Updated: Jake Gyllenhaal's 'a lovely kid' and 'Dastan's the street rabble' - Plus 'What does it mean to you?'

Toby Kebbell - another of the Princes of Persia - is interviewed in Premiere today and there are a couple of PoP questions: 'I've been out in Morocco for two and a half months, so everyone keeps asking me if I'm hot in my suit, but it's 49 degrees [Celsius] in Morocco on a cool day, so it's great. It's easy living.' 'What's your role?' I'm a prince of Persia. Not the prince of Persia; my brother's the prince of Persia, Dastan, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, who's great. He's a lovely kid. I play the head of the Persian army, so I'm sort of the evil one of the brothers. My oldest brother... is gonna be the future king of Persia, so I'm the head of the army and Dastan's the street rabble.' Great stuff and good to hear Jake is making friends on set!


Just the slightest of news about Brothers - just a slither - but just to remind us all that the wheels still turn to bring this film to our screens. Variety reports that producer Michael 'De Luca just wrapped the Relativity-financed, Jim Sheridan-directed "Brothers," which MGM releases in December; Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman star.' With production wrapped and distributors in place for both sides of the pond, here's hoping we will soon get full release dates, not only for the US but also for the rest of us.


In The Prince of Persia, Jake will no doubt be a hero to steal our hearts and make us swoon. This got me thinking that, in the majority of Jake's films, he has not been a conventional hero. In fact, far from it, Jake has often portrayed a boy or man who is hanging on at the edges of society, whether through his own choice or through the prejudice and ignorance of others. This may partly be because some of Jake's 'best' roles have been in independent films, where the job of the hero is not solely to make us sigh and tremble, but also to make us question ourselves and fear for him and for our own condition.


I doubt there can be many better examples of such a character than Donnie Darko - the boy who would have been a superhero in any other universe. Jake still talks about how people continue to question him about this film - and he has also said that he wishes he could redo the publicity now that he has more of an understanding of Richard Kelly's design. In Jake's introduction to the Donnie Darko book: 'When we were working, I would beg and plead with Richard to find one through-line and an understandable conclusion. He never would. Some could argue that this was detrimental to the film. And it might be to any other film. And there are those who would say that it was to this one. But I wish those people could spend a day with me sometime. So they could sit at a meal, or walk down the street when a total stranger walks up and starts a philosophical discussion about what exactly Donnie Darko is about. It makes my day every time. Because every time, I answer, 'I have no idea, what does it mean to you?'


Here is one comment by Jake about the reactions he has received to his 'nice psycho': 'This film in all the right ways, regardless of being part of it, is one of those films that - like Richard says - disturbs the comfortable and comforts the disturbed. I had a few comments from people... a wonderful comment from a girl right after the first showing of the film at the Eccles Theater. She said her brother was manic-depressive, and some of my actions in the film and goings on my character talks about, really touched her in a way similar to her brother's experience. On the other side, a guy in the bathroom came up and said, 'Wow man, you play a really nice psycho.' Which seems like an oxymoron, but I guess it's possible. There are people who come up and say, 'I don't get this, or that, but I was really moved.' There's a point in the movie where you have to let your mind go, and abandon what you want to happen, and have faith that what you're feeling is right. And whatever you're feeling it's the right one. That's what a successful film should do.'


And one of the reasons why Jake IS Donnie Darko in this film, is because, despite it all, Jake felt he could relate to Donnie: 'Well, there is part of me that's Donnie Darko, I'm not gonna deny that, and there's a part of me that looks at the world now in a more mature way than when I made the movie. I was going through a tough time growing up, dealing with it and figuring it out, and that was why I related so much to Donnie. It's not like the growing up has stopped, but I do feel I'm different. There's a whole other part of me that's other things. I just haven't shown them yet' [Cosmo.]


But it's not just Donnie who lived on the edge. There was also Holden in The Good Girl, who wasn't Holden at all, but who took on this persona because it was only that way that he could deal with life and his isolation and need. Jake: 'There's something about him that makes me think he's only read that one book. He's so lost that he just sort of takes on this "Holden" persona because he understands it's universal. There's a funny line in the movie where [Jennifer Aniston's character] says to my character, "Your name's Tom?" And he says, "Tom is my slave name. Holden's what I call myself."'


As Jake put it: 'The guy in The Good Girl has a dire need to be loved and is clearly disturbed. But it was the complicated relationships that I responded to. The way relationships are usually painted in films is bullshit. In my experience relationships are really complicated, especially when you're young: you're just flailing around and hurting each other. I haven't yet found a relationship in a movie that is true to that.'


Jake is good at these roles - audiences can get past those big blue eyes and lips slightly curved to see someone with even more serious problems than their own. He makes us identify with people living beyond our usual frame of reference. The Good Girl director Miguel Arteta found Jake perfect for the role of Holden, because 'You need a guy whose sadness you can really believe in the beginning, and you can believe how deranged he gets by the end of the movie... It was hard, but Jake has the range.' Jake's audition also left its mark: ''In a real actorly moment, Jake got really wrapped up and he picked up a chair and put a hole in the wall, just threw it against the wall,' says Arteta. 'And Jennifer and I, who had heard about the new paint job, we just turned to Mike [screenwriter Mike White] in horror. Mike was like, 'He should get the part, but I hope he pays me back for our wall.''


Although a portrayal of a real man in a real situation, Zodiac put Jake in uncomfortable shoes (and shirts) and in a world to which, he said, he did not want to return. Here was a character I think Jake had a lot of trouble identifying with (not that it mattered as his performance was superb). 'I remember everyday as I put on my shirt to play the the character, I'd be like [big sigh] 'I hate this shirt' but it worked for me - and not just for the movie - to push myself through that.'


Jake told German Vanity Fair: 'I didn't want to accept the role at first [Graysmith]. I didn't accept my character. He doesn't even try to escape his isolation. A part of me hated that. I've never had such a feeling. Jack in Brokeback Mountain or Swofford in Jarhead at least try to develop relationships with others. The character in Zodiac simply loves to be lonely. Don't get me wrong – there are times when I'm glad to be alone. My success has permitted me over the last few years to spend more time just with myself. That's great, but this character in Zodiac went way beyond what is normal.' "This is a place where I could never see myself going" - it was hard and a "little scarey".


This is the first part of this post - these are just some of the extremes into which Jake's roles have taken him. Other roles have taken him to different places, beyond the normal experiences of most, but experienced by men and women such as ourselves.

Beyond the pail

Although separated from America's political confrontation by an ocean and several time zones, I was just appalled and bemused to read this article today about a Hollywood Republican who sees fit to pick on the Gyllenhaals, especially Maggie: 'A movie could have a direct message with Maggie Gyllenhaal and the Gyllenhaal triumvirate of hate that says that America is horrible, and yet that message is overwhelmed by the proliferation of excess on the screen.' Not only does Breitmart make little sense - he is rambling after all - he also proclaims that the division in his party over such issues as gay marriage is a good thing because it demonstrates they like a good debate.


Includes pictures from IHJ.