Jake the Guest Teacher - Ask yourself 'Why do they want me to see this movie?'

Back in March this year, we saw Jake on Sticks attending the LA Conservation Corps Spring Luncheon, alongside such figures as Maria Shriver. The primary mission of the Corps, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, 'is to provide at-risk young adults and school-aged youth with opportunities for success through job skills training, education and work experience with an emphasis on conservation and service projects that benefit the community.'



Jake Gyllenhaal was just one of the celebrity attendees and we learnt that he had been visiting the corps in order to get to know one of the two young people he gave an award to for research into a future role. You can see numerous little pictures from the event here. More recently, we have seen a video of Jake supporting New Eyes for the Needy. I hope you will excuse me if I repeat this video here, for charitable reasons obviously and not at all because Jake is so hot in this video I'd do whatever he says. And that is the power of the beautiful and spellbinding figure of Jake Gyllenhaal - and that's why it's well worth having him as your charity's public face. Incidentally, it may be my imagination but I think that this video and this luncheon date from around the same time - I also think that could be the same suit. But I digress...



A recurring theme on WDW is how Jake uses his celebrity and his public face and appeal to promote charities and causes he believes in, especially those for the young. Back in 2002, the young Jake along with 'his buddy, Ethan Hawke, author of two books' visited the 'fifth-period English class' at Dominguez High School in Compton, California, to be guest teachers. Apparently Guest Teacher Jake was 'dreamy eyed and all sexy, messy hair' - clearly one way to get the attention of students. The visit was 'part of Friday's Teach for America Week, an annual nationwide program in which professionals became guest teachers at schools in low-income communities.'


However, the students had other thoughts on their mind: 'Juan Patino, 16, raises his hand. "Are you guys dating any celebrities?" "That's not interesting," Hawke says politely and then turns the tables. "Who are you dating? Any celebrities?" "No," Patino answers flatly. "Well, I'm married," Hawke says, pausing, trying to get a jolt of something out of the students. "I think Jennifer Lopez would excite this room," he adds, as the teenagers laugh, breaking their shy and reserved selves out of star-struckdom. Soon a conversation with the actors results, ranging from moviemaking to making decisions about life.'


Apparently, Jake had been the only actor scheduled to be part of the visit but 'over dinner the night before, Gyllenhaal had invited Hawke.' "I'm an actor and have been in films since I was your guys' age, 16," Gyllenhaal told the class. "I went to college for two years, dropped out and started making more movies. But my goal has been to pick movies that have a political statement," he said. With Hawke's help, he tried to engage the students in a conversation about the movie choices they make, encouraging them to add thoughtful flicks to the action-packed ones on their lists.'


"There are a lot of people who have power over what you see and you have a choice," he said. "It's more important to know what people are saying to you. We have the power to speak our minds, to get more than one opinion. When you go to the theater, just think to yourselves, 'Why is it there? Who put it there? Why do they want me to see this movie?'"


Jake confessed that he had dropped out of Columbia - although it's worth bearing in mind that that had been in order to become a fullscale movie star. He also admitted that 'he never used to like to read that much, he added. "In college we read a book a day. It's not possible for me to read a book a day. But now I pick the books I want to read," he said, adding that serious reading has only been part of his life for two or three years. "Books are important as movies," he added as the hour came to an end, followed by a class photo with the stars and a few autographs. "I'm not much older than these students," said Gyllenhaal, 21, after the students left the room. "But I think they really understood what I was talking about."'


Article from Los Angeles Times and WDW archive. Pictures from IHJ.