[Updated] Jake Gyllenhaal centre stage in NYC and Love and Other Drugs: 'some heavy love scenes with ample nudity'- plus orgy...

[Update] Some of the GQ shoot took place at the Spin table tennis/ping pong club where Jake had been due to compete in a charity tournament. So we may well get to see Jake play a game after all!

Jake Gyllenhaal was in New York City yesterday, ostensibly to do a shoot for GQ. The real reason was so that he could be photographed with every single person in and around Time Square. Not surprisingly, there was a Jake Scrum in the streets and a lot of excitement on Twitter, with pics here and here. No doubt, this GQ will coincide with Prince of Persia, as can be seen with Gemma Arterton's own GQ release. Jake looks like he'll be a little bit more wrapped up in his... Source Code director Duncan Jones, meanwhile, celebrated at a pre-shoot party.




Looking great, Jake! Here is just one of the tweets: 'Just saw Jake Gyllenhall in Times Square. Mob scene. But he is a good looking man!!' And another fun picture.


Updated to add another couple of great pictures from yesterday from here showing how Jake may have been aware he might have to get up to Montreal at some point...



Disney has released some more beautiful stills from Prince of Persia (here via IHJ), giving us another look at Clothes Line Jake.


We have another account of Love and Other Drugs from an early screening. We are promised (by an Anne Hathaway enthusiast) 'significant deep-down feeling plus some heavy love scenes with ample nudity'.


'It's pretty ambitious story about the mid '90s Viagra boom and selling pharmaceuticals for Phizer. Hathaway, Hank Azaria. Oliver Platt plays Gyllenhaal's mentor, and it's probably the best role he's ever had, and perhaps his best performance. He teaches Gyllenhaal the ropes, and he has a really great speech toward the end. The story line, which is basically about Gylenhaal becoming a pharma salesman, is fairly complex. George Segal and Jill Clayburgh play his parents. Josh Gad is the fat younger brother -- the Jonah Hill character.'


The reviewer doesn't have eyes for much else than Anne Hathaway but he does mention: 'There's some lame orgy in the middle of it with Jakes accidentally overdosing on Viagra...girls at a party make him swallow too much of it, and he won't go down, resulting in priapism.' 'Lame'? LAME???

Pictures from links.

[Updated] Photo of Jake in NYC for GQ shoot? Jake Gyllenhaal helps Maggie to celebrate at Crazy Heart LA bash

[Update] Jake Gyllenhaal has been spotted I did think from the look of him that this was from the set of Source Code so thanks very much for the info that this is in NYC and that he's shooting a GQ spread. Good stuff! Thanks to a reader for the heads up and to the poster!


You must be able to smell it - it's the smell of Oscar Fever. I saw a feature on the UK news today for Crazy Heart, which included an interview with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jeff Bridges. It's hard to imagine just how they feel at the moment, but it's great to see that brother Jake Gyllenhaal has been caught up in the celebrations and is getting to do more than just provide pancake support. Thanks to a friend for sending in this scan from People of Jake, Maggie and Peter at a Crazy Heart party in LA on 15 February. I do believe Jake is enjoying a Proper Drink. (Unfortunately, People's editor didn't realise it's not the done thing to cut people in half.)


As part of the run up to the Oscars, Entertainment Weekly has been profiling the event. Thanks to regular WDW correspondent Elmo for my copy.


It seems impossible, but Jake looked just as hot rehearsing for the Oscars as he did walking the red carpet or presenting. In the scan below we see Jake with Bruce Vilanch, head writer for the Academy Awards, who, during rehearsals did fool the audience for a quite considerable amount of time... 'Head writer Bruce Vilanch -- known for his shaggy yellow hair, clever T-shirts and orb-like form --stood and said, "I'm Jake Gyllenhaal. That picture really changed my life.'' The room roared.'




Talking of celebrating, it never hurts to remind ourselves of a pre-Oscar party that Jake went to but can't actually remember. Uma Thurman can. Ang can too.




Includes pictures from IHJ. Thanks to BBMISwear for getting the EW off Elmo :-)

Source Code: Duncan's 'shooting beard', unofficial teaser poster, big crowds. Hot Jake Gyllenhaal lego

Today we have more information about Source Code, thanks to what could be a rather reliable source - its director, Duncan Jones. Today Duncan revealed, in response to some teasing about his beard, that it was his 'shooting beard' and it would last for the length of the shoot. This means two things - firstly, that Jake Gyllenhaal will soon be directed by a Joaquin Phoenix lookalike and secondly that the shave will happen on 1 May. This will give Duncan time to get back here for May Day celebrations down the pub and will give Jake ample time to begin his Prince of Persia tour of the world! Or at least some of it... So here, courtesy of the Guardian, is the Before look (you can ignore the guy on the right...).


