Saturday 26 April 2008

Nailed back in town, Jake and Robert take on Fincher, and did schoolboy Jake have toned legs?

Nailed is back at Columbia's statehouse, according to a poster at IMDb today, who took a great photo of the nightshoot in the wee hours of this morning: 'I'm looking out my apartment window right at the capital, they have the corridor from Gervais to Pendleton of Sumter street closed off. Filming trucks, etc. Super bright light shining on the entrance of a building right on Sumter. Here's a pic as of 2AM.' A big thanks to them for making their picture public.


Zodiac allies

All this talk about Robert Downey Jr over the last day or two has reminded me that, during the filming of Zodiac, Robert and Jake Gyllenhaal appear to have tightly knit and both stood together as allies against the onslaught of take after take.



'We promise you that in the course of filming Zodiac no animals were hurt," Downey says with a laugh. "That's where the humane behavior ended. No ego was left untarnished. We're doing a scene and I realized after we'd done it about 40 times, I was tied to the mast. Dave's like, 'Everything that Downey has just spent the last six hours doing? Let's delete that, go to lunch, and start over.' But that's the shit, dude. It's — Fincher.'... And David's response ' "Look, Robert is brilliant, he's a genius," he says. "And I'm all for taking a certain amount of time to explore other... But there are limits to where improvisation can help a taut thriller. In certain cases, things have to be said."'


Improvisation seems to have been used by both actors not only to amuse themselves but as a bit of a weapon against their 'purist' director. This clip from the UK's Total Film magazine (June 2007 issue) shows how it would wind up Fincher although Robert and Jake would pay the ultimate price with yet more takes:


From the way that David seems to warn cinematographer Harry Savides against the Gyllenhug on its way to him, it almost seems as if David thinks this is another weapon in Jake's arsenal. As for Robert, David says: 'You know, Downey likes to play, but he likes to know there's light at the end of the tunnel.'


Here is another excerpt from the reporter's eyewitness account of life on the filmset of Zodiac: 'Robert Downey Jr is on fire. The resurgent actor has been smoking nicotine-free cigarettes throughout his latest scene. But, for reasons best known to himself, he's been stubbing the butts out in tissue paper - which has finally ignited, underneath Gyllenhaal's seat. There's much laughter. Fincher walks past and Downey offers an exaggerated flinch. The scene resets. Fincher disappears to the monitor and calls across: 'Last one.' 'Yeah, right,' says Gyllenhaal. 'Have a little faith,' says a crewmember. 'Come on!' says Gyllenhaal. 'We're going to fuck all night!' At lunch he looks tired. 'I don't want to satisfy that part of David that enjoys having people hear that it's not easy,' he says, of the repeate takes. 'But it gets tedious. It really does... It can be pretty intense.''

I must say that trying to set Jake on fire is not in my approved list of ways to find entertainment on a tedious shoot.


This Is Our Youth director on being made invisible by stars

We've heard Jake talk at some length about what a great experience it was for him to do theatre. This weekend we have an interview with Jake's director on This Is Our Youth, Laurence Boswell, who is now working for Ontario's Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada. In the feature, Boswell discusses the experience of 'working with American celebrities like Madonna, who demanded a complete rewrite of the Williamson play, as well as Gyllenhall and Damon, was instructive. All the productions were sold out, based on star power alone. But for Boswell, the experience was an object lesson in how the culture assigns value.


“So there we are in rehearsal,” he recalls, “and of course they aren't theatre actors. They can't really act. They need my help for everything: what to do with their hands, how to speak, how to stand, how to breathe.… They are totally dependent on me.… And then we leave the building, and the paparazzi and the fans are waiting outside and we all go out together, and suddenly I am nothing. I am completely, I mean completely, invisible.”'


And finally

I hope you enjoy this video as much as I did, which shows Maroon 5 being given the third degree by a Gyllenhaalic Brit who appears to be far more interested in everything Jake than anything Maroon 5 (except whether the band is turned on by airports). Adam Levine also has a confession to make to Jake.



Includes pictures from IHJ, Jakegyllenhaal.org and links in post.

14 comments:

Nicole said...

haha..what a strange video with Maroon 5..the interviewer was funny! I can now say I have met my favorite band Maroon 5 and my favorite actor Jake and its weird how they are connected!! Oh and that's a great picture of the statehouse..i'm glad they are filming there again.

