[Update] Jim Sheridan on 'charismatic' Jake Gyllenhaal, poker-faced Tobey Maguire and 'true blue' Natalie Portman

Jim Sheridan has more to say about his star Jake Gyllenhaal: '“He was always real on set, ‘cause he’s always finding something or looking for something. If you were the type of director who just wanted him to hit his mark, I think you’d curtail him in some way that doesn’t get the best out of him. ‘Cause I think he’s a charismatic actor, who’s always the centre of attention. Which drove me crazy for the first few weeks,” says Sheridan, deadpan, “as I wanted to be the centre of attention.”' It all seems a million miles away from Jake's Trial by Fincher.


Tobey Maguire is the contrast. “You know the way his eyes are when you go in close on Tobey Maguire. He’s thinking. He’s like a poker player. You never know what he’s thinking, but it’s kind of benign. He’s like an everyman. I thought if you kind of took that away, and ended up with blank eyes, a stare, it would be very scary,” says Sheridan. “Because we know him as the opposite.” He then describes Natalie Portman as, “The person you want to have at your back in a war. She’s true blue.” Source.


This reflects Jim's previous comments to the SFGate: 'As an actor "Tobey likes to control a lot. That is the way he lives. He has a cook that cooks for him. His world is very controlled. Even when acting, he is not the kind of guy who would get loose. He's quiet and pensive and thinking about things."


By contrast, Gyllenhaal is a "free-wheeling actor. He is always looking around. He has three or four things going through his head, and normal stars just have one." It would mean trouble, Sheridan believes, if a director told Gyllenhaal to just stand there and hit his mark. "The way he lives in a scene is to be half there and half out there looking around. I found it completely fascinating."' Sam Mendes experienced something similiar during the filming of Jarhead.

In this interview, Sheridan also mentioned something interesting about the actors taking a paycut for this role, just as Jake had done for Rendition and Nailed. 'With a budget of only $25 million, financing came together easily. The actors took "a quarter or maybe even a 10th of what they usually get paid," Sheridan said.'


The concept that Jake found Brothers, along with previous roles, a learning experience both on and off camera, is strengthened by a story today that elaborates on Jake's press conference account of visiting young offenders in jail. 'Gyllenhaal, who plays a grown up juvenile delinquent in the film, spent time with convicted drug smugglers and murderers in an effort to determine what life behind bars for a teenager is like – and he admits the experience has changed his life forever.He met with 18 year olds who are serving life sentences and others who have since been freed and are trying to get their lives in order.One such teen, Victor, made such an impact on Gyllenhaal and director Jim Sheridan, they cast him in the film.The actor explains, “This kid Victor was in jail and he was released and had the opportunity to change his life and told us stories that were unreal to me.”He was hiding meth in the back of a lamp of a four wheel vehicle driving over the border and he was 16. He changed his life and is working for the governor’s office in Sacramento now.”Jim (Sheridan) ended up putting him in the movie in a scene where my brother Tobey Maguire’s helicopter goes down.”In the film, Maguire and Gyllenhaal play feuding siblings.' Source.


The New York Times has a substantial article on Brothers this weekend, which goes into some depth about how the film came to be made and how all were well aware of its predecessor. You can also see there the trailers for the two movies and so make your own comparisons about these sets of Brothers.


Throughout all these articles, Jim Sheridan's personality, passion and humanity dominate - listening to Jim describe the forces and blows that have shaped his own life and the movies he's filled it with is simply fascinating. He has brought this into Brothers, just as with the other films, and this suggests to me at least that there is much about this film that is unique.

If you fancy having a laugh, here is an R-rated video spoof of the making of Brothers and what things were 'really like' behind the scenes between Spidey and Bubble Boys.


Includes pictures from IHJ and JJ.

Update: You may, but may not have, noticed that I've added another link to the sidebar today. This is for a new experiment of mine - a site where I can whitter on about all the other things that interest me that I come across while researching for WDW. It's not intended to take up much time because obviously WDW is and will always remain my priority. It will just stop me boring everyone here with all my interludes!