The promise of Jake - October Sky (continued)

We've been enjoying a discussion about October Sky, Jake's inspirational film from the dawn of his career in 1999, and, coincidentally, the film has been included in an article today in the Chicago Sun-Times e-newspaper, the Daily Southtown. This feature (which typicaaly now seens refiled on their website) has been prompted by the tragedy of the mine collapse in Utah on August 6, and selects October Skies, and films such as How Green Was My Valley and North Country, as examples of how filmmakers portray the reality of this most dangerous of professions and environments. (The pictures in this post are from the 2nd Annual Bridge Awards 2002 - held on 1 October 2001 - and the Movieline Young Hollywood Awards - held on 5 May 2002.)


Although many coalmines are now closed, due to economic and not human factors, films such as October Sky continue to be relevant as long as men work in the pits and their familes wait for them to return safely home. The comments to yesterday's post show that I am not the only person here proudly descended from good coalmining stock and, therefore, particularly and personally affected by watching Jake Gyllenhaal as Homer Hickam descend into the dirty dark pit. There was too much to say yesterday, so this is part two - please forgive the indulgence!


Aside from the value of October Sky as a reminder of the daily challenges and risks some face every working day of their lives, the film also resonates for its examination of the father and son relationship - it's not overly dramatic, there is right and wrong on both sides as Homer and John (Chris Cooper) endeavour, and usually fail, to understand one another. Here is a review from 1999: 'The relationship between father and son in October Sky is at times painful to watch. There are no winners or losers when sons go their separate ways. October Sky does not illustrate good parenting; rather, it evokes the realization that since parents have only a limited vision of how to shape their children's future, the job requires a huge amount of love and a lot of divine assistance.'


But almost above all else, October Sky is significant because it shows us the promise of Jake. Although a teenager and understandably enthusiastic at winning his first leading role, the young Jake was conscious of the real opportunites this film offered him. 'I think especially in this movie working with Laura Dern and Chris Cooper, when you work with people like that you get something from it. It's like a perpetual learning experience. It's like playing with a pro tennis player and they hit a ball and they hit a ball so hard and you just put up the racket up and you hit it back to them with so much force even though you don't do that much. Working with Chris Cooper there was that teaching. We would finish a scene and he always told me never have any regrets. We'd go through the first couple of takes of the scene and he'd come up and talk to me and told me" I don't think your listening to me " I said -"ok". I think that's the essence of acting really is listening, and I think being young and naive and green and all that stuff, you are not going to be able to do that all the time. I think regardless of age and experience, no one can do that all the time. So he would guide me through that.'


That October Sky should withstand passing years should not be surprising considering its inspirational message. As Jake said: 'I think what I liked about the script the most, like I said before, it was the metaphor of the dream and no matter how isolated someone is, they can fulfill their dream with passion and perseverance. And also what I wanted to play because this character has such a range of emotions and it really fascinated and interested me, and it's such the opposite of who I am as a person. And it intrigued me. I think the target audience is hopefully everybody. I don't think it's the kind of movie that's targeted to one specific audience, it can touch people of all ages.'


In 2001, it was clear that Jake was going to be not only a great movie star, but a sex symbol. Proving that you can never be too cute to be weird, Jake impressed his interviewer for having that 'certain whatever-it-is that spells stardom.' The feature ends by saying 'A self-professed "odd, wacky, weird kid" growing up, Gyllenhaal, 20, is playing the same kinds of characters. And that’s fine by him: "There should be more movies that say, ‘So you’re going through some abnormal shit? Hey, it’s just a part of growing up. Feeling like an oddball is OK.'"

Finally, in this look at Jake's earliest film while we await his latest, here's an article that dates from the filming of October Sky. Time had moved on and Coalwood in West Virginia had gone. Film makers instead had to look to Petros in East Tennessee and this feature looks at the town's transformation by Hollywood and shows what a good job was done.

Kind of going off topic in an on topic kind of way...


The picture above is gratuitous - I just like it!

Includes pictures from IHJ.