Duncan also revealed that today was a tad busy: 'So... today is a big one. First full rehearsal of Source Code with ALL our extras... glorious madness! Start shooting next week!' So Source Code hasn't even begun filming but already there's a great unofficial teaser poster, courtesy of Malusman.


With the Source Code update out of the day, time to get back to what matters. My money's on the one on the right... No shirt, less wind resistence.


Includes pictures from links.

Jake Gyllenhaal back at work, and 'Where did you get your steel blue eyes?' 'From my momma!'

Today Source Code actor Russell Peters tweeted 'Just finished first rehearsal with Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan... Good actors, make u step up ur game!!' And so it begins! This may be a good time to get our scene requests in to director Duncan Jones. As always, one expects - nay, demands - the obligatory naked shaving scene. I can think of some others... [The pic below is from Jarhead rehearsals.]


So while Jake gets on with making a film that already has great expectations attached to it, Mike Newell is faced with serious Prince of Persia problems. The film is to debut at ShoWest on 18 March but it turns out that, although the film is finished, it currently ends to deathly silence! There is no closing song: 'all that remains before its May release is to select a song for the end credits (he's leaning toward a very well-known female artist).' [The pic below is of Lady GaGa.]


The phrase 'a very well-known female artist' fills me with a little fear (trying hard not to remember Avatar's closing warble). Are we talking well-known rising artist - a Duffy or an Adele? Or a Madonna or Celine? Or... Britney?


A radio interview from November 2005 has just been added to YouTube and it's a corker! Jake is asked how he feels when people tell him that they've seen his naked bum in Jarhead on the big screen and he says 'It feels fantastic!... Wow, I really did let go and had fun.' Jake also talks about Boo and those well-known pictures of Jake and his family that day and whether he was aware of being photographed. He was and 'It's all good. You know what you're getting yourself into when you become an actor.'



At the end, the guy interviewing blurts out 'Where did you get your steel blue eyes?' 'From my momma!' 'I'd like to shake her hand as she did a great job... I'm straight but your eyes are amazing... piercing.'


And finally...

A new Prince of Persia game will be released to coincide with the movie and there was some news today about this game Forgotten Sands. The spike death trap is back! Do they not know how this tormented my dreams for months all those years ago?


Includes pictures from IHJ.

Jake Gyllenhaal back in Montreal and Na'vi Jake...

It looks like Jake Gyllenhaal is back in Montreal. With principle photography set to begin next Monday, according to the tweet of director Duncan Jones (quite a reliable source, I'd say), Jake has only five full days to find a yoga class. Only then will he be able to contort his bare-chested 'thinking woman's action hero' frame into mesmerising poses, now so famous in the gyms of LA and Berkeley. I know it's a bit of a commute, but Oxford in England has some fine yoga classes at - ooh, thinking off the top of my head - my gym, for instance.


Jake did, however, leave his mark in New York City. At the Hungry in America Project bash on Sunday, Jake not only monopolised the chef to such an extent that the Hungry in America Project went hungry, he also talked over a film shown there and was shushed by a fellow member of the audience. Further disruption was caused by Natalie Portman's giggles. It is a possibility, however, that shushing Jake may be something to add to our How to Attract Jake's Attention List.



The story that Jake and Matt Damon turned down a half-hearted offer to be Na'vi Jake in Avatar has resurfaced today. With thanks to Monica for the heads up, here is a look at what we might have enjoyed in 3D these past weeks. I'm inclined to think that it's not just the Tree of Souls that had a lucky escape...


And finally...

For those of us who might accidentally have bought a range of Prince of Persia Jake Figurines last night, here is a closer look at the dagger toy. Although it doesn't turn back time itself, it does glow - almost as useful, I'm sure you'll agree.


Includes pictures from IHJ and here.

[Updated]Jake Gyllenhaal has fun at the Hungry in America Project after all, PoP out 21 May in UK? And Mike Newell on Jake - 'he is glorious looking'

'So, Jake, after you've introduced one large egg from a free-roaming hen to a cup of plain and yet delicately playful flour, you then add the milk and a frission of beer. Mix enthusiastically, coercing bubbles into your batter, and then fry on a Hot Heat. Add a little fountain of sugar, a soupson of lemon. And then even the most demanding toddler will eat your pancakes.' Yes, after Jake Gyllenhaal had done with the serious stuff at Hungry in America last night, he then went on to do the fun bit. This involved chef Tom Colicchio. Please note how Jake does not need to take notes - he has a photographic memory.


In this second picture, note how I have not noticed that invitingly room-temperatured pint of bitter to the left. I have, however, noticed that Jake is now enjoying the company of Natalie Portman and Lauren Bush. Natalie looks wonderful in that dress and how glad am I to see Jake and Natalie so perky together.