Wet Dark and Wild said...

Hi Nicole! It must be so exciting for you knowing they're back at the statehouse and I'm sure they'll be there after you finish your studies. Hey, you met Maroon 5?! What happened and what were they like?

I love them - I wanted to see them play at Birmingham last year but unfortunately, because of getting laid off from my job, I wasn't able to go. I hope they come back.

That video made me laugh outloud - I don't believe she had the nerve to do all that - not a typical English interview!

Anonymous said...

O no, not a typical Brit interviewer? And I was going into my anglophilic adoration posture again - loved her timing!

funny about getting turned on by airports - I thot it was just Jake in airports that turned me on, but come to think of it . . . .

and what turns on Fincher, acc'g to Jake

interesting column, WDW!

Anonymous said...

I like how Zodiac is still getting talked about, it is a shame that it didn't get the recognition it deserved.

The interviewer for Maroon 5 is a nutcase. So assinine, I don't understand what she was trying to get at and her questions about Jake I thought were inappropriate. It would be stupid also if someone were interviewing Jake and suddenly started to ask him about his relationship with Adam Levine and what was his favorite Maroon 5 song and what was it like for them at school.

I wish that they were filming here in DC I would have gone in to watch

Trekfan

Nicole said...

yup I met Maroon 5 October 18..they did a show here for the first time in Columbia! I actually met this lady who was selling a soundcheck ticket so I bought it and she ended up giving me dead center 2nd row seats!! I have never been to a soundcheck before..It was great spending time with the band with only like 20 other people..we watched them rehearse then we got our picture taken with the guys! The drummer Matt Flynn gave me one of his drumsticks (which i asked him for haha) They were all very nice..and of course Adam looked great too! The show was amazing..I have never sat so close!

Wet Dark and Wild said...

Hey Pia, actually that girl was reporting for Channel 4 and they're an interesting bunch on there. I have to admit to being a fan of T4 (the teenage magazine thing at the weekends on Channel 4) and I know Jake's been on it at least once in the past.

I'll also admit to loving airports myself (although I have no desire to go to Heathrow's T5 for at least 10 years).

I think Jake knows very well how to play with Fincher :D

Glad you liked the post - I did enjoy doing it.

Wet Dark and Wild said...

Hi there Trekfan :D You know me, I love Zodiac more than is decent. I couldn't believe how cheeky she was but the boys took it well.

I think that the colleges of Oxford would make a great substitute for the government buildings of Washington - no?

Oh Nicole! That is amazing! I would love to see the pic. I was lucky enough to be in the front row at a Justin Timberlake show last year (I adore JT) and he waved at me and that was enough to make me nearly pass out. You did incredibly well. Adam is gorgeous.

Nicole said...

wow..my dream has been to go to a Justin Timberlake concert..I love Maroon 5 but I am a bigger JT fan..front row..thats amazing..and he waved at you! I would have passed out too!! The only time I have been in the same room as JT was when I saw Nsync in concert in 1998..I did meet Lance Bass which was really cool..I guess we have similar taste in music and Jake! I will email you the pic of M5..

Wet Dark and Wild said...

Hi Nicole - oh please email me the picture - I'd love to see it :D I took a few pics at the JT concert so I'll send you those (sorry ;D). I saw him the same week that I saw Jake in Cannes and I remember joking with a good friend that I couldn't believe I'd be so lucky as to see my two favourite men in the same week, and I did :D

Anonymous said...

"I think Jake knows very well how to play with Fincher :D"

I agree. Jake's fairly clever, in that way - :D
:D

Wet Dark and Wild said...

Hi Pia - definitely :D

Wet Dark and Wild said...

Morning everybody :D Hope you all have a great Sunday - I can feel a Zodiac viewing coming on...

paulh said...

When Jake G. and Adam Levine were in school, they were peers, in that each belonged to a band. Jake dropped his band, and Adam made music his life's work.

Speaking of music, last night I dreamed that I sang for the soundtrack of the worst movie Woody Allen even made. :-( It was such a bad movie that it will stay in my dreams. You will never see it on the screen. ;-)

Wet Dark and Wild said...

Hi Paul :D That's some dream - sorry to hear it was such a bad movie that we'll never hear its soundtrack :)