Jake Gyllenhaal - the 'anti-hunk' hunk

Now the US election is over, we can focus on what really matters, and that is Jake Gyllenhaal on ET tonight (hopefully, if the schedulers don't decide to bump the feature to make way for more election specials). While, no doubt, many Gyllenhaalics are nervous, indeed fearful, of our very first glimpse of Jake all bare-chested, armoured and English-accented, moving, speaking, fighting as Prince Dastan, this enterprise represents a step in a new direction for Jake and marks a period of change for our nation.


Where was I...? Oh yes, fingers crossed Jake will be on ET today and we will get a look in virtual 3D of the walking, talking, battling Prince, complete with chest hair, biceps and flashing blue eyes. This prospect can only remind me of how Jake was described back in 2004 by Roland Emmerich as an 'anti-hunk'. The 'anti' can now be safely deleted and replaced by 'gobsmacking', or words to that effect.


Roland told the New York Post in May 2004: '"He always looks so intelligent," Emmerich says. "He takes acting really seriously." In fact, at one point on the "Tomorrow" shoot, 250 extras waited for two days in the New York Public Library as Gyllenhaal did take after take on a crucial speech. "I kept telling him, 'Jake, it's easy,'" Emmerich says. "But he was so caught up in making the scene real that he just couldn't get it. He nailed it at the end of the second day. Everyone burst into applause."... In "Tomorrow," Gyllenhaal's love interest is 17-year-old Emmy Rossum ("Mystic River"). Their big moment comes after they get soaked by freezing-cold water and escape into an abandoned store. "Jake strips down to his shorts, and Emmy puts her arms around him - it's very erotic," Emmerich says. "He may be an anti-hunk. But he's in great shape."'


It's good to hear that, no matter how good an actor Jake most certainly is, certain directors know that a good actor can also be a sight for sore eyes, and vice versa. With Jake we have the best of both worlds.


And finally...

Elizabeth Banks, the actress who recently told the world of how she had the unbelieveable treat of trying out a scene as Juliet to Jake's Romeo and then failed to recognise Jake when he came up to chat to her, has been talking again about how she is not interested in Jake. Here is Elizabeth describing why she is not in the rags: 'I'm not trying to have Jake Gyllenhaal's baby. I'm not a major fashionista. I'm not going through a lesbian phase. I'm just normal. I'm just really freakin' normal.' If it hadn't have been for the first part of the statement, I might have agreed with her.


Includes pictures from IHJ.