More to Nailed than meets the eye - 'If you're not laughing you're not getting it'

It may not just have been me who woke up this morning with that Monday morning sinking feeling, wishing I had an alarm clock with a more pleasant beep. No, because today it's very possible that Jake Gyllenhaal is back at work. No more late nights down the pub or watching a black and white movie in the small hours with a pizza and a few cans. Now it's all early morning starts and hanging around for hours while the sun sinks into the right position. But I'm grateful because this means we're going to get another movie.


Although, as far as I'm aware, Jake has not yet been sighted in South Carolina himself, his co-star Jessica Biel - now to become a familiar figure to us - was seen eating out in Charleston over the weekend, saying that she would be filming there for a few days this week. Elsewhere, there was a sighting by another IMDb poster of the Nailed production crew hard at work, albeit starless, at WIS News in Columbia where a news segment was filmed. Another report suggests the production will also be at the Columbia statehouse for a few days this week.

In an interesting twist on the post here yesterday about the hard work states put in to enticing film productions away from LA and California, it came to light today that South Carolina almost lost Nailed at the last minute because the Commerce Director, Joe Taylor, didn't agree with the morals of a sexual comedy. 'It actually took maneuvering around the Secretary and confronting the legislature directly that was crucial in landing the film in Columbia. It was so bad that last week the Senate apparently had to have a committee meeting calling members of the Film Commission, the Commerce Department and the film itself to count before it to discuss the film - including the Film's Director.'


It's a strange state of affairs when commerce directors take it upon themselves to make moral judgements about what time of film can be made in their state, to the extent that they would turn the business away. After all the hassle of having to justify his film at the twelfth hour, it makes one wonder if David Russell would bother making a movie in South Carolina again. Read more here.


Speaking of David Russell, there has been some alarm that David has been known to give his actors (ie Lily Tomlin) a bit of a roasting but, with big thanks to Sheba, it's now clear that there is more to the relationship between David and Jake than I first thought. It turns out that both David and Jake studied under Professor Robert Thurman at Columbia and it appears that Russell is at least well known to Jake's mother, Naomi (see below). There is evidence from interviews by both David and Jake that the ideas they developed under the nurturing of Thurman still influence their lives and one can imagine some earnest conversations when the cameras turn off in South Carolina. Bob Thurman is, of course, Uma's father.


When David Russell was asked about his Huckabees film (starring Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin), he came out with some quotes, which are almost worthy of Jake Gyllenhaal himself. For instance: 'All I am saying is that it is good to stretch, it's good to try to push yourself a little bit and talking about the tenth dimension or talking about infinity is, to me, a very useful thing, it relaxes me, it makes me feel more alive. The people that do this are my heroes, I think you have to be a hero to get beyond the conventional shit on a daily basis because it is uncomfortable. So, you may be asking now, like I was, "When does it stop and when does it start? When do you think people can find a perfect balance in their life regarding these things?" I think everybody has to decide that for themselves. If I was running around like Jim Morrison, then you could say that's out of balance. I think if it makes you more open and more relaxed then that is a good thing, ultimately. More open to more people and less uptight about yourself, that's a good thing.'


Just compare all that with Jake's account of what Donnie Darko (never a film to be described in easy terms) means to him. I can honestly say I am none the wiser: 'When I read the script I was in college studying eastern religions - Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, basically - and the issues in the movie were metaphysically similar to things I was thinking about at the time." His course, taught by Robert Thurman (Uma's father), dealt with "ideas of illusion and absolute realities"; similarly, the film shows Donnie in a somnambulistic state, caught between real life and a dream.


'"That half-conscious state when dreams feel completely real is fascinating to me. At the end of the film, you ask: is it a dream or isn't it? Is this a dream that we're living now? Those questions are really interesting because the unconscious hasn't really been explored yet. People think there's not much more to discover, but there is - there's this fourth dimension, or whatever it is."

'It transpires, though, that bonding with the script and actually understanding it are two different things. "When people ask me, 'What does the rabbit mean?' I say, don't ask me, and don't ask anyone else involved, because we have no fucking idea. It's something out of the director Richard Kelly's unconscious and even he has no explanation for it. To me, the film is about that initial entry into what could be adulthood, when everything loses its context and all of a sudden nothing feels solid. The rabbit and the spears coming out of people's chests are almost literal manifestations of those questions everyone asks at a certain point: am I crazy? Does God exist? I was asking myself those questions when I was growing up."'


Getting back to David's Huckabees interview, David discusses how he used the ideas taught to him by Robert Thurman in the characterisation of the film's roles and how his own experiences are there. And relating to Nailed, the sexcom, David is asked how humour fits in with this zen model, to which he replies: 'A Zen monk once said to me, "If you're not laughing you're not getting it," it meaning the whole thing. The humor is the substance in its most sublime form.'


Back in November 2004: 'Last night (11/15) Jake Gyllenhaal was at the Central Library downtown for the dialogue between Robert A.F. Thurman, Buddhist prof, and former student/film director David O. Russell (why do all these people use their middle initials?). Jake was running up the dry-cleaning bills in a white cashmere sweater, plaid scarf, and flanked by his parents. The family was all cozy and commenting to each other during the talk, and Naomi (Mom) asked Thurman a question, but the audience mike didn't work, and Russell ran down to her and handed her his mike (whereupon she said, "Thanks, David.")'


Naomi is proud of the spiritual education both her children have received and is aware of the benefits for their chosen career: 'Both of my kids studied with Robert Thurman at Columbia University and I think they've both been drawn to that. I think they're both very spiritual beings. Both have a real awareness of what's going on around them which is why they're good at what they do because you have to be a real observer to represent things for other people (in acting).'


As for Jake's own perspective: '"I was probably doing it for them,” he says. But his stint as a student of Buddhism has left its mark. “I haven’t really found happiness in material success — wanting more hasn’t brought me happiness. Now I realise that whenever I want something more, it’s not going to make me happy,” he muses. “I’m not a card-carrying Buddhist, but I do try to practise mindfulness.”

I'd better stop there and continue later as this is more than one post. In the meantime, this video shows Professor Thurman speaking up for the rights of Tibet and the freedom of its people outside City Hall in NYC just last month.



Maggie is Interview's covergirl

As previously noted here, Maggie Gyllenhaal graces the cover of the May issue of Interview. The picture was taken in London. Here is a peek.


And finally

I am grateful to Channel 4 for premiering Kinsey on tv tonight but why oh why is the Film of the Week on at 1.35 am? Not all of us have recorders that actually function.

Includes pictures from IHJ.