Sunday 16 March 2008

Naomi's gift to Jake - 'I thrive on the process of getting this stuff right'

Yesterday was the birthday of screenwriter and Gyllenhaal matriarch Naomi Foner. I was unable to do a birthday post yesterday - or indeed do much of a post about anything - so, to make amends, here are a couple of articles about Naomi, from which it is clear that Jake's questioning of the gifts and challenges life throws at him, as well as the depth behind the roles he wears as close-fitting suits, have wise roots. I hope Naomi had a wonderful day.


In this article, from the end of 2005 in the LA Times, the signpost to Naomi's house is a Jarhead billboard. Naomi here discusses the conflict that she felt between being a mother and wife - unfashionable roles at that time and in that circle - and putting her creative energy into her career. Her family won and, as such, Naomi has had to deal with some unfavourable reviews and difficult projects while at the same time raising two children who are among the best in their profession and are reaping rewards.



The feature discloses: 'But like every mother she worries, about whether the environment she and her husband created funneled the children in to the acting world, about whether her own feelings of frustration with the industry made the kids feel they somehow had to make it big for Mom... "I made a lot of mistakes... believe me, I was not a perfect mother, as they will tell you. But I do think that a gift I can give them is the idea that it's never too late to do the work. Because life doesn't only go in one direction."'

As for Jake: 'From the time he could talk, Foner says, Jake didn't have a chance. "We knew he was going to be an actor since the time he was tiny," she says. "We figured he would just run away and join Saturday Night Live".'


In this quote from IMDb, in the aftermath of The Day After Tomorrow, Jake revealed that having a screenwriter as a mother, with the high standards she demanded and had impressed on her son, had led Jake to be a bit of a troublemaker on set: 'The Donnie Darko actor, 23, loved starring in the big-budget disaster movie, but on several occasions refused to say some of the lines in the script and suggested new ones. Gyllenhaal says, "There were a couple of instances where I said, 'No way am I saying that line!' and they rewrote it.' There won't be any subtitle saying, 'Sorry, these guys don't sound like real human beings, but they just didn't have the balls to say the dialogue sucked." And Gyllenhaal knows more about screenwriting than most actors - his mother Naomi Foner is a writer. Gyllenhaal continues, "Coming from a family where my mom is a writer, I just respond to how people speak. I thrive on the process of getting this stuff right. It drove them crazy, but it was fun. You have to entertain yourself when you're spending seven months in Montreal."'


In November 2005, IGN asked Naomi 10 Questions, and from this I learned that Naomi had been a content producer for Sesame Street! The ten questions are all about Naomi's favourites - music, books, TV, film and much more. I was delighted to see that Naomi's favourite programme is West Wing and interested that her favourite book is Salinger's Franny and Zooey.


The eleventh (for luck) question is which of her kids' films does Naomi love the most: 'Jarhead is just fabulous, isn't it? But, well, why don't we just say this: All my kid's movies are my favorite films. Everything they do is pretty great to me, because I'm their mother.'


Jarhead isn't just a favourite of Jake's mother - it's a favourite here too. There have been posts in recent weeks about the selection of locations for Jake's most recent film - Brothers - and for his potential next film Nailed. In this video interview for Arizona Family, Jake and director Sam Mendes discuss what it was like filming in the dunes outside Yuma, Arizona, and in the far more remote regions of Baja, Mexico.


As Sam says: 'Yuma was one of the places that was close to civilisation - a party venue compared to Mexico!... We shot in a lot of places that looked the same and in Mexico we were a 75-minute drive from the nearest electricity.'


Jake continues: 'We shot in Mexico, we shot on this dry lake bed for two and a half weeks in Mexico, and mirage all around you for 360 degrees, and I just remember kind of after about a week and a haf thinking, none of us were talking to each other, we were all.... and we just couldn't.... I remember thinking to myself being in this for months and months on end, having to stay together, having to fight, having to save people's lives, thinking of killing people, I mean just all those other aspects involved. I was just - I was there shooting a movie and it was hard!'


