Jake Gyllenhaal's Ed Harris memory and respecting Jake naked

Ed Harris... I'm going to let that name hang there for a moment or two. Never mind Gene in Apollo 13, never mind Mitch in National Treasure 14... I have my eye on you, Ed 'what's up with Edward anyway?' Harris. Brace yourselves, Gyllenhaalics, here's the story but, be warned, it's not pretty:

'Gyllenhaal’s father, the director Stephen Gyllenhaal, let him hang around the set of Paris Trout (1991), which starred acting alumni such as Dennis Hopper, Ed Harris and Barbara Hershey. “There was one time when Ed Harris was in this big scene in a courtroom,” says Gyllenhaal. “I was there. I think I was making a noise or something at some point between takes. Ed turned and shouted, ‘Can you tell that kid to shut up!’ I remember running out crying — I was so sad.


'“That night I got back to my Dad’s hotel room, and under the doorway was a note. It said ‘Jake’ on it. It was a letter from Ed, saying he just wanted to apologise for yelling, telling me he was just preparing for the scene. Those moments of watching people like that go through a process I completely understand now — it really is a process. When you grow up watching, it’s hard not to want to do it yourself.”'


Clearly, a vivid memory from Jake's childhood - what do you want to bet that Jake has memorised each line of that note? And these difficult experiences, told with such honesty here, do help shape our lives but, nevertheless, I'm dusting off the boxing gloves.

This is a great interview with Jake, one of the few for Proof, but still drifting off in more interesting directions. This is hardly surprising considering Proof's 2005 competition - Brokeback Mountain, Jarhead. Jake does recall a more positive experience from his childhood - 'His mother, Naomi Foner, is the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Running on Empty (1988). “Watching Martha Clinton and River Phoenix rehearse with director Sidney Lumet in that film — that was a big influence on my life,” Gyllenhaal said.'


Jake's answers regarding getting naked in Brokeback Mountain are interesting because a) they're about Jake being naked and b) Jake manages to have a go back at the cast of Dreamers who (well, mainly Eva Green) had been getting little digs into interviews about Jake's supposed squeamishness. 'Asked about dropping The Dreamers yet taking up the equally risqué Brokeback Mountain (Gyllenhaal appears naked, although in a fairly distant shot), the actor perks up. Clapping his hands, he smiles: “Now it’s my time to retort!”


'He did, he says, have “questions” about The Dreamers: “I think Bertolucci and I had different views on it. It could be considered that I’m inexperienced and I should just trust someone who is truly experienced. But even somebody like Ang understands that it’s a very uncomfortable thing to do — to be naked. The fact that I could express my concerns and he was going to listen to them made me think he respects me and me getting naked... To me it’s a story about how hard it is for two people to love each other,” Gyllenhaal says. “The issue of love is a hard bull’s-eye to hit. [In film] the idea of love having no bounds is such a cliché now. We can’t tell the story any more, heterosexually — we have to tell the tale between two guys in order to get the idea across again.”'

'He adds: “I don’t really care about people questioning my sexuality because of the film. Of course they are going to. In the same way people confused me with Tobey Maguire — and thought I was Spiderman.”' You mean he wasn't? Damn.


But, where was I? Oh yes, I have my eye on you, Ed Harris...

Includes pictures from IHJ.