Empire's Prince of Persia

I have just received this evening my subscriber's collector's edition of the April issue of Empire. Mystifyingly, there is no Prince of Persia on the special cover, there is Back to the Future, which, correct me if I'm wrong, came out a bloody long time ago. However, not being one to chuck rotten eggs unnecessarily, I will agree that Back to the Future is a fine film. And there are some compensations. Never mind the cover - what about the inside cover? The fabulous images come with a puzzle - why does it say that Prince of Persia is out in the UK on 21 May, a full week earlier than we have been led to believe?



Aside from this beautiful doublespread advert, there is a teaser inside, suggesting much more will follow in the next issue. And from Jerry Bruckheimer: 'I've always liked Jake... He's a very physical individual - he's a bike rider, he's in great shape. So it wasn't hard to bulk him up a bit and make him the big action hero.' There is an interview with Gemma Arterton inside the magazine but there's nothing new in that about PoP.



Prince of Persia will soon be here, friends (possibly sooner than we even expected if that UK date turns out to be right) - are we ready for it?!

Er... You know when you do a post, publish it and then there's new news? Well, this is one of those times. Mike Newell has been talking to MTV about Jake and this is what he says:'"You couldn't just have a hunk," said Newell ("Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"). "He's got a sort of cheeky, devil-may-care light in his eye and at the same time he has a sensitivity, delicacy and thinness-of-skin. He is glorious looking, but you wanted more than that. You wanted women to be interested in him not just as a piece of eye candy. ... It was a huge opportunity to do a thinking woman's action hero."


"He worked his ass off," the director said. "A great deal of what you see in the movie is Jake. It's not a stuntman. He rides [horses] like a dream. He learned every one of those fights — it's like ballet. He'd get it wrong, he'd get it wrong, he'd get it wrong and then by God, he'd get it right! He's a very courageous young man."

Many thanks to IHJ for the wonderful new pictures! Scans from WDW.

Jake Gyllenhaal at Hungry in America, NYC, 21 February 2010

Jake Gyllenhaal was not just in New York City this weekend to shop for books with Natalie Portman or to look for a suitable winning-a-BAFTA prezzie for his director Duncan Jones, he was there to attend the Feed Foundation's first bash for its Hungry in America project. It was a very serious event. Very serious.


Several things to note about these pictures... When the photographer called out 'Say cheese!', Jake actually thought he said 'Freeze!' Either that or Jake is posing for a portrait of the event. Or there's a wasp on his ear and he can't move. Jake is also wearing matching haircut, beard and jumper.



Many thanks to IHJ for the new pics!

Love and Other Drugs a winner, Jake Gyllenhaal seen in NYC with Natalie Portman - and BAFTA Day!

While I get ready to settle down to the BAFTAs and cheer on Duncan Jones, Carey Mulligan and An Education, it's good indeed to read a review of Love and Other Drugs on IMDb from an early screening in Pasadena. And if Anne Hathaway's naked 'half the time', then I'd say there are pretty good odds that so may Jake Gyllenhaal.


'Just saw “Love and Other Drugs” last night at a preview screening in Pasadena. I don’t know what I was expecting, maybe just another idiotic rom-com, but this movie is original, funny, unbelievably sexy, and really moving. And it’s about something. Have to admit I’ve never been much of a Jake Gyllenhaal fan, but here – as a slick Viagra salesman – he’s not only charming and witty, he’s also got this new, warm, strong and quiet leading man thing going. Anne Hathaway meanwhile burns up the screen, and not just because she’s naked half the time. Even when she’s dressed you simply can’t take your eyes off her. I thought she was good in “Rachel Getting Married,” but in this one – as a free-spirit arty girl with early-onset Parkinson’s – she’s very funny and really hard-core. My guess is another nomination will be coming her way. What else…? Josh Gad, who I recognized as one of the correspondents on The Daily Show, is the potty-mouthed younger brother. Sometimes it feels like he’s a refugee from a Judd Apatow movie, but he’s also sweet and innocent. Oliver Platt, who’s always good, is in it, too. And Judy Greer has got some funny stuff but she seems underused (like maybe they cut part of her story?)'


'I’m the big know-it-all who always predicts what’s going to happen next in a movie, but this time I was always surprised. One minute I was laughing hysterically and the next I found myself wiping tears away. Some people will compare it to “Jerry Maguire” – which I think is a truly great movie – but this one has real depth to it. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a comedy show a relationship with this kind of intimacy and authenticity. I don’t know how else to say it – I really believed these two people were in love, and so was I.'


Twitter sightings of Jake in the East Village, NYC, in book shops with Natalie Portman, suggest that he may be making an appearance alongside Natalie at tonight's Feed Foundation Event One. Let's hope we get some pictures!


I took a walk around London's Royal Opera House yesterday and preparations were well underway. The BAFTAs themselves deserve a gong, if only for getting the curling off the BBC...



Includes pictures from IHJ and WDW.