You can find many more details about the locations for Jarhead, including others in California, and the big problem that rain posed in the desert, here.



Includes pictures from IHJ and Just Jared.

19 comments:

*good girl* said...

*still trying to recover from seeing my beloved Swoff half naked...something I can never get used too apparently* ...so..! Thank you WDW for another great post!

It's always interesting to know more about Jake's family too, I can't tell how I love them, the pics of them together: a close family is something so important to me and I'm sure that if Jake is the beautiful person he is, it's also thanks to his warm and caring family :)

Anonymous said...

A very happy birthday to a woman that I admire greatly. I see kindness and intelligence in her eyes. Every mother goes through that thing where they think they've been a bad mother but as mothers we are also human , vulnerable and fallable and we try to live up to the expectations of superwoman that children and husbands/partners expect us to be. If Jake is any tiny reflection of the devotion, love, care that Naomi clearly gave to her children then take it Naomi and give yourself ten thousand pats on the back milady :-).

I love watching new undiscovered videos of Jake expressing himself - at times - eloquently LOL. Where do you find these gems? Thank you so much for this journey of uncharted discovery of Jake.

Wet Dark and Wild said...

Hi there Sonia :D I'm glad you like a Swoffy post! I love to see pics of Jake with his family too and it's interesing to learn more about what made Jake the incredible young man he is.

Thanks for that wonderful comment, Sheba. That's a great tribute to Naomi, whom I'm sure, as you say, will always doubt her abilities because of her intelligence. It's interesting to think about what it must be like to have two children, still so young, who have exceeded all expectations - creating all sorts of other worries for a parent. And what an environment too.

Thank you so much for being on the journey with me - I'm glad you liked the video :)

Anonymous said...

Great post! Naomi sounds like a really wise woman, and yet, a very real mother as well :)

I love the bit where Jake tried to change the script! I guess he just couldn't help it.... mmmm.... no way can he stand to be in some idiotic rom-com then? I just watched "Wedding Daze" last night (over dinner), what an awful movie, i feel embarrassed for the actors, having to say those lame lines...

Mmmm.... did you notice that Peter and Sam Mendes have almost the same "physique"? lol

Wet Dark and Wild said...

Hi winterbird :D Jake's a credit to Naomi. I liked that about Jake meddling with the script too! He must've been a real pain but it's funny to think that he was committed enough to ask for changes while being cheeky enough to enjoy asking :D That's true about Peter and Sam!

Anonymous said...

Yes, agreed, an incredible journey WDW.

The piece in LA Times was terrific - kudos to Mary McNamara staff writer of that paper. Intelligence abounding, hers and Naomi's. Loved the domment, "the kid's got a billboard, for gods sake I can stop worrying.

Y'know, I felt sort of the same way when I saw him on the cover of Esquire, lookin so fine and confident and mature.

I identify with her strongly. And WDW our sense and appreciation of Jake is made even more full. Yay!

Gonna watch Lovely and Amazing once more before it goes back to NFlix.

Anonymous said...

double post again. honestly! I dont think it was my fault.

but will apologize anyway, since maybe it was.

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday, Naomi!

From what I've seen and read, I just love Naomi's creativity. Sesame Street was one of the most creative children's programs ever, I remember watching it with my baby brother and marveling at how clever it was, I wasn't that old either. LOL :)

Wet Dark and Wild said...

Hi Pia - it's such a good article. And I loved the poetry of having the road to Naomi's house lined with Jake billboards. This sort of article really does make me appreciate Jake more, impossible as that may seem. Enjoy the film.

Bogger's causing no end of problems at the mo deleting or eating comments - but rarely both at the same time. I'll delete the duplicate.

Hey there Bertie :D I remember Sesame Street too - it's so strange thinking Jake would have probably watched this as a little kid and known his mum helped make it :)

twistedlogic said...

