Jake Gyllenhaal at the Brothers press conference: 'So to all those cab drivers in New York, I'm not Spider-Man'

The Boston Herald was at the Brothers press conference yesterday. Fortunately for us, it has decided to begin its run of features on the movie and its actors with a recap of what happened at the conference with Jake Gyllenhaal and Jim Sheridan. We've already heard that Jake was the hilarious clown of the procedings and now we get a chance to get a taste of that for ourselves. It's been a long time since we've seen and heard Jake promoting a film and he is on top form. Before the hoopla of the premiere tonight, we can sit back and enjoy some Jakisms as well as some insights from Jake and Jim on how they brought their own very different perspectives to Brothers. As Jake says, 'it was great food for a great meal'.


'QUESTION: WHAT ARE YOU FEELINGS ABOUT REMAKES AND HOW DO THEY APPLY TO THIS ONE IN PARTICULAR? GYLLENHAAL [makes a goofy grin that he has to answer this question and then tries to be serious]: I think that we all felt a tremendous responsibility and a little bit of a burden to remake a film. I think because the first version of the film was so extraordinary. I think that Jim [Sheridan], all of us, everyone approached each character – I don’t want to speak for everybody but I think we all did watch the movie and each one of the actors gave an extraordinary performance. I think in transposing it to America I think you clearly start to see that there are differences, cultural differences and reactions to situations that are different depending on the culture, and I think we all looked at that as a great opportunity and then having Jim was…where are you from again? [he laughed at his own joke about the very Irish filmmaker]. Just coming from Ireland, it was interesting in terms of how he would say behaviorally, he’d say or expect the character to act and then how in America an American would respond to a situation. There was one moment where – I don’t know if you remember this, Jim – where Natalie’s character tells my character that Tobey has been killed. We did talk for a little while about me falling in the snow and making snow angels. I don’t know if you remember that?'


'SHERIDAN: No. GYLLENHAAL: I said, ‘I don’t know if an American would react that way.’ But I don’t really think in that situation that has nothing to do with culture or society. Being in a remake though is great fun [laughs]. I suggest it for everyone. Any actor in the room and any actor out there, really, pick your favorite movie and redo it.'


'YOU ALL KNOW EACH OTHER. WAS THERE A LOT OF REHEARSAL ON THIS? OR WAS THERE A LOT OF STAYING IN CHARACTER TO GET THE PROPER TONE ON SET AND CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT, THE ATMOSPHERE IN MAKING THE FILM? GYLLENHAAL: It was great to be in a remake because you really have a new sense…[laughs]. Naturally, because all know each other, I found that we all had fascinating complications and fascinating interactions just as the people that we are. There was very little to do as a result of that. So often you have to create some kind of back story but because of the real life, people have very often said to me that I look like Tobey and so I thought that it was a perfect casting thing, that Jim put us together. We really just made a movie so that I could say that I look a little bit different from Tobey. So to all those cab drivers in New York, I’m not Spider-Man. I think that was just inherent. It was there. It existed and it took very little to make that happen. A little uncomfortable on set sometimes because what it is real also sometimes is what it is being pretended. At the same time, as an actor, I think it was great food for a great meal.'


'QUESTION: WAS IT HARD TO GET THIS FILM MADE, GIVEN THAT IT’S A WAR MOVIE AND DID IT TAKE A LONG TIME? GYLLENHAAL: Can I say something real quick? It’s funny that people are saying that this is a war movie and I’ve been involved in a movie where people have said that to me in press conferences over and over again. I think as a result of obviously trying to sell the movie there’s an inclination – to just talk about your question – to not talk about that. I think you’re going to back into a corner but I don’t think that anyone is trying to pretend that we’re in some corner. We’re not in a corner. I think the movie is a journey and how they’re selling the movie is fascinating because the most extraordinary part of the movie is not given away at all in any of these ads or how they’re selling it. It’s the journey that Tobey’s character makes to get back home. I think that is kind of being…personally, that’s your job to say that that’s what the movie is about because that’s what it’s about. It is intertwined with a lot of other complications but mostly it’s about what this man does to get back to the people that he loves and to his life.'


