Jake Gyllenhaal - 'tender and hopeful and just so subtly wounded' ('I want an audience that wants to see the films that I’m in')

Today has a bit of the lull before the storm feel about it (not least because The Day After Tomorrow is on tonight in the UK - 9pm on E4), so this gives me what has become a rare opportunity to take some time out. Time to climb up that mountain, breath in some country air (upwind of the sheep) and admire the view. Think Brokeback Mountain, Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, smelly tents, grumpy horses and big blue skies. (I'm also hoping that doing this post will distract me from a big bag of tangy haribo sweets...)


This interview from the WDW Dusty Archives begins with one of those introductions that wins me over from the very first syllable. If you're going to interview Jake, be prepared to have him knock your socks off: 'Not falling in love with the very concept of Jake Gyllenhaal is a difficult undertaking. There is, first, his appearance, the blue eyes fringed with lush black lashes, tender and hopeful and just so subtly wounded. At nearly 25 — his birthday is Monday — the few underwhelming films he’s made (The Day After Tomorrow, Bubble Boy, Moonlight Mile) hardly suffered because of him. And the many very good ones he’s been part of have only been improved by his presence. Think Donnie Darko, Lovely & Amazing, Proof — and now, Brokeback Mountain.'


I could spend a long, long time trying to recreate that 'tender and hopeful and just so subtly wounded' look. Maybe I'll have a go.

'But despite his triumphs, the actor admits he’s had second thoughts about his line of work. “I think I always wanted to be an actor,” he says when asked if there was a defining moment in his childhood that led him to the craft... “It’s only now when I’m thinking maybe I don’t want to be one,” he laughs. “It’s only now that I’m questioning it.” Likely endearing himself further to legions of fans, he doesn’t hesitate for a second when asked what he’d do if he weren’t an actor. “I would be a chef and I would open up a restaurant with my best friend, who’s brilliant,” Gyllenhaal said firmly.'

'When he signed on for Brokeback Mountain, Gyllenhaal hadn’t yet read the Annie Proulx short story on which it was based, but he quickly remedied that. “Annie will work weeks, if not months, on certain sentences,” he marveled. “You know everything she’s writing has a very particular meaning, just like a poem or something … every word seems to be so important, and the movie, just the images, are kind of like word for word. To me, what I think what the movie’s saying, or what I find most interesting about it, is … it’s like Annie was walking through the forest and found some myth that was never told. It’s redefining a love story. We’ve gotten so bored, or frozen, with a normal love story between a guy and a girl, which is like guy gets girl, guy loses girl, guy gets girl again,” Gyllenhaal said. “This is a sort of a way of redefining that. It’s more about the idea of intimacy and love than it is about two guys having a love story together. That’s what I really related to. I was looking for a story that was about some kind of intimacy, you know? Nowadays, they’re not making those movies, or they’re not writing those movies so much.”'


'“It’s actually become very clear to me that people don’t really totally believe love has no bounds, because there are people who actually have a problem with this film,” Gyllenhaal said. “And it’s about a different type of love than we’re used to seeing … and they don’t feel that it should be that way. So if we say love has no bounds, we don’t really believe it.”'


'“In my opinion, these are two lonely people, and they find each other, and find comfort with each other, and fall in love. They feel alive,” he said. “And isn’t that all we’re asking for in our lifetimes down here, is to feel alive, and to feel like we’re moving and growing somewhere? That’s what these two people feel. They feel that way with each other.”'

These excerpts are from an interview with the SunSentinel back in December 2005. As always a pdf is available on request in return for chocolate.


Today I went to the movies and saw I Love You Phillip Morris and there in the foyer was the huge new UK poster for Prince of Persia, proclaiming once and for all its release date here of 21 May. I very subtly and artfully took a picture. The old poster has now been relegated to outside Screen 13. Excuse the bad picture - this was caused by the light reflecting off Ben and Jerrys.


But to connect this with Brokeback days, it reminds me of a quote from Jake in the outtakes of Out magazine, about whether he saw his future as an Indie It Boy or as a Hollywood movie star (as if one can't be a little of both and a lot more besides): 'I want an audience that wants to see the films that I’m in. I want to be able to have recognition, and have people go, “Oh, his movie’s coming out this weekend, and I want to see it, because I know every time I go into a movie, into a journey, it’s going to be an interesting thing.” There are actors that I look up to that do that. Like Tom Hanks does that. I’m interested in seeing his movies. Regardless. It’s not only to be entertaining. There’s going to be something cool in it. No matter what. There are people who’ve done that for a long time. Paul Newman… Those types of people that I really look up to as men that I want to be like. And that’s the type of career that I want. I want a lot of people to want to see my films. It doesn’t have to be enormous. But I do want that. I put a lot of thought into the movies that I choose and I do. It’s for a reason.'


Thoughts going out to friends down under in the path of that cyclone...

Includes pictures from IHJ and WDW.