Interesting stuff about Naomi. I have to admit, she seems a bit scary and intimidating to me, but without her there'd be no Jake and none of us would be here, so we owe her big time:)
The Jarhead video won't work for me,so I'm going to stick the DVD on instead. The deleted TV interviews are due another viewing after chatting about them yesterday;D

Anonymous said...

Hey WDW! I'm just checking in ,actually,there's so much I want to read and absorb in this post and I've got my dopey head on tonight,so I'll save the lowdown on Momma Gyllenhaal,God bless her,until tomorrow.

Just wanted to say what a wonderful set of photographs you've chosen for this post. I love to see Jake with his family (very much including the four legged and furry variety! Ache for Jake every time I see a pic of him and Boo ;-( ). I'm so thankful to be part of a close and supportive family and it's good to know that Jake gets such joy from his folks too and that they're a reliable safety net for him whenever the going gets rough.

Naomi's face is such a serene study of maternal love and pride as she and Stephen look on beaming while Jake laughs with the lovely James Schamus. Just gorgeous!Here's another birthday toast to a special lady!

Wet Dark and Wild said...

Evening TL! Tat sounds like a very good reason for doffing our hats to Naomi :D Sorry to hear the video doesn't work for you :( Enjoy Jarhead - I love those deleted scenes, the Making of is my favourite bit.

Hi Nadine - take it easy if you're foggy-headed. I'm glad you like the pictures, I took some time to pic them. I thought twice before posting the Boo photograph but it's so tender. The picure of Naomi looking on in such pride at Jake with Schamus is one of my absolute favourites. I hope you feel a little better tomorrow :)

Anonymous said...

This is on the subject of Naomi worryng that her kids felt bound to be successful FOR HER. (I have a feeling the G family hearts their therapists)

My own little kiddo was pretty cute, like Jake - went to Little Red School House on Bleecker St and Sixth Avenue, leftie private school, so I guess Sesame Street went to them for stuff for their show and my kiddo's big splashy picture of a rainbow was an intro to Sesame Street on a show about rainbows. I was so proud, but my daugther got quite mad saying I was only proud because she was "famous" for her "babyish" rainbow painting and not because of who she really was. Agggghhhh!
Gimme a break!

Wet Dark and Wild said...

Thanks for sharing that, Pia. I've not been a mother, just a daughter, but I know so often I've said the wrong thing. And Naomi's relationship with her two is such a public one. And all being in the same business, it can't have been easy at times.

Anonymous said...

My favorite quote about Naomi was that somebody asked Stephen what it was like to be married to the same woman for 25(?) years, and he replied, "She isn't the same woman."

She seems like somebody who has never stopped being engaged with life, justice and the creative process, who has somehow managed to bring her authentic self into the frequently self-less process of raising kids, and who has not shied away from growth and change and self-discovery even (especially) in the presence of multiple successful and famous family members.

Happy Birthday Naomi!

-Libby

Wet Dark and Wild said...

Hi Libby - thanks for that great comment - you're right, Naomi's never been afraid of the battles in life and has impressed the same in her wonderful kids. Also now she may feel the need to reassert herself in the face of these famous family members, now that they're grown, and she has the support to do it. She's done a good job :)

paulh said...

Hi, everyone.

Naomi's job is by no means finished. She continues to write screenplays. I'm very excited about "Grace" (a film about Grace metallious, the author of Peyton Place), and a script about Victoria Woodhull. I hope Naomi will someday win an Oscar for her work.

*good girl* said...

Between phonecalls, the boss calling me every 2 minutes and files I have to prepare, I'm trying to finish reading the beautiful article about Naomi, which I couldn't read yesterday :-/

Well I just wanted to use the occasion to wish you all a great Monday and whole week aswell ;)

xoxo Sonia

Wet Dark and Wild said...

Hi there Paul - I'm looking forward to seeing these projects myself. Like many women whose children are grown Naomi's going through a renewed period of creativity and productivity and I wish her huge success.

Morning Sonia - have a great Monday and week too - I hope work doesn't get in the way too much :D

Have a good Monday everyone!