'QUESTION: DID THE WAY THAT YOU THOUGHT ABOUT WAR CHANGE, FOR THE ACTORS, WHILE TALKING TO SOLDIERS AND DOING THE RESEARCH FOR THIS FILM? GYLLENHAAL: I can say that in researching the character that I played Jim and I went to a lot of different jails all over L.A. County and to juvenile halls and what happened totally, separately from the movie, I met these kids in this writing program at this juvenile hall and they were extraordinary kids. I mean if you want to get into politics we can talk about the kids that I met in this juvi. One of them that we met was this incredible storyteller that Jim ended up putting in the movie as one of the guys in the helicopter with Tobey. I have never been to the prison system, particularly in California or any place really, to see young men. This is a whole other type of young men being put in jail and to see how extraordinary many of them were and how many of them would never get out, that was an amazing thing. It was terrifying. Fourteen year olds to 18 year olds. I still go back to visit them. I still go back to that writing program because they’re pretty extraordinary kids and many of them have moved on, but they’re still coming in. We should think about that, too.'


QUESTION: THE ROLES AND CHARACTERS YOU PLAY IN THIS MOVIE ARE VERY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU’VE DONE BEFORE. WHAT KIND OF THINGS DID YOU LEARN ABOUT YOURSELF IN DOING THIS PROJECT, AS AN ACTOR AND AS A PERSON? GYLLENHAAL: I’m going to talk about Tobey. Can I talk about Tobey? [laughs] SHERIDAN: Where I come from and you’re working with actors you’re all the time trying to stop them performing. These guys were so still I was like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t have any work to do.’ American actors are so used to the medium of film. GYLLENHAAL: Did you say ‘stale’?'


'SHERIDAN: I didn’t say ‘stale.’ I wouldn’t say stale. The difficulty with Jake is he’s kind of like, you know the way that other actors are really intense and they come on and you’re like, ‘Oh my God.’ Jake is kind of like that but he’s got a 360 degree intensity. You never know where he’s looking. He’s kind of in the scene but he’s kind of looking around himself. It takes a bit of getting used to and it took me a few weeks to get used to Jake’s approach which is very unique in my experience. He just thinks he’s in real life — and he’s up on the screen. Jake is just the same now as on the thing, up with the kid, up with his sister’s kid. He keeps joking even when I get serious and all, don’t you?'



'GYLLENHAAL: I think you just described me as a crazy person. ‘Jake has no idea of reality’. QUESTION: IS THAT A TRUTH ABOUT YOU, JAKE? GYLLENHAAL: Well, I can say that I think watching Tobey in the movie, that’s sort of the most extraordinary truth of it, watching somebody do something like that. I can only speak from personal experience but I have been blessed to watch actors who people didn’t feel were a certain way or could perform a certain thing do that. I’ve been honored to watch that. It’s always nice to see when people, journalists and people who never thought of someone one way, and then seeing them that way. I watched him go from the first part of the movie [BEFORE MAGUIRE’S CHARACTER GOES OVERSEAS] and then we had a Christmas break inbetween and then he had another week and when he came back he was another person and he was another person than what he was in the first couple of weeks that we started shooting. That was an extraordinary transformation, not only to watch as an actor but as a person and as an audience member. And now watching the movie I feel that way, too. I think that’s what we could talk about. I mean, I could talk about Natalie, too, but then I think she would probably freak out. I’ll stick with Tobey.'


Aside from the humour and Jake's easy manner of sparking off those around him - and how good it is to hear from Jake again - it's interesting to hear Jim describe Jake's acting style, with its 360 degree intensity, and also to learn about Jake's research for this role with young juveniles. Read the full extract here and you can also learn more about how Jim's vision for Brothers differs from that of the original movie.


Includes pictures from Lionsgate and here.