Jake: 'I wish those people could spend a day with me'

My copy of Mario Testino's Let Me In arrived in the wee hours of the morning and it is a book full of treats. In addition to the pictures posted here and across the net yesterday, I wanted to show you these. Firstly, there is the full picture of Jake kissing Kirsten (taken in Los Angeles in 2003), then there's Kirsten playing with Atticus (Los Angeles, 2004) and, finally, Heath and Helena Christensen (Los Angeles, 2006). Sadly, that's the only picture of Heath. (Forgive the quality of these pictures - I couldn't scan them without damaging the book.)




As for Mario Testino's photography, Nicole Kidman describes it in these terms: 'Among his many gifts is the ability to capture something about the sitter's essence, an immediacy, a shared moment. What's more he also makes you feel special, which is a lovely way to feel, especially under the scrutiny of a camera lens.'

Jake's take on Donnie

Along with Let Me In, I also received, at long last, a copy of Richard Kelly's The Donnie Darko Book. Many of you will have read Jake's foreward but it was new to me and I wanted to share a little bit of it here because it tells us something about Jake as well as about one of the most demanding and rewarding films ever made.


Jake: 'What is Donnie Darko about? I have no idea, at least not a conscious one. But somehow I've always understood it. The most amazing thing about making this movie, for me, was that no one - including the man from whose mind it emerged - ever had a simple answer to this question. And that, ironically, is the very thing the film is about. There is no single answer to any question. Every person's explanation differs according to how they were brought up, where they were brought up, who brought them up. This seems like a very simple answer to a perplexingly complex movie, but when you think about it, it gets to the very crux of what we all seem to take for granted: our own minds, how they differ, and that we are all entitled to our own interpretation.'


'When we were working, I would beg and plead with Richard to find one through-line and an understandable conclusion. He never would. Some could argue that this was detrimental to the film. And it might be to any other film. And there are those who would say that it was to this one. But I wish those people could spend a day with me sometime. So they could sit at a meal, or walk down the street when a total stranger walks up and starts a philosphical discussion about what eactly Donnie Darko is about. It makes my day every time. Because every time, I answer, 'I have no idea, what does it mean to you?''

At the moment, as we have discussed several times (and at least one of us has seen!), a stage production of Donnie Darko is playing near Boston. Here is a new review.


Another important review of Rendition

Today, the greatly respected journalist Robert Fisk gave his opinion of Rendition in The UK's Independent newspaper for which he is Middle East correspondent (there are spoilers in the review itself - although none here - so be warned before you click the link below). It is an extremely positive review of Rendition, which, although possibly published too late, is another example of acclaim from someone whose opinion is worth listening to.


'At university, we male students used to say that it was impossible to take a beautiful young woman to the cinema and concentrate on the film. But in Canada, I've at last proved this to be untrue. Familiar with the Middle East and its abuses – and with the vicious policies of George Bush – we both sat absorbed by Rendition, Gavin Hood's powerful, appalling testimony of the torture of a "terrorist suspect" in an unidentified Arab capital after he was shipped there by CIA thugs in Washington.'

'So is truth stranger than fiction? Or is Hollywood waking up – after Syriana and Munich – to the gross injustices of the Middle East and the shameless and illegal policies of the US in the region? Go and see Rendition – it will make you angry – and remember Arar. And you can take a beautiful woman along to share your fury.'


There are SPOILERS in the article so know that before you click on this link.

And finally... A small world

Natalie Portman is showing herself to be an actor driven by a compulsion to find the roles and films that matter and, if the films aren't there, she is prepared to produce and now even direct them herself. Incidentally, I think this bodes well for Brothers. Variety this week revealed that Natalie has signed 'a two-year production deal with Participant Prods. for her newly formed Handsomecharlie Films shingle. Banner's first project is "A Tale of Love and Darkness," on which Portman plans to make her feature helming debut.' The story is based on 'on the bestselling memoir of Amos Oz' and follows the formation of the Jewish state of Israel. Showing yet again what a small world this is, Jake's mother Naomi Foner is 'in negotiations to adapt the screenplay. That project, however, is not set up at Participant.'



Includes pictures from IHJ and Let Me In.