Jake - 'Feelings never killed anybody'

Everyday, London's free newspaper, Metro, features a '60 Second Interview' with a well known figure. Today was the turn of popular young Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers. He had this to say about actresses: "I can’t stand actresses who won’t take their clothes off. It drives me nuts. I want to cut their ears off. If it says in the script you’re naked, be naked, instead of moaning and saying: ‘I really don’t want to show my tits, I don’t want to show my arse.’" And about fame: "I couldn’t give a toss. I just want to do the work I do and get paid better money."

I had two reactions to this interview, the first of which isn't repeatable. The second was to thank heavens for Jake Gyllenhaal, another young actor, but one who, whilst no doubt being ambitious, treats his profession, his career choices and his fellow actors with respect and good humour. So by comparison, here is Jake's '60 Second Interview', which dates from January 2006. Some of the answers are familiar to me, but there are others that aren't.


Q: Did your role in Jarhead make you question your mortality?
J: No. I've had people very close to me die recently and that's made me question my mortality. This didn't do that as much as it made me realise that no matter what I feel, it's OK. Feelings never killed anybody.

Q: Sam Mendes directed the film. Does he shout on set?
J: He did once and we still joke with him about it. There were 1,000 extras and no one was listening to [actor] Chris Cooper. Sam just felt there needed to be a bit of respect, so he got up on stage and shouted: 'Shut the f*** up!'

Q: There's speculation Jarhead and Brokeback Mountain will see you nominated for Oscars. How do you feel about that?
J: There's a lot of talk about things like that when you work with directors such as Ang Lee or Sam Mendes because they are expected to win Oscars. Frankly, you don't say no to either of them. You beg them, no matter what it is you're going to be doing in their films - whether it's wearing a Santa cap over your dick [in Jarhead] or making love to Heath Ledger [in Brokeback Mountain].


Q: Did your co-stars give you grief about that Santa hat scene?
J: When you spend that much time in such close quarters with people, if someone's wearing a Santa hat on their dick, it's kind of like 'whatever'.

Q: The film is based on a book by ex-marine Anthony Swofford. What's your favourite book?
J: JD Salinger's Franny And Zooey.

Q: What about Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye? Your character in 2002's The Good Girl was obsessed with it.
J: I've read that many times. I went on a family vacation to Hawaii when I was 12 and my sister [actress Maggie Gyllenhaal] gave it to me for Christmas. I couldn't put it down. My production company is called Nine Stories Productions, a homage to Salinger's book of short stories.


Q: Your mother Naomi Foner is a screenwriter. Did you meet big stars when you were a child?
J: Paul Newman taught me how to drive. When I was 15, my mum was writing a script with him and we went out to the racetrack. He threw me in the passenger seat and started driving. We're 100ft from a wall, going 60 miles an hour and he hits the brake and turns the wheel - and the car spins three times. Then he turns to me and goes: 'That was what you don't do.'

Q: Your father Stephen is a director. Was there any possibility of you not following him in the family business?
J: Probably not. Acting was always a passion of mine but now I'm thinking there may be things that I'm just as interested in.

Q: Like what?
J: Cooking is just as much of a passion. My best friend is a chef and all my closest friends are chefs. I think performing has always been a big thing for me and I think cooking is another type of performance.


Q: Do you think you'll ever give up acting?
J: Maybe. My friend Peter [Sarsgaard, his Jarhead co-star and his sister's fiancé] taught me that whatever you are feeling is OK. If you are acting and you don't want to act, then fine. Peter said he's been treating his talent like it was a two-cent whore. He's having his way with it and not appreciating it. Whatever you are doing, if you lose an appreciation for it, it's time to rethink that.


Q: Young women seem to like you. Are you a sex symbol?
J: [Laughs] I don't know what I am. I know I was kind of an It-guy for a long time.

Q: You're also popular with gay people thanks to Brokeback Mountain. Are you comfortable with that?
J: I'm comfortable with whatever status I have. I've been called 'the thinking woman's sex symbol' but doesn't every woman think? A lot of young girls come up to me and they're so cute and sweet. Then I might be at a street fair and a guy with his butt cheeks hanging out of his trousers will tell me he likes my movie. It's a pretty interesting existence.

Q: Do you and your sister compare notes?
J: All the time. I'd phone Maggie while we were making Jarhead and say: 'I'm feeling this way and I don't understand.' And she'd say: 'But that sounds perfect for the film.' She came to the set and said: 'I have some notes if you want to hear them.' I was like, 'YESSS!'


Maggie wants to make a difference

While Maggie has not been afraid to shed clothes for key roles in movies such as Sherry Baby and Secretary, exploring the nature of female sexuality with great honesty, bravery and merit, she would definitely set Meyers straight on the value of actresses. That actresses are not employed just to provide decoration for a film or to titillate the audience, or actors such as Meyers.

Not surprisingly, Maggie is one of the actors who has been supporting the writers' strike in America. She is one of several well known figures who is to record a video, offering solidarity with the writers and highlighting the issues behind the action. 'The spots will begin appearing on Thursday morning which will begin posting Thanksgiving Day and run exclusively on DeadlineHollywood.com through Sunday night. Beginning Monday, they will be found on SpeechlessWithoutWriters.com with links on UnitedHollywood.com and every day thereafter during the duration of the strike.' Other names include Susan Sarandon, Minnie Driver, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Tim Robbins.


This isn't the only cause that interests Maggie at the moment; the New York Observer published an interview that they recorded with Maggie when she attended an event at the Longchamp salon recently in NYC. Like many women (and men), Maggie shows that she enjoys clothes, fashion and shopping: '“It’s okay to think about clothes as long as you think about other things... Otherwise it’s pretty problematic.”... But she didn't mean fashion can't be deep. She said shopping provides an opportunity to "think about who you are." “I think that’s the pleasure in it for me." I like the way that Maggie combines a social conscience with an enjoyment of the benefits and pleasures that her success offers, including shopping and clothes.

'“A lot of the things I try to work on, I hope, say something about the troubled world we’re living in. I think it’s undeniable that the world is in a really chaotic and violent place right now,” Ms. Gyllenhaal said. Lately, she has been particularly concerned about the mounting civil unrest in Pakistan, where President Pervez Musharraf has declared emergency rule. “I think it’s everyone’s responsibility to do everything they can to help sort out as much as they possibly can."'


We also learn that Maggie has finished her stint on The Dark Knight and is now a free agent. “I also have a baby! So I’m not actually dying to rush off and work, but I’m looking for something.”'

CWG's evening with David Fincher

As we hoped, CWG was at the Evening with David Fincher and has given her first hand account in the comments to the previous post - thank you very much! It's interesting to hear how intimate the setting was, with seats for only about 200 people. This sounds like an extraordinary occasion to see the Director's Cut of Zodiac. And now I want to see it even more than ever.


Includes pictures from IHJ. Interview from Metro.