like, a little bit of like, I guess you could say influence like jazz. I love to play music."


"I love Tom Waits, I really love Tom Waits, I love Radiohead, I love Belle and Sebastian. I love so many and every time I remember answering this question and I go to my CD collection, I'm like, 'Oh! I should have said this, and I should have said that!' Because there are so many bands that I love so much, but those are the ones that are in my head."


Jake is asked what he does outside the movies: "I used to play football here and there, but I don't any more. I really like to sail, actually. My family has a house in Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, and we've had it since I was very little, so, I've sort of been on the ocean as a lifeguard from when I was like, 16 to 18." I had no idea that Jake liked to sail.




This brings me onto Martha's Vineyard. Not that long ago we had a lively discussion about what island life is like on MV and what an idyllic place it can be to spend a summer and recharge those batteries. At the moment, at Chilmark, the island is celebrating its Independent Film Festival's summer series. Now in it's fourth year, this festival is a continuation of Martha's Vineyard International Festival, and presents two feature films - one for children and one for older audiences - each Wednesday during July and August. I particularly like the idea that this festival doesn't make exclusions and involves all ages, giving both age groups their own films to enjoy.

The festival opened on 11 July - rather bizarrely in my opinion, with a film on 'birth as medical emergency or natural process' and included a panel discussion with doctors and midwives. The festival is closed on 29 August by Jake's mother Naomi Foner, who will give a talk, with clips, demonstrating how a screenplay is transformed during the filmmaking process by 'directors, studio executives and actors'.


The festival only exists, according to its organiser, because the community wants it and it is financially supported by local businesses and shops. It also provides a unique opportunity for islanders and summer visitors to mix: "My idea was to really mix the crowds... They're side by side watching a powerful film and that, to me, is very exciting." According to the Martha's Vineyard Times, organiser Mr Bena is as 'committed to creating community as he is to screening top-notch films... To enhance the opportunity for people to gather and socialize, meals and snacks will be served, continuing the tradition of the March festival. Danielle Dominick and her Scottish Bakehouse crew will provide the food, much of it organic and homegrown. And, Mr. Bena promises, there will be real popcorn from the newly acquired popcorn maker.' The whole event sounds marvellous on a whole range of levels.


Includes pictures from JJ and IHJ.