Rendition DVD US release date and extras. And Jake talks about that Santa hat

The great news today is that Rendition now has a US release date, 19 February, just 6 days earlier than the UK release. We also have some details of extras which may, or may not, be different from those of the R2 edition. According to the site dvdactive 'This Gavin Hood directed thriller will be available to own from the 19th February, and should retail at around $28.98. The film itself will be presented in anamorphic widescreen, along with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track. Extra features will include an audio commentary (participants to be confirmed), a documentary, a making of featurette, and deleted and alternate scenes.'



My initial reaction is a big sigh of relief. This sounds like it will not be the bare bones release to which, after Brokeback Mountain and the initial release of Zodiac, we've had to become accustomed. I know I'm not alone in hoping and wishing that Jake Gyllenhaal is among the 'participants to be confirmed' and that he features heavily in the 'deleted and alternate scenes'. However, it is possible, of course, that Jake will feature in none of them.

Great thanks to an anonymous reader for the link. And to get us in the mood, I Heart Jake has posted these new publicity photos from Rendition.



Peter's experiences of living with Jake and Jake and That Hat

Brothers is not the only film that will have taken Jake to New Mexico. Jarhead was also filmed in part there, in Alamogordo to be precise. So this has had me thinking about Jake's experiences in filming this remarkable film, which took him and the other actors way beyond their comfort zone into unfamiliar and exhausting territory. Squabbles on the set are legendary, even descending into near or actual violence. An insight into what it was like from Jake's roomie Peter Sarsgaard who, having to share a room with him week in week out, was driven to wanting to block Jake right out of his head!



Peter told the New York Times Magazine (reported here by CNN) that, on having to spend time with Jake, '"I figured if I couldn't be around my girlfriend, I would settle for her brother."... Sarsgaard and Jake Gyllenhaal lived together for about five months during filming, mostly in a hotel in Mexico. "The idea was to simulate the military experience: what happens if you're forced to be with someone every minute of the day and night... And we fought. We'd have a fight and then we'd still have to be together. For a while, I would just wear headphones. All the time. That lasted for 10 days."'



This video, from a Variety Screening, features a question and answer session with Sam Mendes, Jake and Peter. Jake reveals that he didn't meet the original Tony Swofford at all during filming, and only met him a month before this interview at a photoshoot for Entertainment Weekly. They both then saw the film together in that very theatre and 'both sweated it out.' The gem of this video for me, though, is that we get to see Jake doing his marine impression, mimicking the marine consultants onset who would always criticise the way the actors looked or behaved (they thought the actors a 'sloppy mess' according to Jake), even in the infamous Santa hat scene. 'You would never wear your Santa hat like that. We'd never do it like that - we would wear it on the side! With a different tie, not a bow tie!' Actually, I don't think I have any complaints - it looked just fine to me.


The picture above is dedicated to the good friend who just loves this scene. Includes pictures from IHJ.